Seven candidates are vying for three seats on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education in the Nov. 5, 2024 election. Village Green invites voters to submit Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. See guidelines below.
Dear Editor,
Now more than ever, our community needs Board members who are pragmatic, data-driven, and solution-focused. We need people who can defuse tensions, restore a sense of normalcy, and make Board meetings exactly what they ought to be: efficient, productive, and maybe even a little boring.
This election is a critical inflection point for our school district. With a new Superintendent who has hit the ground running, but still has his work cut out for him, we need Board members who can collaborate with him to meet the challenge, while keeping the focus squarely on delivering academic excellence for our students. Jeff Bennett, Deirdre Brown, and Bimal Kapadia are exactly the kind of candidates to achieve this objective.
As Maplewood residents and active participants in our community, we are proud to endorse Jeff, Deirdre, and Bimal. I (Josh) grew up here and am a proud graduate of Columbia High School, Class of 2000. My wife (Kara) and I visited Maplewood frequently during our 12 years in Manhattan. When it came time to move out of the city in 2021, we only wanted to raise our children in this wonderful community.
Since moving back, we’ve been involved in important discussions regarding our schools, including gathering over 1,700 signatures to reduce the elementary school busing radius from 2.0 miles to 1.25 miles. Through these efforts, we’ve seen firsthand how strong leadership—or lack thereof—directly impacts our students and the community at large.
Jeff Bennett has been instrumental in advocating for equitable transportation solutions, particularly following the challenges introduced by the rollout of the Intentional Integration Initiative (III). We have spoken with him countless times over the past few years about these and similar important issues. His commitment to fairness and accessibility for all students, along with the time he devotes to gathering data, engaging with the public, and advocating for positive change, is unmatched. We know he will bring that same thoughtful and pragmatic leadership to the Board.
Deirdre Brown, with her experience in public service and policy evaluation and passion for serving all types of learners, brings the kind of compassion and insight we need. She knows that every student deserves the resources to succeed, and her dedication to making progress on our Equity and special education recommendations, as well as improving our arts and athletics, will help ensure a well-rounded experience for all our children.
Bimal Kapadia, with his operations, media and communications expertise, offers a sharp focus on fiscal responsibility, infrastructure improvements and ensuring transparency with the public. He understands how to balance the needs of our schools with taxpayers’ concerns, and his thoughtful approach will help us maintain high-quality education options for all students and ensure that parents, teachers and students are a part of the conversation.
Importantly, all three candidates are parents of children in the district. They have real skin in the game, but after speaking with them, we are convinced they aren’t doing this just for their own kids—they care deeply about the future of our entire community.
Jeff, Deirdre, and Bimal embody the best of what our community has to offer—they represent a platform of optimism and possibilities. Most importantly, they are dedicated to doing the hard work necessary to ensure that every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed. Our district should be known for academic excellence, and Jeff, Deirdre, and Bimal will work alongside the new Superintendent to help achieve this goal.
Please join us in voting for Jeff Bennett, Deirdre Brown, and Bimal Kapadia for the Board of Education.
Sincerely,
Kara and Josh Posner
Maplewood, NJ
Letters to the Editors guidelines: Village Green publishes Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. Publishing these letters is at the discretion of the editors. We do not publish letters attacking competing candidates or any person. We aim to publish as many letters as we receive; however, if there is a large volume of letters and they are received late in the race, we cannot guarantee that they will be posted. Letters to the Editors can be submitted to villagegreennj@gmail.com. Please send as a Word or Google document, not as a PDF. Letter writers should provide their name and place of residence (town and state). The deadline for submitting a Letter to the Editor for the Fall 2024 election is Tuesday, October 29, at 5 p.m.
