By elaine van develde
Staff Writer
Carol Matarese
HAZLET — Four of the six candidates running for three three-year terms on the Board of Education have been there before and want voters to put them back April 15.
As for the others in the running, one candidate previously served on the board, and two are new to the race.
Board President Lee Bailey, 58, 1 Duke Lane, served a short stint on the board five years ago, filling a member’s unexpired term.
He is now completing his first full three-year term. Bailey said three years isn’t enough, and he’s not done making a dent in a system he believes in.
Lee Bailey
A retired special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department, where he worked for 35 years, Bailey works part time for Marion Security Agency in Red Bank. He said he wants to devote much of his spare time to a school system for which he has "a strong feeling."
"Being on the board is a challenge, but I’ve never shied away from a challenge," he said. "Things that are challenging are demanding, but ultimately the most rewarding. Having input in the whole operation is rewarding."
While Bailey wants to make positive changes in the school district with what he said is his strong suit — his analytical, investigative skills — he first wants to open all channels of communication with the school community to get a better handle on students’ wants and needs.
Generating a steady flow of public opinion and encouraging parental involvement is key to making a good system even better, he said.
Marleen Tredy-O’Connor
"I’d really like to see more people involved," Bailey said. "Hearing more opinion only helps us do what’s in the best interest of the students. Everyone’s opinion counts, and seeing how things work can only help. I want to see people at meetings and communicating regularly with board members. The involvement, even if you may not agree with the opinion, is always constructive."
Equipped with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, Bailey said his main goal, if elected to a second term, is to "give students the best education possible. To get to that goal, many of these smaller, peripheral goals, such as better communication, must be attained. It starts with everyone working together and listening to one another. We have something great in this district. Effective communication can only make it better."
Incumbent board member Carol Matarese, 61, 10 Dindall Place, hopes to serve a fifth three-year term on the board. She was first elected in 1991.
Matarese said it’s "getting harder and harder, as a board member and taxpayer, to meet the challenges of providing the highest quality education without sufficient state aid, forcing taxpayers to pay for the education they want and deserve for their children but cannot afford."
Dorothy O’Connor
The 25-year Hazlet resident, wife, parent and grandparent said she remains steadfastly committed to providing a quality education for each student in the school district.
"The needs and wants of education in this district are putting a squeeze on the administration, board and taxpayer. I want to be there to make sure we find a way to manage it all the best we can, while keeping pressure on the state to provide that aid the state has gypped middle-income districts of, and [which] they deserve," Matarese said.
Incumbent Dorothy O’Connor, 57, 3 Marsand Drive, has been a board member as long as Matarese, 12 years.
O’Connor said she shares Matarese’s commitment to the board and her zest for student life, and has made a career out of being a board member.
Francis McGrath
A retired registered nurse and longtime township resident, O’Connor prides herself in being the first state-certified board member and plans to keep her "career" on the board going for at least another three years.
"I love it," said the parent of two who moved to Hazlet 17 years ago from Brooklyn, N.Y.
O’Connor’s children went to school in the district and she wants to make certain educational standards stay high for all other students, she said.
"It’s simple for me. I like it here and I’d like to continue to have input to see to it that it stays nice for Hazlet students. I think this administration is wonderful and very committed. So am I. Our kids are very important. They deserve to be surrounded by the best," O’Connor said.
Being surrounded by the best means continued maintenance of the schools, as well as keeping students happy, occupied and off the streets with a loads of extracurricular activities to choose from, she said.
"And it’s not just a matter of keeping kids busy and happy," O’Connor said. "Some of those activities lead to scholarships, not to mention better self-esteem to carry into adulthood."
Like the incumbents, challenger Paul Benfer has been on the board before and has put in his bid to return to the dais.
The 44-year-old resident of 12 Stonehurst Terrace is sales and marketing director for Metro Logistics in Scarsdale, N.Y.
He served on the board from 1996 to 1999 and "elected to take some time off. I feel it’s time to come back now and do whatever I can to help," he said.
With a bachelor’s degree in political science and specialization in public administration from the College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College), Ewing, Benfer said his educational background and his fiscal accomplishments during his tenure on the board give him an advantage as a candidate.
