Former educator and current Maplewood Democratic District Leader Paul Stephan announced his candidacy for a seat on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education today.
“We have a tremendous opportunity this year to establish a productive partnership with our new superintendent. I’m running to help foster relationships with the administration and fellow Board members, build budget processes to try to avoid the kind of shortfall we saw this year, and work together toward academic excellence for all our students,” said Stephan via press release.
Election day is November 5. There are three seats on the 9-person BOE up for election each year. The three seats currently facing election are held by Kaitlin Wittleder, BOE 1st Vice President Arun Vadlamani and BOE President Dr. Qawi Telesford. Wittleder announced last month that she is not seeking reelection; Village Green has reached out to Vadlamani and Telesford to ask about their plans and will report their responses when they are received.
Deadline to file a petition to run is 4 p.m. on July 29. See more information here: https://www.essexclerk.com/_Content/pdf/School-Board-Petition-2024.pdf
From Paul Stephan for BOE:
Today, Paul Stephan announced the launch of his campaign for the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education. Stephan is an environmental attorney and a former teacher in Newark and Orange. He and his wife are first-time homeowners in Maplewood and former residents of the Academy Heights neighborhood in South Orange.
Stephan said, “Ultimately, our District should be one where all students get a well-rounded education, interact with peers from different backgrounds, and graduate high school prepared to be active participants in our democracy.” Larry Hirsch, Democratic State Committeeman and South Orange resident, said, “I’m happy to support Paul because he’s the type of person we need to ensure the needs of students in the whole district are put first.”
In addition to having been a teacher, Stephan has worked at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, and he worked on education issues at the Government Accountability Office. As a lawyer, he and his colleagues advocated in front of the Virginia Supreme Court for a trans student whose teacher refused to use the student’s correct pronouns. Stephan is also a District Leader on the Maplewood Democratic Committee.
If elected, Stephan plans to prioritize relationships and governance on the Board. “We have a tremendous opportunity this year to establish a productive partnership with our new superintendent. I’m running to help foster relationships with the administration and fellow Board members, build budget processes to try to avoid the kind of shortfall we saw this year, and work together toward academic excellence for all our students,” said Stephan.
More information about Stephan and the campaign is available at stephanforboe.com.
