Five residents of Marlboro came before the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education on Feb. 23 to seek appointment to an open seat on the board.
Gordon Loeb The seat of the Marlboro representative was left vacant when Katie Goon resigned from the panel earlier this year.
There are nine members of the board: two from Howell and one each from Colts Neck, Englishtown, Farmingdale, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Manalapan and Marlboro.
The five people who were interviewed for the appointment for the Marlboro seat were Gordon Loeb, David Wolff, Barry Hochberg, Robert Nivison and Stacy Kleinstein.
At the conclusion of the interview process the board selected Loeb, 46, a managing associate at Emerald Financial Resources, Freehold, to fill the seat for the next month.
In the school election on April 21, residents of Marlboro and Colts Neck will vote to elect a resident of Marlboro to serve out the remaining two years of Goon’s term.
The candidates for the Marlboro position were not available at press time. The deadline to file a nominating petition to run for the seat was 4 p.m. March 2.
All of the candidates said they wanted to continue the FRHSD’s mission to educate the children of the eight sending municipalities.
Loeb, who has lived in Marlboro for 12 years, said he coached and managed Marlboro Little League baseball and Marlboro basketball teams for a number of years. He said he was recognized by the township as its Volunteer of the Year for 2008.
During his interview with the board he made reference to the Marlboro Teen Advisory Committee, a group he helped to organize a year ago. The committee seeks to give young people a chance to play a role in their community.
When asked by a reporter why has he dedicated so much time to Marlboro’s young people, Loeb said, “I am a true believer in providing our youth with the best environment and opportunities to allow them to grow and to become a positive force in our community and beyond.
“It is truly a privilege to have the opportunity to work with the motivated teens in our town and to coach them to develop their leadership potential. I am glad that I was given the opportunity to teach many children about teamwork, leadership, sportsmanship and passion,” Loeb said.
“Seeing the teens in our community step up and become proactive leaders, combined with the support for the Teen Advisory Committee from the Senior Advisory Committee, the Marlboro Alliance, Mayor Jonathan Hornik, the Township Council and the community as a whole is what continues to inspireme to dedicate my time to working with the youth of our town,” he added.
Loeb said that as a member of the school board he wants to focus on what is important to the students. With a background in finance, he pledged to exercise fiscal responsibility.
“My work in financial services coupled with my past corporate and entrepreneurial experiences will allow me to apply my analytical and creative skills to board issues,” he said.
When asked by a board member how would he spend surplus money found in the budget, Loeb said, “Technology. We have to have the right technology in the classroom.”
Loeb has a son who is a sophomore at Marlboro High School and a daughter who is in the sixth grade at the Marlboro Middle School. He said his objective is to help Marlboro’s students.
Wolff is a physician who said he believes he has a lot to offer. During his interview with the board, Wolff said he would be able to contribute his expertise in dealing with substance abuse and treating troubled teens. He said he has no personal agenda and is not looking to benefit financially from serving on the board.
Nivison, the retired transportation director for the FRHSD, said that what initially drove him to apply for the appointment was the negative publicity the district has been receiving in recent months on a variety of issues.
“I have been reading some very depressing and disturbing news” about the district, he said. “I know a different story that should be told.”
In recent months Hochberg has spoken out at board meetings on a number of issues that have come up in the district, specifically an issue surrounding the awarding of advanced degrees to administrators and other staff from an online organization that has since been discredited.
Hochberg said he has experience as a board member with the Freehold Jewish Center, Freehold, and said, “I can help to do better than what’s here.”
Kleinstein, said she has been a public school educator for 18 years. She said she wants to do what is best for the educational needs of the students and the community.
She said she has twins who will be entering the FRHSD this fall.
“I want to be part of the decision making process to help our children grow,” Kleinstein said.
In the April 21 school election the seats presently held by Bunny Hammer, the Freehold Borough representative; Joan Leimbach, one of Howell’s two representatives; and Patricia Horvath, the board president and Manalapan’s representative, will be on the ballot. Those seats will be for a three-year term. The unexpired two-year term for a Marlboro representative will also be on the ballot.

