(From left) Joseph Barreto, Patrick Fletcher, Mark Longo, Carol Otis and Sheetal Ranjan.
PARAMUS, N.J. – Five local leaders from education and trade began terms on the Bergen Community College board of trustees Feb. 8. Each took the oath of office at the board’s regular meeting after the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders confirmed their appointments Feb. 1.
Joining the board are: Joseph Barreto, of Hackensack; Patrick Fletcher, of River Edge; Mark Longo, of Cresskill; Carol Otis, of Teaneck; and Sheetal Ranjan, of Teaneck. All but Barreto will serve three-year terms, which expire Oct. 31, 2020; Barreto will fill the unexpired term of Germaine Ortiz who was elected as a Bergen County freeholder. His term will end Oct. 31, 2017.
Barreto has worked for nearly 30 years as a bilingual high school guidance counselor in East Harlem, while serving as the current president of the Latino American Democratic Association of Bergen County and the secretary/treasurer of the Bergen County Board of Social Services. Among his honors, he earned the Manhattan High School Counselor of the Year Award. He graduated from St. John’s University, earning a both a B.A. and M.S.
Fletcher began his tenure as River Dell Regional School District superintendent of schools in 2006 after leadership roles in the Rutherford, Closter, Englewood Cliffs and Glen Rock school districts. For his efforts in leading the River Dell district and supporting student success, Fletcher received the 2014 New Jersey Association of School Administrator’s Northern Superintendent of the Year award. He earned a B.A. from Lafayette College and an M.A. from Seton Hall University.
Longo works as director of the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative, a collaborative initiative by members of building contractor associations in the region. Previously, he directed government affairs for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, served as executive director of the New Jersey Building and Construction Trades Labor Management Council and led public relations and government affairs for the Building Contractors Association of New Jersey. He graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College, earning a B.A.
Otis returns to the Bergen board after previously serving from 2007 to 2012. A retired Teaneck High School family and consumer sciences teacher, Otis co-edited the textbook “World of Food” and won the National Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Distinguished Service Award. She graduated from Douglass Residential College at Rutgers University (B.S.) and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education (M.Ed.). She earned post-graduate credits from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Jersey City State University and Rutgers.
Ranjan serves as a professor at William Paterson University, teaching criminal justice courses and focusing her research on domestic and campus violence. Her dedication to these issues helped the institution secure a $600,000 federal grant to establish the Campus Violence Prevention Program, which coordinates efforts and resources to raise awareness and assist victims affected by domestic violence. Ranjan serves on the New Jersey Study Commission on Violence. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, an M.A. from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Current trustees James Demetrakis and Irene Oujo also took the oath of office at the Feb. 8 meeting for renewed terms.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 15,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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