BOE race fields 8 candidates
HAMILTON » Incumbent school board member Michelle Episcopo is not seeking re-election to a second term, meaning at least one new member will be elected to the Hamilton Township Board of Education this November.
Meanwhile, incumbent school board members Richard Kanka and Dr. Susan Ferrara face a slew of challengers as they campaign for re-election.
The other candidates running in the 2018 Hamilton school board election include Girard A. Casale, Richard C. Crockett III, Chandler Georgiou, Sherry Morency, Janna Sheiman and Cynthia A. Simon.
Candidate backgrounds
• Kanka, of Barbara Lee Drive, is arguably the most popular board member. He received 6,379 votes as the top-vote-getter in the 2015 election and is expected to be a formidable candidate this year as he seeks re-election to a fourth term. He has served on the school board since 2009, helping move the district forward from the dark moments of 2012 when the Hamilton Township School District got ensnared under a federal investigation that exposed a culture of bribery and corruption in the township. During his tenure on the board, Kanka has negotiated fair contracts with the Hamilton Township Education Association teachers union, played a role in the hiring of Hamilton Schools Superintendent Scott Rocco and kept a watchful eye over the district’s finances and aging facilities, which will be improved over the next 12 months thanks to a voter-approved referendum.
• Ferrara, of Florister Drive, emerged victorious in 2015 by securing 5,618 votes as the secondplace-finisher that year. She is hoping to get re-elected to another threeyear term this November, running on her record of service. “The district is headed in new and exciting directions,” Ferrara said in a written statement, “and I would like to continue to support the process of change for the benefit of all of Hamilton’s students.” Like Kanka, Ferrara was also one of the eight board members responsible for the selection of Rocco as superintendent of schools. “Dr. Rocco has worked non-stop on behalf of students, faculty, staff and our community,” Ferrara said. “He has reached across tables, aisles and into other districts to form partnerships to enhance student learning in Hamilton Township.” Ferrara holds a doctoral degree in communications and is a former ABC News researcher and editor.
• Casale, of Harwick Drive, ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2016 and 2017 but hopes to break through this time around, running on the slogan “Now’s the time.” Casale did not support the September 2017 referendum, which voters overwhelmingly passed in a special election. He accused the board of “wasting money,” suggesting he would safeguard how the district spends taxpayer money if elected to the school board. The $55.4 million referendum that voters passed last September authorized a property tax increase to help finance critical repairs and improvements at all 24 of Hamilton’s public schools. “Change is needed,” Casale said Wednesday in explaining why he is running for school board this year. “The taxes are going up. The district is in shambles. I’m sorry. They keep putting people on the board who are young, so the people can control them. Now is the time for change, and now is also the time for no nonsense.” Casale described the current board as “incompetent” and promised to “shake things up” if elected, saying he would be “somebody who is going to make sure things are right and that there isn’t a click.”
• Crockett, of Klockner Road, comes from a prominent family of educators. Crockett Middle School was named after Richard C. Crockett Sr. when that school was built in 1989, and Richard C. Crockett Jr. previously served as a school board member.
• Georgiou, of Peter Rafferty Drive, is a Rutgers University student who graduated from Steinert High School two years ago. His candidacy as a college student seeking to make the Hamilton Township public school system better is comparable to former school board member Christopher Scales and current Hamilton school board member Cameron Cardinale, who also attends Rutgers.
• Morency, of Paxson Avenue, ran unsuccessfully for Hamilton school board last year. She got entangled in a local brouhaha in 2013 when then-Superintendent James Parla reported to the Board of Education that Morency had allegedly accused several students of smoking marijuana off-campus during the summer in violation of New Jersey’s anti-bullying law. Parla determined that Morency violated New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, but the school board rejected Parla’s determination, and Morency was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing and exonerated. Morency is a mother of several children.
• Sheiman, of Liberty Street, is a legal expert and active Hamilton Township Democratic Committee member. She is a graduate of the University of Miami and New York Law School.
• Simon, of South Clinton Avenue, is running on an officially bracketed slate with Crockett and Morency. The three of them hope to sweep into victory on Nov. 6, challenging the incumbents and status quo in a highly organized fashion. In addition to campaigning for a seat on the nonpartisan school board, Simon also appears to be behind a GoFundMe campaign called the “David Henderson Defense Fund” to help defend “a common citizen against the retaliatory charges of an oppressive municipal government.” Henderson, who recently tried and failed to get a new charter school built in Hamilton, filed a citizen’s complaint against top Hamilton Township officials earlier this year after Hamilton Police charged him with defiant trespass on allegations he took unauthorized pictures inside a public property on the second-floor engineering room of the Hamilton Municipal Building, which had visibly damaged and stained ceiling tiles at the time.
School board members are unpaid for their nonpartisan service, but have great power to shape public education. Board members give final approval on which textbooks students read in the classrooms, and they get to hire new employees into the school district and determine whether school board meetings should be recorded and televised in full.
When Episcopo won election in 2015, she received 4,642 votes as the third-place-finisher under Kanka and Ferrara. When Episcopo got sworn into office on Jan. 6, 2016, Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede, a Republican, administered the oath of office.
The top-three vote-getters in the Nov. 6 election will get sworn into office in January 2019 to three-year terms.