Trustees Elect Bernadette Dunne President and Re-Elect Marlin Wiggins Vice President

Yonkers Board of Education Bernadette Dunne President Marlin Wiggins Vice President Michael E. Carey Debra Martinez Paresh Patel Nydia D. Perez Gerald (Yaroslav) Sudick

(May 26, 2009) In a unanimous vote at their May 26th Annual Meeting, the Trustees of the Yonkers Board of Education elected Mrs. Bernadette Dunne as president and re-elected Mr. Marlin Wiggins as vice president. Both will serve one-year terms in their leadership posts. Mrs. Jean McCord, the clerk of the Yonkers Board of Education, administered the oath of office as prescribed by Public Officers Law.

Mrs. Dunne, the senior member of the Yonkers Board of Education, was originally appointed to the Yonkers Board of Education in May 1995. She also currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Conference of Big Five School Districts.  Mrs. Dunne has received distinguished Administrator and Leadership Awards in Education and Community from Marymount College, the Yonkers City Council, and the Archdiocese of New York. 

Mr. Wiggins, who is entering his second term as vice-president, was originally appointed to the Board in 2006.

Reverend Gerald Sudick, the incumbent president, chose not to seek a second term. He has served the children and citizens of Yonkers as a Trustee of the Board of Education since 2005. Trustees of the Board of Education are appointed by the Mayor.

The First Board

The Yonkers Board of Education was formed in May 1880 when the New York State legislature approved consolidating the schools.  The following year, the Trustees of the Board met to hold an organizational meeting, and to elect officers and adopt a code of by-laws.

In the 128 years since then, the Board of Education has held an Annual Meeting to elect officers from the Trustees and to adopt what is now known as the Policy Manual.

The first officers of the Board of Education were elected from among the Trustees in 1881. Duncan Smith was elected president and Matthew H. Ellis was elected vice president.

The other Trustees of the Board, all of whom were appointed by Mayor Norton P. Otis, were:

• Rudolph Eickemeyer
• William F. Cochran
• Thomas B. Caulfield
• Frederic Shonnard
• Rufus Dutton
• Peter Mitchell
• F.C. Oakley
• William H. Thrall
• Etheibert Belknap
• Frederick A. Back
• Charles Lockwood
• Michael Mooney
• John Thurton