Seven candidates have filed this year to run for three seats on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education. Village Green has invited each candidate to submit a profile. The following profile is from Arun Vadlamani. Read more Village Green election coverage here.
Arun Vadlamani
I strongly believe in public education and that all our children deserve equitable attention and resources. We need to provide them with a toolset that will help them bloom, become independent, and go on to make the world a better place. As a community, we must share the resources and burdens it takes to provide an excellent education for our kids. Eventually, we share in the joy of our children’s achievements.
Stability and capacity are the two most pressing issues our school district faces, and they demand immediate and urgent attention and action. The time to act is now.
Stability starts on the Board and percolates through the Administrators and the rest of the school district. We have not had a tenured CHS principal in almost a decade, and we have had 8 Assistant Superintendents of Special Services in almost as many years. Nearly a dozen administrators have been lost in the last few months, and about one-third of our teachers will retire over the next half-dozen years. I have worked hard on the board to hire a new superintendent, ensure the CHS principal was renewed and tenured, and provide safeguards to retain our teachers and administrators. Capacity means increasing resiliency in our schools. Only one person knew how to do the high school schedule, and when he was placed on administrative leave, the process fell apart. We have many such single points of failure in our payroll and transportation departments and many middle and high school subjects. The Board must support the Superintendent to ensure that we have appropriate back-ups and that all processes work smoothly and do not fail our students.
Over the next few years, the Board will be tasked with successfully completing the Long-Range Facilities Plan, as scheduled for the Summer of 2025. Completing the roll-out of the Intention Integration Initiative for all elementary and middle schools and implementing the Special Services Audit recommendations will also be key areas of focus. I am confident that my experience on the Board will be instrumental in effectively steering these and other projects to successful outcomes. My record shows that I have the strength of character to build up our public school system with a long-range vision for it to thrive without getting distracted by fleeting issues.
I have volunteered in the SOMA community for over a decade. I am particularly proud of my role as the Girl Scout cookie distribution coordinator for the entire district of over 60 troops. As a father of a recent CHS graduate (class of 2024) and another daughter entering CHS (Marshall, Bolden, and SOMS), I have volunteered extensively in our schools, specifically bringing in STEM topics such as AMC 8 math competitions and robotics to middle school students. I love engaging with enthusiastic students on Pi Day (3/14), Star Wars Day (5/4), and computer coding during Hour of Code events.
I have lived in South Orange for 21 years with my wife, and we have two daughters. My daughters studied in the district, with one graduating from CHS in 2024 and the younger one starting in CHS. I am grateful to the community and the school district for allowing my daughters to grow on all developmental axes. I am proud of my hometowns in SOMA for having invented Ultimate Frisbee and Sloppy Joe, winning Olympic medals in fencing and more awards in the arts than one can count.
I look forward to a future Nobel Laureate from SOMA.
I work on Wall Street, creating trading algorithms and large-scale trading systems to help clients execute stocks and futures contracts effectively while reducing their trading costs. I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Mumbai and did graduate work in Computer Engineering at the University of South Carolina.
I am running with Dr. Qawi Telesford and Bethany Joseph. For the last three years, Qawi and I have been effective and close partners in confronting all the issues on the Board. We have built up a fantastic working relationship as we faced district problems. Bethany joins our slate and brings many years of service to the community. She is a business owner, social worker, a CHS alum, and a parent of kids in the school system. She has significant leadership experience as the Board Chair of the SOMA YMCA. I am proud to stand with both of my running mates, who care deeply about students’ welfare and outcomes. Together, the three of us can ensure a stable Board majority that supports the new superintendent in reaching district goals for the benefit of students so our district can rebuild and thrive.
