The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education election takes place on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Three of nine seats are up for election. Three candidates filed to run by the July deadline and appear on the ballot: Shayna Sackett-Gable, Liz Callahan and Will Meyer. Two candidates, Jeff Bennett and Anthony Mazzocchi, announced a write-in campaign on October 7. Village Green is posting letters of support for all candidates: Deadline for submission is October 31 at 5 p.m. Read our guidelines here. Read all our election coverage here.
Will Meyer and I first met working street corners. Not THAT kind of street corner – the campaign canvassing type of street corner.
If you’ve ever campaigned, you know you can spend hours with the others listed on the ballot. You not only get to know each other, but you get to see first hand how each person engages with residents.
Will listens with empathy, he’s thoughtful, he’s smart. He’s an attorney and facts and data matter. He is also an expert at Special Education law, an important board skillset as we look to better the services to our children.
Will has also impressed me with his intentionality in connecting with people in our towns across political divides. We know how partisan our BOE elections can be; Will just wants to focus on the work.
Liz Callahan and I first met in 2020 when schools turned remote. We shared a frustration for the communications coming out of the district, and Liz and partners took it upon themselves to watch the BOE meetings and create digestible social media slides to share the information with the community. She saw a challenge and how she could help, by taking district speak and explaining it to confused and frustrated parents. She also has nearly 20 years experience working in schools as a behavioral consultant.
Shayna Sackett-Gable’s resume speaks for itself – lifelong resident, CHS graduate, former Seth Boyden teacher, and past Co-President of the PTA President’s Council, which is the link between the PTA and the Superintendent. I think it is imperative that all voices have representation on our school board – especially our teachers – and Shayna hits all the buckets. She was a student here, a teacher here and a parent here. Not to mention she’s intelligent, thoughtful and drama-free.
I believe we need smart, collaborative people on our Board of Education that listen with empathy to all stakeholders and work with the entire board and the Superintendent to better our schools for our youth, our future leaders. I thoroughly believe that Will, Liz and Shayna are these people.
I’ll proudly be voting for Sackett-Gable, Callahan and Meyer for Board of Education this year, and I hope you do too.
Feature photo: Will Meyer, Maplewood Deputy Mayor Deborah Engel and Shayna Sackett-Gable (not pictured: Liz Callahan)
