Who are the Camden school board president and vice president?

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The Camden City School District School Advisory Board unanimously elevated N’Namdee Nelson to board president at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Nelson has been a board member since 2018 and has served as the board’s vice president since May 2020. For much of this year, he has stepped in as acting president while his predecessor, Wasim Muhammad, took a leave of absence pending the outcome of a civil suit from one of his former students, who alleged that Muhammed sexually assaulted her 30 years ago.

The district settled with Salema Hicks Robinson for $2 million after a jury found that Muhammad and the district were liable for creating a sexually hostile learning environment, while rejecting the sexual assault claims. Muhammad resigned nearly two weeks ago following pressure from community members and state officials.

Nelson said healing after several turbulent months will take time.

“If we’re all focused on the same thing, which is, you know, our students, I definitely feel like that’s something that we’ll accomplish,” he said. “Continuing to have those hard conversations and also figuring out how we move forward and not experiencing some of the situations that put us in this space.”

Many in the community felt that the board didn’t do much to hold Muhammad accountable. But Nelson said he and his colleagues spoke up “even if it wasn’t always heard by [the] community”

“Unfortunately, it was sometimes where a community didn’t get to hear that because our meeting had been canceled,” he said. “Just know board members definitely did speak up and express themselves.”

When asked if he thought Muhammad was problematic to the board or if his predecessor should’ve stepped down sooner, Nelson declined to comment.

The board also selected Jeanette Alvarez, a first-term board member, as its new vice president.

Both Nelson and Alvarez are running for reelection in November for three-year terms. The Camden school district is  under state control and the board operates in an advisory capacity.