By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE – Voters will have a full slate of candidates from which to elect three residents to three-year seats on the Millstone Township K-8 School District Board of Education in the Nov. 8 election.
The board oversees the operation of the Millstone Township Primary School, the Millstone Township Elementary School and the Millstone Township Middle School.
The board has a send-receive relationship with the Upper Freehold Regional School District through which Millstone Township residents of high school age attend Allentown High School on a tuition basis.
The terms of board members Salvatore Casale, David DePinho, Kevin McGovern and Margaret Gordon will end in December.
Casale, DePinho, McGovern, Natalie Biello, Paula Menar, Kristin Schloss and Amrita Singh are the residents seeking the three three-year terms.
Gordon is running unopposed for a one-year unexpired term.
Singh did not immediately provide a comment when asked to do so by the Examiner.
Biello worked as a teacher before to moving to Millstone and has lived in the township since 2011. She serves as vice president of the Millstone Township Middle School PTSA and as a trustee of the Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence.
“I am seeking a seat on the board because I believe I will be able to bring transparency to the board, meaningful communication with the community, and enhance educational opportunities for all students,” Biello said. “The budget has already been raised 2 percent this year by the current board members. I believe we can offer exceptional science, math, technology, engineering and art opportunities to all our students without raising the budget any further. I do not think raising taxes is in the best interest of residents.
“I have a proven track record of building strong relationships, increasing community involvement, lowering costs while increasing profits, and expanding educational and social opportunities to the children in our district. Success comes easiest when the community is offered open lines of communication and feels their opinions and participation are a valuable part of the process. As a MTFEE Trustee and while PTO President I worked collaboratively and am proud of the strong, respectful and supportive relationships that developed between all three 3 educational organizations in Millstone,” she said.
If elected, Biello said she will focus on mending the board’s relationship with the Upper Freehold Regional School District Board of Education, ensuring full transparency from the board and engaging the community.
Casale is a product manager for Merrill Lynch and has lived in Millstone for 17 years. He served on the board from 2008-14 and returned to the board this year to fill a vacant seat.
He said he wants “to continue the positive trajectory of our district. When joining (the board) in 2008, our district was in a dark place. Not only was programming cancelled, taxes were also on the rise. Since then, the Millstone schools’ performance and culture and the stability of our tax base underwent tremendous change. I would like for our district to continue on that trajectory until the quality and reputation of Millstone schools are sought after by New Jersey residents far and wide.
“My professional background is focused on investment products; from creation to deployment into a large and complex organization. This allows me to relate to when government organizations work and many times don’t work,” he said.
Casale said he would continue to focus on producing a stable budget, addressing the number of empty classrooms in the district that are the result of declining enrollment, and having a relationship with Allentown High School that is fair, transparent and productive for both districts.
DePinho is a director at UBM Medica responsible for the development of national medical education programming, He has lived in Millstone for 14 years and joined the board in 2009.
“I want to vigorously continue the good work being done to achieve educational excellence for our children and do it in a fiscally responsible manner for our taxpayers,” DePinho said. “When I first joined the board, there were increasing taxes, inconsistent quality in education and a special services department in crisis.
“Today we are a leading district in Monmouth County and the state, with innovative programming across grade levels, all achieved while keeping the tax rate effectively flat from 2010 to 2017. Academically and financially, that is the direction I want to keep us moving in.
“I have worked in the healthcare education and information industry for many years and those experiences strongly reinforce my pursuit of educational excellence. At the same time, I have owned and managed education companies so I also value the importance of a zero-based budgeting strategy.
“I believe in balancing those perspectives within our district and working with administration to establish strict, sustainable budgets based on our educational needs and goals, and not just expand the budget and raise taxes because you can,” DePinho said.
DePinho said areas on which he would focus during another term are continuing Millstone’s push to become the highest quality school district possible in a fiscally responsible way, securing the best use of the district’s schools that make good academic and economic sense in light of decreasing enrollment, and ensuring the district has appropriate high school choices for students that are economically sound while continuing Millstone’s work with Upper Freehold Regional to promote quality, communication and fiscal accountability.
