There will be no contested races in Hillsborough’s first fall vote for school board candidates
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
School board member Thuy Anh Le won’t seek a second term on the township Board of Education.
She declined to file a petition by Tuesday’s deadline. Two other incumbents, Greg Gillette and board President Thomas Kinst, did file, as well as Debashis “Dev” Dutta of Collins Drive.
For the first time in Hillsborough, voters will select school board members at a November election and they will assume those terms in January.
Mr. Dutta, who works at Merck, formerly in information technology and now in marketing. A 13-year resident of the township, he and his wife, Nandini, have been members of the advisory Hillsborough Education Foundation since 2009.
He said he realized he had a lot of learning to do, but was excited and looking forward to it. He comes from a family of teachers, he said.
Ms. Le said she encouraged other residents “to take a turn to volunteer on the board because there are many issues to continue to work on, such as improving student performance, implementing state-mandated teacher evaluations and how to use technology effectively,” she said.
’’There have been many changes in education at the local, state, and national level during the three years that I have served and I have felt useful in helping our district steer our way through those changes in a fiscally responsible way,” Ms. Le said.
She will serve until to serve until January.
Ms. Le urged “true respect” for teachers, which she said can help them be more successful in teaching children.
”Parents’ respect for education and teachers reflects in how their children behave in classrooms,” she said. “Countries that have the highest rankings in education, such as Finland, have an innate respect for their teachers and I am concerned that our country is losing that advantage.”

