Reluctant School Board Pres Calls It Quits

The Wall Township Schools Board of Education President who said she never wanted the position has quit, district officials said.

Melissa Peters, who at a public meeting earlier this month said she only took the position of board president because no one else would, resigned from the position just days after the Oct. 11 meeting, officials said Thursday.

Peters turned in a letter of resignation, effective Oct. 14, which echoed the comments she made at the public meeting days earlier.

“I agreed to take on the position of board president solely because I was the only candidate that everyone could agree upon," Peters' letter says.

Board Vice President Laurie Cannon will captain the board until the full panel chooses new officers at the Nov. 8 meeting.

Peters from Eva Applegate, who , citing personal reasons.

Peters ended over her choice to switch the committee assignments of board members after taking the presidency last month, Peters told the standing-room-only crowd that she never wanted to be the board's president.

“I just want everyone to be aware that I did not want this position, to be president of the Board of Ed,’’ Peters said. “No one else on this committee would step up and do it, so I did it."

Peters' impromptu speech was met with gasps and howls from the packed library.

It followed a long and testy debate over the legitimacy of Peters' committee appointments. She later rescinded her decision to change the appointments, calling the opposition to it "ridiculous.''