Marie Blistan, current vice president of the New Jersey Education Association, has been elected its new president, a role she will assume in September. A special education teacher from Gloucester County, Blistan has been an officer with the state’s largest teachers union since 2009.
Current secretary-treasurer Sean Spiller, who has taught high school science in Passaic County, will also start his new role as union vice president in the fall, while Steven Beatty, the current president of the Somerset County and Bridgewater-Raritan education associations, will join them as NJEA’s new secretary-treasurer.
Results of the officer elections were made public Tuesday night, after a two-week voting period earlier this month. The election of Blistan and Spiller as the union’s two top officers was expected.
Retiring president Wendell Steinhauer will step down after Aug. 31, after four years at the helm. . He previously held various officer positions over three decades and was also president from 1999 to 2005, according to his biography on the NJEA website.
In addition to the officer positions, members also elected representatives to serve on NJEA’s executive committee, its delegate assembly and the National Education Association representative assembly.