SOUTH AMBOY – Three three-year terms on the South Amboy Board of Eudcation will be up for grabs in the Nov. 7 election. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The terms of Board President Janet Kern and board members Kevin Riley and Philip Smith expire in January. None of them filed to run for re-election.
The six candidates vying for the seats are residents Anthony Conrad, Jessica Collaci, Joan Conway, Shannon Gonzalez, Thomas Kross and Patrick Walsh.
Q: Why are you running for a seat on the school board?
“I am interested in ensuring that our children/students are adequately prepared for the world of college, work or business outside of South Amboy in the technology-driven world we now live in,” Conrad said. “I want for them to be able to approach post high school life equipped and confident in the pursuit of their dreams.”
Conway said, “I have an extensive background in education, holding a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, a Master of Arts in Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision. This combined with working as a teacher in Piscataway Public Schools and later as the director of the Visual Practical and Performing Arts in the school district led to my decision to seek a seat on the Board of Education. I bring an understanding of a vast array of challenges faced by teachers, students and parents who at times may feel lost in the system. I have worked through many of the obstacles presented with and will offer the guidance and support that comes from many years of first-hand experience.”
“As a parent of two high school students, I can see where we excel and where we need work,” Gonzalez said. “There have been some really poor financial choices made in the past and that affects how we operate today. Having worked in finance for over 17 years, I know how important it is to make lasting long-term investments for our students. It is imperative we make more financially sound choices in the future. Our students need more options academically to be competitive in college and in the workforce, but without the funds to do so, new programs cannot be implemented.”
Walsh said, “Being a recent graduate from South Amboy High School and really knowing how the school system works played a key factor in my decision to run for the Board of Education. I feel I can really make a positive impact and help our students be the best versions of themselves they can possibly be. I love my town, I love my school, and I feel based on my recent experience that I can really make a difference and help our school district and town who has done so much for me. In my senior year, I was the student body representative working closely with the Board of Education. Through this experience, I saw the power of a simple vote and I have confidence in my ability to represent the parents and students of South Amboy in the best way possible.”
Q: What would you focus on if you are elected to the school board?
Conrad said he wanted to improve academics through “indicators such as test scores and school ratings [which] tell us that we need to improve. I am most interested in strengthening our curriculum and incorporating more STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) programming and at earlier grades.”
He also said he wanted to promote a form of accountability by “making sure that we are always getting the best value for our dollars, being a small district with a small budget vigilance in this area is critical. Accountability also, in terms of evaluating student performance, using the data to understand where we are succeeding and where we can improve in real time.”
Conway said, “My goals as a board member are to introduce new initiatives and to help enhance existing programs. For example, under my supervision the Piscataway Township School District earned funding from a national Goals 2000 Grant for three years which expanded into a five-year funded program. I also wrote and managed the Perkins Grant which was directed to the practical arts areas at the high school.”
Gonzalez said, “I would like to see more technology in our classrooms. My hope is to establish a varied range of courses for our students that embody our Core Curriculum at multiple levels. Giving teachers the tools they need via updated technology gives them the ability to teach a classroom full of students at different skill levels at the same time. That being said, tackling such a task will require money that I am not sure we currently have, so looking into how we will accomplish such a goal will be first priority.
“If I have the privilege to represent my alma mater on the board, my goal is to give our students more opportunities to be successful and to address several policies and issues,” Walsh said. “One of these changes has to do with the curriculum. We should use our electives to prepare our students for the future. For example, I feel we should have more career oriented courses to help them figure out what they want to pursue after graduation. Also, I would propose at least one mandatory meeting every year with guidance. These meetings will be used to help get our students on the right path and understand what they need to do in order to apply to competitive colleges or to find a career after high school. In addition to many other ideas, I would be the voice of the parents, students, alumni and teachers because I feel it is important to present their ideas.
Q: What is your involvement in community service?
Conrad has been the board chairman for the YMCA of South Amboy for the past three years and has served on the board for the last five years. He is the board director at the YMCA of Metuchen, Edison, Woodbridge and South Amboy (MEWSA), a vestry member at the Christ Church Episcopal of South Amboy and is an assistant coach for the South Amboy High School boys soccer team.
Conway is a member of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and winner of the Supervisor of the Year Award, Art Administrators of New Jersey president and Governor’s Award Chair, N.J. Department of Education Committees for Curriculum Assessment and N.J. Visual and Edison Performing State Standards. She is the Parent Teacher Association president for the Menlo Park School in Edison. She is the Commissioner of the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission as well as a board member of the South Amboy Art District
“Upon retirement I taught an education class at New Jersey City University as well as supervised students interning in the field. In 2012 I co-founded Artsfest 2012-14 which provided me the opportunity to meet so many people in my new hometown of South Amboy and showed me how people were happy to come and enjoy their community, Conway said.
Gonzalez previously sat on the board of the South Amboy Youth Athletic Association and was on the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) executive board for eight years, serving as the PTO president for the past three.
“My overall objective, past, present, and future is to do what is best for the students in our school district by working with parents, administration and the school board to achieve our ultimate goal of student success,” she said.
Walsh was active at South Amboy High School. He was a student body representative to the Board of Education and was the Executive Board president of the Student Council.
“Through these leadership roles, I learned how important it is to not only push forward my own ideas but how to really be proactive and fight for the ideas of my fellow students,” he said. “Through a lot of hard work and support from the student body, I worked closely with the student council and as a result the school incorporated a coding class that will help our future computer science and engineering majors. I plan on using my leadership experience and knowledge of what our students need to further help implement changes that will continue to improve our school system.”
Kross and Collaci could not be reached by press time.