PETERSBURG — Lifelong resident Logan Bird joined the Upper Township Board of Education on Jan. 6, when he was sworn in to a three-year term along with incumbents Michelle Barbieri and Christine Lentz.
The nine-member panel oversees a primary, elementary and intermediate school, while the district pays tuition to Ocean City and other communities for high school.
Lentz and Barbieri ran with Brian Teeney on the “Students First” ticket, while Bird, Kristi Lancaster and Meghan Ludgate Miller were challenging on the “Kids First” slate.
Voters split the tickets, with Lentz and Barbieri securing re-election and Bird joining them. Lentz received the most votes, 2,861, followed by Barbieri, the longtime board president, with 2,804 and Bird with 2,786.
Teeney, a former member trying to get back on the board, received 2,765 votes. Miller was fifth with 2,602 and Lancaster sixth with 2,518.
Bird, 39, is the father of six children — five who are students in the Upper Township School District — and one of 11 siblings who are all graduates of Ocean City High School.
After graduation in 2005, he served a two-year service mission for his church and then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Bird is chief operating officer of EV+ Charging and has spent his entire career in the private sector, both building businesses and running large-scale operations.
Barbieri has been serving on the board since 2004. During that time, she has attained Certified Board of Education Member and Master Board of Education Member accreditation through her service and professional development. She has been an active voting member of New Jersey School Boards Association.
Lentz, an educator for more than four decades, taught middle school science in Delaware and high school science, biology, chemistry and physical science in Ocean City over a 38-year public school career. She now works as an adjunct professor of biology at Stockton University and chemistry at Atlantic Cape Community College.
Barbieri was again elected president by her peers and Lentz vice president.
The board also voted on three members to represent the district on the Ocean City Board of Education, on which their votes are limited to issues pertaining to the high school and administration.
Becky Holden, Don Polo and Andrew Shawl were chosen to sit on the Ocean City board and had to jump right into the position just three days later.
Barbieri noted the importance of the representation.
“It’s critical that we have members attend and be active in their committee roles over there and represent Upper Township,” she said, noting the township has the greatest percentage of students in the high school. “It’s important to have people there that want to focus on attending those meetings, their being active in their committee meetings and also being able to speak on the township Board of Education’s behalf.”
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff