for Farmingdale position
Kraft, Leimbach square off
in bid for Howell board seat
Lavin runs unopposed
for Farmingdale position
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
HOWELL — Two candidates are running for the right to represent Howell on the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education. Voters will elect a candidate on April 15 to serve the three-year term.
The candidates are Terry Kraft, who is currently one of Howell’s two representatives on the board, and Joan Leimbach. Residents of Howell and Farmingdale will vote on Howell’s representative.
Kathie Lavin, the board’s representative from Farmingdale, will run unopposed to fill an unexpired term to which she was recently appointed. Residents of Farmingdale and Howell will vote on the Farmingdale representative.
Examining his goals for the district, Kraft, an executive with a New Jersey trucking firm, said, "I hope our technology hardware is fully accessible to our students so they may enhance their learning with these aids on a regular basis. I also hope to have advanced placement courses accessible via Internet and distance learning centers to ensure students the ability to take courses they are qualified for anywhere in the district.
"We also need to make sure that all sending district students have eighth-grade skill levels that are at or above district standards for incoming freshmen," he added. "Those students who are not up to level need intervention to get them up to grade ASAP. All students should grow educationally and emotionally each year they are in our system. Supporting that effort is a priority."
Regarding the issue of building a seventh high school in the district, Kraft said he headed a committee two years ago that supported a new school in Howell and possible land acquisition in Manalapan in the future.
"I still support the seventh school and look forward to having new demographic studies soon to show the continued need," he said.
Kraft also had some ideas about how the district could help hold the line on rising school taxes.
"In reviewing the needs of our students, board members also have a responsibility to our communities to be frugal," the candidate said. "In this economy many people, particularly senior citizens, are having a hard time making ends meet. This year we have pared our budget to reflect lean times. We have an additional 1,000 students over the last two years.
"We set aside 40 new teachers for this, but have reduced that to 10," he added. "The cuts we have made are painful. We must make due with less. The real answer to limiting property tax growth is to limit sprawl. [We must] make developers pay for additional schools and roads and promote industrial tax growth."
Leimbach, who has been attending board meetings for the past year and has spoken out on a number of issues relating to the operation of the district, commented on her goals for the regional school system.
"If elected to the board, the restoration of the public’s trust in the FRHSD is a goal I would hope to achieve," Leimbach said. "Years of litigation, repetitive redistricting of only Howell students and questions about whether or not all students in the six high schools in the district have had equal access to all programs has certainly chipped away at the public trust. The question is how can it be restored?"
Leimbach, who is a registered nurse at Bartley Health Care, Jackson, said she will take a hard look at where the district is spending its money.
"It will be a challenge to find relief for the property taxpayers of the district," she said, "but certainly one area to trim is legal expenses. The more than $200,000 spent this year on legal fees could have translated into much-needed roof repairs, four or more teachers salaries, sorely needed text books or the addition of the dreamed for swim team at Howell High School."
Another goal, explained Leimbach, would be to audit information about all six schools to determine if there is balance in all class sizes, faculty tenure and course offerings, and the analysis of standardized test scores to determine the basis of disparity among the six schools.
"After all," she said, "the ultimate goal of this district is to provide quality education to all students."
Leimbach said, "I believe Howell voters will find that my involvement on the [2001 redistricting committee], my appointment by the Howell Township Council as liaison to the FRHSD and attendance at FRHSD board meetings have demonstrated my qualifications and commitment.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Kraft’s commitment to his town and to the district is disappointing. His attendance record shows he missed nearly one-third of all meetings in the past two years. Under his tenure on FRHSD, Howell students have been subjected to repeated redistricting; the record shows that Mr. Kraft voted yes on all three redistricting motions for Howell over the past five years," she said.
As to why he may occasionally miss a board meeting, Kraft said he has to travel out of state at times on business. He said he has made every attempt to be at all board meetings. He said he missed six meetings in 2001 and six meetings in 2002. The board holds at least 24 regularly scheduled meetings each year [two per month], plus additional workshop meetings as necessary [generally one per month).
Kraft added, "Mrs. [Bonnie] Rosenwald is unfortunately supporting Mrs. Leimbach, and I find that to be a bit inappropriate due to the fact that she [Rosenwald] is the Marlboro representative and having influence in my town and Farmingdale. I don’t think that’s advisable."
Rosenwald responded, saying, "Under no circumstances will I take a position, publicly or privately, regarding any election in Howell, nor, for that matter, do I have a position one way or another that I can express."
Leimbach also said, "Without the benefit of recent demographic studies, I can only speculate that Howell, which already sends half its students outside the hometown school, would have the greatest need for a seventh high school. However, the district must be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers and demonstrate that every seat in every school in the district is utilized before asking the public for more money to build. With the anger and distrust generated over the recent redistricting and $69 million expansions, now is definitely not the time."
Running unopposed for the Farmingdale board seat, Lavin said, "A board membership is a rewarding and complex public office. Policy making, school administration, school finance and budgeting, school-community relations, collective bargaining and relations among the board, superintendent and staff are essential aspects of being a board member. These responsibilities reinforce my belief that the equal weighted system should exist, one vote per representative.
"The federal court [mediator] must resolve the [voting] apportionment dilemma. We are a board for all students in the Freehold Regional High School District," she said.
"I believe this board has been diligent in establishing a conservative budget without affecting the education of our 10,000-plus students and dedicated teaching staff. Our goal is to establish a positive and productive environment for our students," she added.