Balancing a school budget for a district lacking in state aid without sacrificing educational quality is a challenge he’s fit for, Benfer said. The answer is to find a fiscally responsible way to provide quality education.
"Sometimes you just have to step in and make decisions that are not going to be popular. I think our schools are terrific and so are all the people running them. But when there is no money, bargaining has to be approached in a more realistic manner," Benfer said.
"When you have nothing extra coming in to offset costs and you’re asking for more taxpayer money, something’s got to give," he said. "About 65 percent of every dollar in the budget goes to [employee] benefits and salaries. The salary increases were negotiated for a 5-percent increase a year. The money’s not there to support that percentage of an increase. It’s too simple to just lobby the state. Of course it needs to be done, but we have to deal with what we’ve been dealt, no matter how unfair, before the situation gets out of control.
"The tax burden on the citizens of Hazlet must be reduced. We’re not bargaining contracts in a state of reality," Benfer said.
The Board of Education must, and can, do a better job of negotiating cost-effective contracts with the Hazlet Township Education Association, he said.
It can be done because he’s done it before, he said. For two years during his term on the board there was a 0-percent increase in taxes with a referendum passed, he said.
"We just have to make sure people get a bang for their buck in education," he said.
Newcomer Francis "Mick" McGrath, 46, 21 Stonehurst Terrace, a lifelong Hazlet resident, has a similar stance on fiscal responsibility, but he is running because he feels those who complain should take a proactive position on issues.
"Everybody sits around and complains and no one wants to do anything," McGrath said.
A graduate of Raritan High School, McGrath is a union steam fitter with Local 638 in New York City. He said it’s high time for him to "help out the kids and have more input in the district."
"I’ve been so involved in all aspects of my life," he said. "That’s all the more reason to do more now."
While McGrath said he thinks Hazlet schools are headed in the right educational direction, he wants to "make sure it stays that way. I’ve been around for a long time. I have a lot invested in the youth," he said.
A veteran coach of baseball, wrestling, basketball and football in the district, McGrath said his agenda is a simple one.
"I think the current administration is great, and I want to be there for them and the kids," he said.
Another newcomer to the race, but not to the community or education, is Marleen Tredy-O’Connor, 48, 17 Bucknell Drive. She is not related to Dorothy O’Connor.
A guidance counselor at Snyder High School, Jersey City, Tredy-O’Connor has a dual master’s degree in school guidance and rehabilitation guidance from St. John’s University, New York, as well as a master’s degree in administration supervision and education from New Jersey City University, Jersey City.
Tredy-O’Connor’s goal is to "enhance the working relationship between the board and the administration to provide optimum educational programs to the students."
In order to do that effectively, Tredy-O’Connor said a balance needs to be found between resources, finances and programs.
"We need to investigate alternative funding sources," she said. "If the state’s not coming through for us, we have to see what else is out there in the way of corporate sponsorships and other grants. There are all kinds of untapped resources, large and small, and every source counts."
Tredy-O’Connor said she believes that where there’s a will, there’s a way, funding or not, to "bring Hazlet academic programs forward for students.
"To do so effectively," she said, "we have to first look at economics and what can be done with our particular situation, taking one step at a time. You can’t plan to accomplish several grandiose goals without money. If the financial situation is limited, then we have to be realistic about goals, assess what we have, enhance it and work within a realistic budget, while working to further alternate financing for the future."
Casting blame for an imbalance in state and local budgeting is a counterproductive waste of time, Tredy-O’Connor said.
"Right now, the reality is that we need to pass a budget in order to provide the quality education we need to, but we can’t keep doing that (providing a quality education without state aid)," she said. "We have to look to tomorrow rather than dwelling on shortcomings for less burdensome answers to budget woes."
In addition to her professional career, Tredy-O’Connor has served as PTO president at both Hazlet Middle School and Middle Road School. She is also president of the Raritan High School Cheerleading Parents’ Association.
She serves on the executive board for NASA’s Young Astronauts Program, which she said is a prime example of untapped sources she wants to explore that provide "a wealth of free resources that are available to all. There are all sorts of little-known sources out there. I want to find them and bring them to Hazlet students."