---

The board of education [BOE] will have three new members come January.

Gerard Dalton and Sheila Brazile each had their last meeting as BOE members on Dec. 12. They will be replaced by Qzeena Taylor and Christian Hall, respectively. Last month, Nicole Harris was brought on to replace Kevin Michel, who resigned.

Taylor bested Dalton in the race for a one-year unexpired term this Election Day. Dalton, who is a middle school principal in the West Windsor-Plainsboro district, had been appointed to the nine-member board in October 2011 after another member resigned.

“This has been a great experience for me to become more of a member of this community and get to know all of you,” Dalton said at last week’s meeting. “While many of us have had agreements and disagreements, we had our hearts in the right places.”

Good governance is the board’s biggest challenge, he said.

“Sometimes we have to check our egos at the door,” he said. “We referenced that we don’t want a state [fiscal] monitor anymore, but I don’t see the state monitor going away until we get our governance in order.”

Dalton would be willing to serve on any future committees made up of Asbury Park citizens, he said, and also may throw his hat in the ring in future elections.

Brazile [pictured above, second from left], who works in customer support for people with disabilities in Tinton Falls, said she was honored to have served the city on the BOE.

“The decisions I’ve made [were for] what I think is right and what I think is wrong,” she said. “I’m not going to vote for it just to go along with it.”

Brazile will continue to be involved with the district, she said, “not behind the table, but in front of the table. You’ll see me.”

The next BOE meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, at 7 p.m. at Bradley Elementary School.

---