Marie Blistan, a high school special education resource center teacher in Washington Township public schools, is the NJEA Secretary-Treasurer. Blistan was re- elected to a two-year term effective Sept. 1, 2011.
At NJEA, Blistan is chair of the Budget Committee, serves on the Property and Personnel Committee, the New Jersey Distinguished Student Teacher Awards Selection Panel, and the Staff Pension Fund. In addition, she is a board trustee and vice president of the Work Environment Council, a member of the Milken Award Selection Committee, on the Board of Trustees for the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey, and is the liaison to the New Jersey Retirees’ Education Association (NJREA).
Blistan served as president of the Gloucester County Education Association (2005-2009) and was active in NJEA since early in her career. She has held co-chair positions on the Gloucester County Government Relations committee as well as the Gloucester County Legislative Action Team (2008). She sat on the Gloucester County Professional Development Board (1998-2004) and is a member of the N.J. Professional Teaching Standards Board (2008 to present).
In 2007, Blistan successfully spearheaded opposition to an involuntary pilot program that would have consolidated all of Gloucester County’s school districts.
In addition to her county duties, Blistan has held leadership positions in two local associations. She was executive vice president of the Washington Township Education Association (2003-2005) and the president of the Somerdale Education Association (1984-1986) in Camden County. Blistan also served as the WTEA vice president of secondary (2001-2003) and vice president of special services and secretaries (2000-2001). She chaired numerous committees in both associations and was the 1987 Somerdale and Camden County Teacher of the Year. She recently was honored with a Friend of Gloucester County Education award.
Blistan co-founded and was the chair of the Gloucester County Education Commission (2007-2009), where she created a positive forum for NJEA members to meet with legislators on selected topics that affect both members and public education. Her efforts on this project served as a model for other counties to successfully launch their own county education commissions.
Blistan chaired the NJEA Distinguished Service Award Committee (2007-2009) and has also served on the NJEA Government Relations (2005-2009), Instruction (2001-2005), Exceptional Children (2005-2007), and Urban Education (2007-2009) committees. She was an NJEA consultant in the UniServ (2007-2009) and Professional Development and Instructional Issues divisions (2002-2009).
As a teacher, Blistan was selected to be on the N.J. Hall of Fame Advisory Commission in 2008 for her classroom work in supporting the creation of the N.J. Hall of Fame. In 2009, she was appointed to be an official member of the NJ Hall of Fame Board of Commissioners through present. Blistan also served on the NJEA Emergency School Response Task Force, a committee created to work with the NJ Department of Homeland Security to design emergency response plans in state public schools. She also is a member of the Partnership for Collaboration and Professional Learning, and was recently nominated and accepted to serve on the Evaluation Pilot Advisory Committee (EPAC) where she will assist the Department of Education in making recommendations to the Commissioner on effective practices for an evaluation system.
In 2003, Blistan was inducted into Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a world-wide professional educator’s organization.
A graduate of Camden County College and Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), Blistan continued her graduate studies and earned a master’s degree in reading. Blistan holds certificates as a teacher of the handicapped, reading, secondary English, and as a reading specialist. She has also earned a supervisor of instruction certificate from Rowan University.
Blistan and her husband, Bob, a recently retired high school special education teacher in Washington Township, live in Harrisonville. She has two sons and a daughter and two grandchildren.