August 17, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 7 Mahwah Board of education to meet just before schools open by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Board of Education will meet on Aug. 31, a week before all of the township’s public schools are scheduled to reopen for the 2011-12 academic year. The school board is scheduled to consider how it will use the additional $554,386 in state aid it received last month. That amount is over and above the state aid that was previously approved for the school district in February 2011 and $1,108,772 more than was received in the 2010-11 school year. Governor Chris Christie announced in July that the Mahwah K-12 School District would receive additional state aid along with all the other school districts in the state. Christie pointed out that the state has increased state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts that were made last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million. “We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey’s children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country,” Christie said. “This increase in education aid will provide important property tax relief to New Jerseyans as the state increases its support for local schools.” The governor encouraged the school districts to use the additional school aid for local tax relief. Dr. Karen Lake will attend the Aug. 31 meeting as the school district’s interim superintendent. Lake was approved by the board at its June 15 public meeting and she was in the position on July 1, the first day after the official retirement Lunch bunch Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Mahwah, at the Corner of Route 202 North and West Ramapo Avenue, collected 42 lunch and breakfast bags as a mission project for the Center for Food Action in Mahwah. Pictured are Lorraine Alfano, teacher of Vacation Bible School; Marge Rockett, director of the Vacation Bible School; and Jim James, director of the Center for Food Action Mahwah and Ringwood. The Vacation Bible School had 31 children in attendance. of the previous superintendent Dr Charles Montesano. Lake has served as superintendent of schools in three districts over a 10-year period and recently served as the superintendent in Hillsborough. She retired from that post in 2007. Montesano announced his retirement in December 2010. When he stepped down at the end of June, he concluded a 37-year career in education and seven years in the Mahwah school district. The school board immediately began its search for a new superintendent when Montesano announced his intention to retire. In April of this year, the board of education announced that its search for a new permanent superintendent had failed to produce a viable replacement, and the trustees began conducting their own search for an interim superintendent who would work on a per diem basis until a permanent superintendent is appointed. State law prohibits Montesano from becoming the interim superintendent in the district from which he retired until after 120 days beyond his retirement date. Montesano did not indicate an interest in becoming an interim superintendent in his retirement.