SOUTH TOMS RIVER – School board candidates are on the ballot in November, and will be responsible for policy choices on education, budget, and advocating for students and staff.
For this article, questions were sent to both candidates in the South Toms River race for a seat on the Toms River Board of Education. School boards are supposed to be nonpartisan, so candidates are only allowed a short slogan after their name. Incumbent Anna Polozzo (“Children First”) is being challenged by Mary Guarin (“Voice for Change”).
Guarin did not respond to requests to comment.
This article will also sum up the parties running for the Berkeley and Central Regional Boards of Education.
South Toms River
Polozzo is currently completing her first term on the board. “I have never held any other elected position nor do I intend to run for any other office,” she said.
“I have been a Girl Scout Leader and a soccer coach. I served as Trustee of Finance for Beachwood Soccer Club for a few years. I taught CCD at St. Barnabas Bayville for several years. I have also served and continue to serve on the South Toms River Recreation Commission. In 2016 in recognition of my advocacy for South Toms River issues with Toms River Regional Schools Board of Education then-Mayor Oscar Cradle appointed me as the Mayor’s Liaison to the Toms River Schools Board of Education. I also served on the PTO at my children’s school in various roles,” she said.
“Funding is the largest problem facing Toms River Regional Schools. This unfortunately means that funding is part of every conversation about how we can best serve our students. The district is and has been for years operating more than $30 million under adequacy, the (State Department of Education’s) funding target for a thorough and efficient education. To resolve the funding crisis we must continue to work relentlessly to stop state aid cuts the district is suffering under S-2 despite raising the tax levy as required by law each year. We must continue what has become a productive dialogue with Trenton legislators on both sides of the aisle to inspire changes in how Toms River Regional and other districts in similar economic distress are funded,” she said.
“While we pursue a resolution to our funding crisis, our Board of Education needs to maintain a strong focus on helping our administration build student capacity within the resources available to us. We need to tackle the unpleasant prospect of redistricting our schools to balance enrollment as soon as possible because some of our buildings are overcrowded while also located in areas of new development, and others have excess capacity. Redistricting is the first step towards using facilities efficiently to serve our student population as advised by Ross Haber Associates in the Demographic, Enrollment, and Facility Usage study completed in 2020. This required first step will allow program expansion in our special services department to serve more of our students without costly out-of-district placements and the much-needed expansion of academically and developmentally correct interest-based curriculum for all k-12 students while preparing our secondary students for a wide range of in-demand trades, careers, and post-secondary education. Parents and school staff in various roles will need to be included in this conversation,” she said.
When asked what she would like the district do that’s not been done before, she said “I would like to see the district focus on expanding opportunities for hands-on, interest-based programming for our secondary students. I firmly believe we can achieve this goal. The high school academies offer high achieving students access to Arts, STEAM, and Business skills and Project SPEAR offers pre-vocational training to at-risk youth, but our community needs us to expand our career exploration offerings to ensure every student in grade 6-12 has developmentally and academically appropriate opportunities to explore careers that they may not yet be aware of but will interest them.
“The district needs a real JROTC program open to all interested students and New Jersey made a huge mistake when removing vocational training or shop from general education high schools. We must recreate these opportunities. Skills learned in so called ‘shop’ class can help students establish basic proficiency in hands-on tasks for all students while having the beneficial side effect of building confidence for students who may not be academically gifted, connecting academic content to real-world situations,” she said.
“All students need access to opportunities to explore career options so they can make decisions about their futures. Kids should not graduate from high school without a clear understanding of the skills they possess and at the minimum a general idea of how they can achieve their career goals moving forward. The goal of high-quality public schools needs to be to provide a well-rounded interest-based education to all students at their ability level so they know how they will become productive citizens with a rewarding future – whether it be an in-demand trade, other blue and white-collar careers, music, theater, education, business, law enforcement, military service, or elsewhere. Some career paths will require post-secondary education but many require qualifications that can and should be earned or at least in progress while students are earning their high school diploma,” she said.
Berkeley And Central Schools
The Berkeley School Board is elected to represent the public in the matters of the elementary schools in town. Four people are running unopposed under the slogan “Building Berkeley’s Future.” Douglas Bowens, Anne Marie Trethaway, and John MacMoyle are running for three, three-year terms, and James P. Coffey is running for a one-year term.
The Central Regional Board covers the middle and high school. It is made up of Berkeley, Ocean Gate, Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.
The incumbents are running under the slogan “Honesty Integrity Safety.” Al Aires and George Dohn are running for the two, three-year terms while Edward Cammarato is running for the one-year term.
Aires and Dohn are being challenged by Merissa Borawski and Heather Koenig who are running under the slogan “Supporting Parental Choice.”
The Island Heights representative, Susan Cowdrick, is running unopposed for another three-year term.
