Three named to Camden school board

A month after the formal deadline, Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd has picked two current members and a young teacher as her latest appointees to the Board of Education.

Selected were Martha F. Wilson and Sara T. Davis, each of whom has served more than 10 years on the nine-member panel; and Kathryn Ribay, a former science teacher at the city's Woodrow Wilson High School. Eleven candidates were considered.

Ribay, who teaches chemistry at Collingswood High School, will replace longtime board member Jose Delgado, who chose not to seek reappointment.

The women will be sworn in to three-year terms at Monday's school board reorganization meeting, when a board president and vice president will be elected. The board also will choose an auditor and attorney, board President Susan Dunbar-Bey said.

Redd missed the April 15 legal deadline to appoint the new members. Her office did not explain the delay. There is no penalty for missing the deadline.

When the state takeover of Camden ended in January 2010, the city's education system became a Type 1 district. That gave the mayor the power to appoint all of its board members.

Redd appointed Sean Brown, Jason Gonzalez, and Ray Lamboy to the board last year.

Dunbar-Bey said she was happy to see the reappointment of Davis and Wilson because they will provide continuity.

"I don't see the need to start from scratch," Dunbar-Bey said after Friday's announcement.

"They already know what direction we are going in," she said, citing student achievement, improvement of the district administration, and increased parental involvement as the board's goals.

Brown said he was disappointed in the mayor's choice to bring back Davis and Wilson, and said others who were well-qualified had applied to serve on the board. The Mayor's Office declined to release the list of applicants.