Candidates are lining up for school board election
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD — Residents who have a desire to serve the community on the Board of Education need to act now if they want to run for office in April.

A School Board Candidate Kit is available at the Freehold Borough School District’s administrative offices on Park Avenue. The kit is provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association and includes a sample nominating petition and information about legal qualifications for school board candidacy and the role of a school board member.

Information about the New Jersey School Ethics Act, important dates in the school election process and briefing sessions for school board candidates are also included in the kit.

The deadline to file a nominating petition is 4 p.m. Feb. 27.

The school board election will be held April 18.

In Freehold Borough, four seats will be on the ballot. A two-year unexpired term once held by Debra Esola and now occupied by Dave Loring will be up for grabs. Also on the ballot will be three three-year terms presently held by Ron Reich, Victoria Muller and board President Peter DeFonzo.

DeFonzo said he is not certain if he will seek re-election. He has been on the board for five years.

Reich, who has served on the board since 1999, said he will seek re-election to a three-year term. He said he feels his work “is not done and probably never will be done.”

“I will continue to work toward the goal of properly educating our children and to find a way in the future to increase the amount of education that we provide for them without passing that cost onto our taxpayers,” Reich said.

Reich said the state is not properly funding the district. He referred to a $300,000 payment from the state that was due in June 2004 that has still not been received.

“We may have to ask for assistance. We may have to become an Abbott district,” he said. “I don’t know the answer, but I do know that we have to do something. The money is not going to magically appear from the federal government to support our school district.”

The so-called Abbott districts are the 31 districts that have been designated as the poorest school districts in New Jersey. The Abbott districts receive state aid above and beyond what the other 570 school districts in New Jersey receive. Freehold Borough is not presently designated as an Abbott district.

Muller is completing her first term and said she will seek re-election to a three-year term because there is still a lot of work to do. She said there are many issues for the board to tackle, including hiring a new superintendent, hiring a new business administrator, seeking the public’s support for an upcoming construction referendum and improving students’ academic achievement levels.

Loring, who was appointed to the board when Esola resigned last fall, said he will run to complete the term.

Loring, who spent the past 26 years in the Navy, served with a bomb ordnance disposal unit. Diving demolition, parachuting and weapons training were all a part of his day for a long time. Now retired, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Deborah, and children, David, who attends Gibbs in New York City, and Devin, a freshman at Freehold High School.

Loring said he is concerned about keeping the budget and taxes in check for taxpayers. He said he was upset when the $7.8 million construction referendum was rejected by voters in December. He said he is hoping it will pass when voters are asked for a second time in the spring.

Loring said he is planning to work with other board members to focus on researching the best way to spend tax dollars.

Any other qualified resident who wants to run for a seat on the board may call the district’s administrative offices for additional information.