Vernon Township BOE vice president resigns Vernon. Citing personal reasons, Board of Education Vice President Lauren Karwoski Magee resigns from board during regular meeting.

By Nicole M. Wells
When the Vernon Township Board of Education met for its regular meeting May 16, everything wasn’t business as usual.
Following two children’s presentations to the board and a presentation by the police department, board Vice President Lauren Karwoski Magee read a letter into the record, stating her resignation from the Board of Education effective immediately.
Citing her family’s decision to move closer to family in Virginia, Karwoski Magee said that it was not an easy decision to make and that she had been wrestling with it for some time.
“Ultimately we had to make a decision that made sense for our family, so we have to say goodbye,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed the cooperative experience of serving on the school board during my term and am honored to have been elected to serve the community.”
Board of Education President Brad Sparta said that Karwoski Magee had struggled to make the decision for a number of weeks and had not known, up until an hour before the meeting began, what decision she would ultimately make.
“She had talked to me about it many, many times and I told her that when she felt that it was time for her to go, that she would go, but as long as she was a resident of this community, and a taxpayer and lived here that she could remain on the board,” he said.
Sparta said that while he and Karwoski Magee didn’t always see eye to eye, he appreciated her contributions to the board and her difference of opinion.
“I’d like to thank her for her two and a half years of service to the board,” he said. “We joke a lot of times between us that we really don’t agree on a lot of things but we have a lot of very fruitful conversations. I’m going to miss you.”
In conducting the business of the board, Sparta said that he and Karwoski Magee spent a lot of time communicating by phone.
“We talk every day,” Karwoski Magee said, to laughter from board members.
As she finished reading her letter, Karwoski Magee said that she felt tears forming and that it was hard to walk away.
“I truly believe, now more than ever, that it takes a village to raise amazing children,” she said. “Thank you for making my family a part of your village and for putting your faith in me to serve on the Board of Education.”
After she read her statement and received send-off well wishes from fellow board members, Karwoski Magee collected her things and left the meeting.
Board member Justin Annunziata was nominated for the position of vice president and received a unanimous vote in favor.
Switching name plates with Karwoski Magee, Annunziata moved over a seat to take his place next to Sparta as the board’s new vice president.