Former South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education members Jeff Bennett and Anthony Mazzocchi have announced that they are staging a write-in campaign for Board of Ed.
The news comes just one month before election day (November 7) and as some mail-in ballots have already been cast.
Three candidates filed to run on the ballot for the July deadline: Shayna Sackett-Gable, Liz Callahan and Will Meyer. They are running together on the “Together We Thrive” platform. The three will participate in upcoming candidate forums hosted by the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race (October 9) and the Hilton Neighborhood Association (October 26).
Bennett and Mazzocchi will not be able to participate in the HNA’s candidates forum on October 26. Per moderator Suzanne Ryan: “We had a special vote at our Exec Board meeting about this. Only official candidates can participate in the forum. ” Regarding the Coalition on Race (October 9) forum, Executive Director Nancy Gagnier reported, “This forum was conceived as a less formal than usual meet and greet for an uncontested election. At this late stage, it is too late to change the format of the evening. This is a public meeting, which new candidates are of course welcome to attend.”
Bennett is a librarian; Mazzocchi is the director of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. Both men stated their concern that an uncontested election wouldweaken dialogue on important issues at a “critical” time in the district. Bennett has laid out policy positions (Bennett says he is supportive of the integration plan but “I believe the current III plan has flaws that must be closely examined” and is not supportive of further deleveling in the middle school and high schools), while Mazzocchi states that more information is coming soon via a website.
Anthony Mazzocchi and Jeff Bennett
From Jeff Bennett —
Why I’m Running for the BOE
Like many of you, I was surprised this summer to learn that the Board of Education election would be uncontested this year. As a close observer of the school district who believes it has several areas of desperate need for improvement, I was disappointed that there would not be a contest of ideas for what the best ways to bring about improvement would be.
While the three candidates on the ballot are good people, I think the community should have the option to vote for other representatives.
With that being said, I am announcing a write-in candidacy for the Board of Education.
The South Orange-Maplewood School District has long been a place where the sky is the limit for some children, who are launched on amazing life trajectories thanks to our diversity and incredible academic programs, but where many students confront unnecessary barriers and a lack of support in areas where they need help. We have a glaring internal achievement gap and growing gaps between Black students here and Black students in nearby suburbs, including ones that are lower income and lower spending. More recently, the district has fallen to the point where it has set up its own obstacles in basic services, ie how the integration plan puts undue stress and hardship on many working families.
If you do not know me, I was elected to the Board of Education in 2012, at age 32, prior to having my own children. Although I had a lot of knowledge of curriculum and gained a lot of knowledge of education law and the budget, I lacked the first-hand experience with getting kids through the district that I now have.
I bring to the Board of Education seventeen years of living in South Orange-Maplewood, public school teaching experience, a passionate interest in curriculum, a great deal of knowledge about New Jersey education law, knowledge of the SOMSD’s institutional history, deep (some would say uncanny) knowledge of NJ’s state aid law, and more time spent analyzing the III than any other candidate. I now have three young children in the SOMSD schools, a fifth grader at Bolden, a second grader at Marshall, and a preschooler in a public program. I am a librarian in my career and work in-person, as does my wife, as a principal of a public school in New York City. Our status as in-person workers with rigid schedules and without a nanny is partly why I am so sensitive to problems in the III.
As a boardmember 2012-2015 I had a leading role as chair of the Excellence & Equity Committee, in passing the Access & Equity policy, which eliminated gatekeeping for advanced classes. I also became an expert activist for fair state aid, a project I continued post-board as Research Director of the Fair Funding Action Committee. My work as Research Director for the Fair Funding Action Committee contributed to the passage of the landmark state aid reform bill S2 in 2018, which has allowed the SOMSD’s state aid gain to be one-third higher than it would have been otherwise, and huge gains for all low-wealth and working-class districts across New Jersey.
