The Race in On: Voters to Decide on Two Contested Races on Wednesday

Voters will head to the polls on Wednesday to decide on two contested school board races in the annual school elections. The following is an overview of candidates running in the two local school board races and one regional high school run off taken from a series of articles Patch ran this month. Click on the links to read the articles in their entirety.

Tinton Falls School District: An uncontested race

The district has two open seats for three-year terms designated for Tinton Falls residents and two candidates are running for those seats, according to Tinton Falls School Business Administrator Tamar Sydney-Gens.

Those candidates are the current board president and long-time board member Peter Karavites and Lisa Lucas, who is running for the board for the first time.

An additional open seat on the board is for a one-year unexpired term, and Tinton Falls resident Paul Ford, who was appointed to the board in the fall, is running for that seat.

One open seat on the board is for a three-year term to be filled by a Shrewsbury Township resident, however no official nominating petition was received for that seat.

According to Syndey-Gens, a write-in candidate with the most votes could win the seat during the election. If no one is written in, the school district will communicate with the township to see if any residents are interested in filling that seat, Sydney-Gens explained in an e-mail message.

Outgoing members are Tinton Falls resident Steven Schertz, who was recently appointed to the Tinton Falls Borough Council, and Tracey Johnson, who is a Shrewsbury Township resident.

Eatontown School District: Four candidates running for three open seats

The race for a seat on the Eatontown Board of Education has four candidates running for three open seats, each for a three-year term.

The candidates vying this year for the open seats are newcomers John Bennett and Vito Paolantonio and incumbents Donna Mazzella-Diedrichsen and Mark Kramer, according to Charles Shay, Eatontown's interim school business administrator.

Diedrichsen is an educator and has run a small business, she said, and is active in the PTA at school and is a Girl Scout leader. 

Diedrichsen sees budget challenges as the most pressing issue for the district.

“We’re in a pretty good place right now for next year," she said. "I have a track record for voting on some hard issues, and I’ve made some pretty hard decisions at times.”

Paolantonio has two children in the school district: a sophomore at Monmouth Regional High School and  a fifth grader at Meadowbrook Elementary School. “I feel my experience in the business world, my managerial experience and my ability to work well within a group situation, are great assets as to becoming a member of the BOE,” he wrote, via e-mail.   

“I feel we need to keep upgrading programs within the school (ie. technology) while looking for ways to possibly trim spending," he said. "I believe I have some great ideas to share with the board to help Eatontown schools become even more fiscally responsible yet efficient—one of the best districts in the state.”

The second newcomer running on this year’s ballot is Bennett, who has been a resident of Eatontown for 35 years and who went through the school system himself. Bennett said that he serves on the Eatontown Little League Board, is a Little League coach and a member of the Eatontown Lions Club.

“I want to do my part,” he said. Budget issues, according to Bennett, are the biggest challenge facing the district.

“That’s what everything is based on. I want to be more of a helping hand than a driving wedge on the board,” he said. Describing himself as a “lifer in town” who is “never leaving,” Bennett said that he has been involved in the community his whole life, and enjoys volunteering his time.

Mark Kramer currently serves as president of the Eatontown Board of Education and is running for his third full term on the board. He has served on the board for just over six years—for two, three-years terms and was originally appointed to fill an unexpired seat prior to that. He has been a resident of Eatontown for 18 years and has two daughters, 18 and 10, who have both have been in the school district.

Kramer said one of the main reasons he is running is to preserve a sense of history on the board that has only one other member who has served for more than two years.  "I think that although new and fresh ideas are important, I feel it is vital to retain experience and history."

Kramer also said he felt the board has accomplished a number of ambitious projects—like expanding technology, and bringing solar energy to the district—while maintaining a flat budget.

"I feel my work is unfinished and that the board, the schools, and the town are better served with my remaining on the board."

Monmouth Regional High School: Long-time board member tries to retain his seat

Two candidates, Steven Seavey from Shrewsbury Township and Maura Triebenbacher from Tinton Falls, are running unopposed for the seats on the board representing their respective municipalities.  Two other candidates, Barbara Van Wagner and current board vice president Joseph Gaetano, are vying for the open seat representing Eatontown.

Gaetano is running for his sixth term on the board and has lived in Eatontown for 57 years.

One of the challenges facing Monmouth Regional, according to Gaetano, is trying to keep the budget as level as possible without affecting the tax rate. He pointed out the challenge of achieving that balance in the face of rising salaries, medical benefits and technology needs.

His experience serving on the board, in addition to working with the New Jersey State School Board Association, helps him serve as an effective board member, said Gaetano.

He currently holds a certificate of Master Board Member and Certified Board Leader from the New Jersey State Boards Association’s Board Academy. Gaetano is also a former chief of the Eatontown Fire Company, a former captain of the Eatontown First Aid Squad, has served on the Eatontown Board of Education and is on the Eatontown Senior Citizens Housing Board of Directors.

Van Wagner is assistant city planner and development coordinator in Asbury Park and has three daughters either in, or about to enter, the high school.

“We need to improve the school academics but keep costs at a level that taxpayers can live with,” Van Wagner said in an e-mail. “It is not easy but must be done.”

School boards need to contain costs and eliminate waste without lowering the high school’s quality, she said. “The cost of education is a hot issue but we can’t lose sight of the importance of an excellent education for the children.”

Citing recent data by New Jersey Monthly magazine, which reported that average SAT scores for Monmouth Regional were 100 points lower than the state average, Van Wagner said that MRHS dropped from being ranked 117 out of the state’s high schools in 2006 to 177 in 2010.

“That is a big drop and very disheartening for a parent with two children entering the school. I have a vested interest to improve MRHA,” she said. “We need to address the downward trend in academics. The school went from being in the top third to the bottom 50 percent.”

This story drew from a series of articles written by contributor Mary Lou Byrd on local board of education races.