Lawrence Township school board members paid tribute to two former school district employees, both of whom died within days of each other in March.
The deceased were remembered during the school board’s April 3 meeting.
Cynthia Kandrac, who held many support staff positions – including school district registrar – died March 27, while former teacher and principal Sheila Angeloni MacDonald died March 30. The two women worked together briefly at the Eldridge Park School.
School board member JoAnn Groeger, who taught physical education in the Lawrence Township Public Schools, recalled meeting Kandrac when she was working as the secretary at the Slackwood Elementary School.
“Cindy had a quick wit. She would light up the room. Her eyes sparkled. She was a dear lady,” Groeger said.
Kandrac was hired as a secretary in 1984 and retired in 2010. She continued to substitute as a secretary until her death last month.
During her career in the district, she was the secretary to the director of Student Services, the secretary to the supervisors, the secretary to the District Technology Center and the secretary at the Eldridge Park School when it was reopened in 1990-91.
MacDonald began her 38-year career in the Lawrence Township Public Schools in 1967. She was a teacher at the Eldridge Park School and the Lawrenceville Elementary School.
MacDonald moved into administration and became an assistant principal at the Lawrence Intermediate School. She was later appointed to be the principal at the Eldridge Park School. She retired in 2005.
When school district officials created a lower school for 4th-graders and an upper school for 5th- and 6th-graders at the Lawrence Intermediate School, MacDonald came out of retirement to serve as the interim principal for the lower school.
School board member Jon Dauber said MacDonald was helpful to him when he was named principal of the Lawrence Intermediate School’s upper school. Dauber is now the principal at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North.
“Sheila was a mentor to me. She was a tremendous person. She provided me with the foundation (to become a principal),” said Dauber, who was also a vice principal at Lawrence High School.
School board member Pepper Evans said MacDonald was always surrounded by children.
“There are so many people in Lawrence who had her as a teacher, and their children had her as a teacher,” Evans said.
Groeger said MacDonald instilled good manners in her students, and they respected her.
“You learned in her class, but then she let them be kids,” Groeger said.
“It’s a tough thing for us, but we know Cindy and Sheila are looking down on the district and smiling,” Groeger said.
