Among a field of nine candidates, Arundel Clarke came out on top to fill a vacancy on the Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education.
The board voted 6-1 to appoint Clarke to fill an unexpired three-year term at the school board’s Oct. 12 meeting, following public interviews with the candidates. The term ends in January 2024.
School board president Patricia Hendricks Farmer and school board members Michele Bowes, Pepper Evans, Jo Ann Groeger, Michelle King and Amanda Santos voted for Clarke. School board member Robert Pluta cast the lone dissenting vote.
Clarke replaces former school board member Gregory Johnson, who was removed from the school board by state Acting Commissioner of Education Angelia Allen-McMillan for failure to meet the annual training mandate by Dec. 31, 2021.
Clarke, who is a software engineer, moved to Lawrence Township in 2006. His son attends Lawrence Intermediate School and his daughter attends Princeton Day School.
Farmer welcomed Clarke to the school board. She also thanked the candidates for applying and for answering the board’s questions during the public interview session.
“We gained so much knowledge from your answers,” Farmer told the candidates.
Evans agreed and said it was challenging for the board to choose from a deep pool of worthy candidates. She said she hoped that they would continue to support the school district’s mission.
“In the end, we agreed that Clarke’s proven history with the school district put him over the top. He stood out years ago as a tireless advocate, not only for his children, but for all students, as well as parents and staff,” Evans said.
Clarke said after the meeting that serving on the school board had always been “on my radar.” In the past couple of years, he has had random talks with parents, and they urged him to seek a seat on the school board, he said.
He has been active with the Black Education Advancement Council [BEAC], which advocates for Black and brown students and their families. BEAC’s objective is to address the needs and concerns of those families, and to help make opportunities more racially equitable, he said.
In addition, Clarke has been involved with the Special Education Parents Advisory Group and the Special Education Advisory Council. The groups work together to provide informational events – from homecare to policy and social events in the area. The goal is to create better inclusion and understanding of the special needs community, he said.
