School Board Member Maureen Sullivan Won't Run Again

After serving one term on the Hoboken School Board, Maureen Sullivan has decided she will not run for reelection. 

"I just thought it was time to go," Sullivan said. "I don't think the School Board is something people should stay on forever."

The next school board elections .  

Sullivan first announced her resignation from the board in a letter in the Hudson Reporter, where she endorsed Liz Markevitch, who will be running for the open seat. Markevitch also ran for school board in 2010, on the Real Results slate.

Sullivan was elected to the board for the first time in 2009 when she ran with members Ruth McAllister and Theresa Minutillo. Both are up for reelection. Sullivan broke with the Kids First coalition since then. 

Sullivan broke with Kids First after as superintendent two years ago. Romano before he could start, but the rift on the school board remained. 

In a recent phone interview, Sullivan described being on the board of education as "challenging." 

"There's very little opportunity on the school board to discuss anything," Sullivan said. Sullivan, who was on the board's facilities committee, said she felt that her colleagues purposefully kept her out of the loop. "They kicked me off the committees," she said. "I was definitely excluded." 

Before the reorganization of the board, Sullivan served on the governance and the curriculum committees.

Sullivan often votes differently from the rest of the board and gets into heated discussions with her colleagues. 

"I would much rather have the problems all be out there," she said. Some of the issues, Sullivan said she worries about are enrollment, low test scores and underperforming teachers. 

"Those problems have been here, I didn't create these problems," said Sullivan, whose two children attended Hoboken's public schools. 

While it's unlikely that she will be attending a school board meeting any time soon, Sullivan said she wants to stay involved with education reform. 

One of the accomplishments she is proud of, Sullivan said, is that some "bad teachers" have been removed from Hoboken's classrooms. 

"I put my butt on the line. I screamed and ranted to get rid of the teacher who wasn't working," she said. "That's what it's all about. If I in some way put a better teacher in front of a child, I can walk away happy."