Lenape Board of Education honors longtime board member Bill Bisignano
By: Tom Beck
Tags: Education, High School, News, Meetings, Schools

Lenape Board of Education honors longtime board member Bill Bisignano

After 20 years on the Lenape school board, Bisignano is retiring.

Former board member Bill Bisignano poses for a picture in the Lenape Regional High School District board room with Superintendent Carol Birnbohm and LRHSD Board President Linda Eckenhoff.

At its Sept. 27 meeting, the Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education honored long-serving Medford Township member Dr. Bill Bisignano Jr. for his service after tendering his resignation. Bisignano served on the board for 20 years.

BOE President Linda Eckenhoff expressed gratitude for Bisignano’s service.

“My colleagues on the board and I extend our deepest thanks to Bill for his dedication over the past 20 years. He has helped us move the district forward because of his thoughtful and collaborative approach,” Eckenhoff said.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve on the Lenape Regional Board,” Bisignano said. “My colleagues are truly dedicated to the success of this district, which is evident through their consistent attendance and attentiveness at every board meeting and events throughout our schools.”

Bisignano, who is retiring, has resided in Medford for almost 60 years and has practiced as a dentist in the community for 47 years. He is a partner in Bisignano, Stone and Eckel Family Dentistry. He attended Temple University on a full football scholarship and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1970 with honors. He served in the Army for three years, having completed a rotating internship at Walter Reed General Hospital. He is an Eagle Scout and has spoken at the Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

Bisignano resides in Medford with his wife, Pat, and has four children, Bill III, Michael, Kristin and Jessica. All children attended Shawnee High School.

“Bill is a respected member of our community, and I valued his voice on our board. He ensured our policies were rooted in what is best for all Lenape Regional High School District students through his thirst for knowledge and poignant questions,” Superintendent Carol Birnbohm said. “We will miss him and the contributions he has made as an effective and influential leader within our district.”

Pursuant to state statute, the LRHSD will advertise the vacant seat on the board and post it on the district’s website.

In other news:

• The board approved a new policy that enables school nurses to receive the appropriate training to administer an opioid overdose antidote during school hours or during school-sponsored activities. In approving the policy, “Administering an Opioid Antidote,” the board acknowledged the national opioid epidemic, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which noted total fatal opioid overdoses increased from approximately 28,600 in 2014, to more than 33,000 in 2015 — a 15 percent increase. The policy states, in part, that the school nurse “may administer the opioid antidote to a student, school personnel or other person in an emergency if the school nurse believes, in good faith, that the person is experiencing an opioid overdose.”

• The board approved the following donations: a golf cart worth $3,600 for the Lenape High School Athletic Department from the LHS Girls Soccer Booster Club; EpiPens worth $600 to Seneca High School from EpiPen4Schools, a program conducted by pharmaceutical company Mylan; supplies and labor worth $2,500 for building a baseball mound at Shawnee High School from the SHS Baseball Booster Club; T-shirts worth $540 for the Shawnee High School Field Hockey Anniversary Game from the SHS Field Hockey Booster Club; a tandem-axle trailer worth $5,247 to the Seneca marching band from Seneca band parents; and $5,000 to the disrict from the Cherokee High School Yearbook Club for former NBA basketball star Chris Herren’s presentation on the dangers of drug abuse.