There is a steep and long learning curve in being on a Board of Education; in education law, a district’s own operations, the budget, and the BOE’s own levers of influence. Many people are elected to Boards of Education with deep knowledge of other areas of education, but having experience on a board of education is invaluable when a district is engaging in highly complex policy changes, like ours is. I believe that had our board of education had more experienced (and less ideologically hard-line) members from 2020-2023, we would have avoided several of the ill-advised decisions of the last three years.
Yet, I do not think one should vote for me only because of my past experience on the board, or that I have children, or that I have worked in education, but my ideas on making the III more accommodating for working families, my curricular ideas, and willingness to be an activist for fair state aid.
I am a strong supporter of integration in our schools but I believe the current III plan has flaws that must be closely examined. For example, the III should be modified to give parents some role in placement, like parents have in Berkeley, Montclair, and Cambridge. I believe that if a school’s start time makes it impossible for the parents to get to work or they cannot drive their child because they lack a car, that they should be able to get a hardship transfer. I also support a waitlist transfer policy that would enable kids to enroll at logistically-better schools as other students disenroll from the district, all the while ensuring that the school populations remain balanced. I also support the creation of another kindergarten section at Seth Boyden to reduce the III’s large socioeconomic distance disparities.
The lateness of busses this year is an unacceptable problem with transportation, but not the sole problem, since some bus routes are one hour long. There is also the problem that many kids who are just below the distance-cutoff receive no bussing at all. Although I know this year’s transportation problems are partly due to bad management, an underlying cause of the problem is how the students placed at non-proximate schools by the III don’t live near each other, hence bus routes must be long. Finally, the 8:53 start time of three elementary schools are difficult for parents who work in-person, while the 7:58 start times of the other schools sometimes require 7:00 AM pickups.
Of course we are a Board of Education, responsible for a range of policies, not just transportation. To this end, I bring a long commitment to phonics. I am proud I was ahead of the curve in criticizing the Readers & Writers Workshop model. I believe elementary schools tend to overemphasize reading strategies and give inadequate attention to science and social studies. I do not support further deleveling middle school math and Columbia High School.
I am not naive about what my chances are as a write-in candidate, but if you are someone who wants to make an expressive vote for someone who stands for a more accommodating integration plan and mainstream policies on math and high school leveling, I offer my name and my hard work if I am elected.
On the heels of Jeff Bennett’s recent announcement, I’m announcing my candidacy for the Board Of Education as a write-in candidate in the upcoming November 7th election. I’m happy to join Jeff in this campaign.
First and foremost, I’m very concerned about countless issues affecting our district right now. While we should absolutely thank three candidates for stepping up to run this year, I’m motivated by a deep commitment to the principles of open dialogue, transparency, and the importance of diverse perspectives in shaping our educational system, and I believe our community is missing that thus far in this election cycle. I believe that democracy thrives when citizens have meaningful choices and a chance to express their views through the electoral process; with weeks to go before election day, it’s my opinion that we are lacking that.
Even though I have been very disturbed by the vitriolic nature of past BOE campaigns, I am more worried about the consequences of a less-than-vibrant educational discourse during this crucial time in our district’s history. This campaign season has been too “quiet” for me and for others, so I believe it’s time to rekindle the spirit of democracy. I want to foster an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and where parents, teachers, and students have a voice in shaping our educational and administrative direction. I believe we need to bring a laser-like focus to our conversations on the quality and accountability of leadership in district at this time.
A contested race — I hope — ensures that different voices and ideas are heard and considered. I’d like my voice to be one of them. Whether you agree with my views or not, I believe our community deserves to hear multiple perspectives right now and decide for themselves, which is why I’m choosing to put myself out there.
Considering my decision comes deep into the season, I’ll do my best to develop a site and create opportunities to speak publicly ASAP. In the meantime, you may find a lot online about me, my history as an educational leader nationally, and my views in the district as a SOMSD student, former Supervisor of the Arts, board member, and parent.
Thank you for any support you are willing to offer over the next few weeks.