McGovern is an attorney and has lived in Millstone for 16 years. He joined the board in 2007. He has served on the Governor’s Council for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities and the Children and Adolescents Committee of the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey.
“I am running again because I want to continue the great work this board has done over the past several years,” McGovern said. “We have kept the school tax rate nearly flat since 2010 while at the same time delivering a top-flight education to our students.
“As a labor lawyer, I am often able to provide guidance to the board regarding labor-management issues. Being an attorney also comes in handy in my role as chair of the board’s policy committee,” he said.
If re-elected, McGovern said areas of focus for him will be developing options for facility use in light of declining enrollment, exploring alternate revenue sources to drive down the tax rate and expanding educational options for students and parents.
Menar is an attorney and has lived in Millstone for almost five years. She serves as president of the Middlesex County Bar Foundation and as a member of the Middlesex, Monmouth and New Jersey Bar Associations Family Law Sections. She was previously appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve in the Ethics Committee and the Fee Arbitration Committee.
“We have decided as a family that Millstone is where we want to remain for the long term,” Menar said. “Therefore, I am invested in the prosperity of this town which we have come to love. I also have two children in the district and therefore, the board of education is the perfect place for me to start my civic involvement with our town.
“I have been an attorney for 15 years, specializing in the areas of family law and wills and estates,” she said. “My years of legal experience provide me with enhanced abilities as it relates to review of contracts, legal documents, mediation and litigation experience, which would all be helpful to the current issues in our district. In addition to having served on boards in the past, I have experience in dealing with budgets, expense allocation and maximizing available resources.”
Menar said her areas of focus will be addressing a communication gap between the public and the board, doing what is best for the students of the district, and increasing the excellence of the district at large.
Schloss works at the Monroe Sports Center and previously worked in the marketing departments of several global beauty companies. She has lived in Millstone for more than 13 years. She serves as vice chair of the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Council, as the recording secretary of the Millstone Township Middle School PTSA and as secretary of the Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence. She is past treasurer of the PTO.
“I respect the work the current board members have done over the many years they have served,” Schloss said. “However, as an involved member of the community, I am aware of concerns residents have about our district and believe that a new voice and approach will have a positive impact … (I) strongly believe in trying to maintain or lower our taxes, clear and consistent communication with the district and the township at large, and transparency in what the district is trying to achieve.”
(I) have concerns about the lawsuit and the relationship with Upper Freehold Regional. (I) do not want the lawsuit (currently involving both school districts) to negatively impact Millstone students who do or who will attend Allentown. As the daughter of a teacher, education and a thriving school district have always been of utmost importance to me.
“Working nearly two decades in brand management for multinational corporations, my primary responsibility was managing multi-million dollar brand budgets and determining how to best allocate resources,” Schloss said.
“That experience will be invaluable in helping to manage the budget. I lead cross-functional work teams and am comfortable working with groups of people who have different interests and concerns, and in developing a plan of action that satisfies everyone involved,” she said.
Schloss said her areas of focus will be financial diligence to keep taxes low, improving communication between the district and the community, and continuing to create the best educational opportunities for children.
Gordon works in the maritime industry, currently serving as the executive director of safety and security at the Staten Island Ferry. She has lived in Millstone for 18 years and joined the board in 2007.
“I am seeking re-election for two main reasons, with the first being the ongoing litigation with Upper Freehold Regional and the importance for Millstone, and Millstone alone, to decide the future of where our children get educated and are afforded opportunities,” Gordon said. “Second, continued vigilance in facilities management to include the importance of our roof project referendum.
“I am also running because I believe we have one of the best superintendents who continues to inspire our district with tremendous goals to improve the quality of education and it is exciting to always be a part of that.
“I have worked in maritime operations, to include the development of processes and procedures, and the implementation of them. This aligns with the management of the district, be it new roofs, new curriculum, the root cause of problem solving and the like. I think my operational awareness has assisted this district significantly in all facets of board involvement,” Gordon said.
Gordon said areas of focus for her include high school choices that provide the best opportunity that matches with the academic excellence of Millstone students, the state of good repair of the district’s facilities, and continued opportunities for program growth while keeping budgets flat.