Seven candidates have filed to run for three seats on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education in the November 5, 2024 election: Dr. Qawi Telesford, Arun Vadlamani and Bethany Joseph; Jeff Bennett, Bimal Kapadia and Deirdre Gleeson Brown; and Paul Stephan. Village Green will be publishing candidate statements, bios and profiles, as well as letters of support from candidates ahead of the election (email us at villagegreennj@gmail.com to submit a letter of support). The following statement and biographical information is from Bennett, Kapadia and Brown.
Bimal Kapadia, Deirdre Brown and Jeff Bennett
Our public schools are a cornerstone of SOMA. We’re fortunate to be part of a school district that strives to include every student and voice. We’re proud of what students achieve here, academically, creatively, and athletically. We are inspired by our engaged student body and community; energetic parent volunteers; dynamic teachers; and new, thoughtful leadership.
We are optimists by nature and are dedicated to this District and the South Orange/Maplewood community, but we recognize the District faces many issues. Student achievement has been declining compared to peer districts, and our Black students have worse outcomes than most other suburbs. Teachers, the backbone of our district, are feeling undervalued and unheard, and we risk losing great ones. Although historically known as a district that prioritizes music, theater, and the visual arts, these subjects have been deprioritized and lack proper funding. Special education is disorganized and understaffed. Parents, with talents and time to help, often feel sidelined and underutilized. We are also coming off a tough budget year with 28 layoffs, programming cuts, an unusable high school auditorium, deteriorating fields, and deferments of much-needed program enhancements.
These issues, and numerous others that our District faces, are complex. It will take true partnership among the administration, teachers, parents and students. With a combined 30+ years living in the community and children in the district that have attended PreK to 11th grade, the Brown, Bennett, and Kapadia slate has the unique perspective and passion needed to foster such partnership. We believe this experience differentiates and positions us well for success.
The problems facing SOMSD require thoughtful discussion, fresh approaches, debate, and evidence-based decision-making and monitoring. As a former board member, Jeff Bennett offers institutional history of the District, its policies, and related data. Deirdre Brown brings her policy evaluation background and Bimal Kapadia his experience in the media and arts. Together, our various backgrounds will ensure diversity of thought as we think through solutions in a creative, but also pragmatic manner. As board members, we will
- Analyze the budget carefully, identify policies where the educational payoff is weak compared to the spend, and invest as much of the budget as possible in the classroom across disciplines.
- Support policies that serve all students—high achievers and those who need academic support. We are dedicated to ensuring high expectations and standards so that students at all levels develop the skills they need to succeed, a key point raised by Dr. Fergus’ work with the District.
- Continue to fulfill our integration mission while also evaluating our system to minimize disparate impacts. A successful integration plan should center the human element, which recognizes that families have different needs, capacities, and preferences. Our district’s approach to transportation needs continued refinement, pragmatism, and sometimes just common sense.
- Ensure we capitalize on the skills, talents, and experiences of our vibrant community–especially teachers and parents. Teachers need a seat at the table and the professional development required to create and implement new programs and curriculum. We have an unbelievable creative and devoted community of parents–they are underutilized and fundamental to the rebuilding of our arts program, as well as enhancing our athletics.
The road ahead is not easy, but it is worthwhile and full of potential. The energy to progress is real. Our district has begun a new and exciting chapter with Superintendent Jason Bing, after the tumultuous last 4.5 years. We are confident about what the future holds with the right Board leadership. We want to join the Board of Education to help get the basics right, further lift up student voices, and enhance the achievement of all learners, so that ultimately, we become a district that inspires others. Include, Achieve, Inspire. We are ready to try to earn your votes.
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Biographies
Deirdre Brown has lived in Maplewood since 2016. Professionally, she is an Assistant Director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan Congressional agency. She leads teams to conduct qualitative and quantitative policy analyses on various topics to improve government efficiency and effectiveness. Deirdre, and her husband Dean, have two children who attend(ed) South Mountain, SOMS, and Columbia High School. Deirdre’s daughter, Gwyneth, sat on the BOE as a student representative in 2023-2024. In Deirdre’s spare time, she enjoys gardening and spending time with her family, which often involves attending dance or musical theater events, her children’s passions.
Jeff Bennett has lived in South Orange since 2006 and served on the BOE from 2012-2015. Professionally, he’s a research librarian who eagerly applies research and analytics to many school district and state education challenges, most recently transportation inefficiency and placement patterns in the III. After his first board term ended, Jeff stayed very involved in the campaign for fair state aid, serving as Research Director for the Fair Funding Action Committee, a grassroots volunteer group that helped get NJ’s state aid law changed in 2018. Jeffrey has three children who attend(ed) Marshall, Bolden, public PreK, and now SOMS. In his spare time, he likes reading about history, walking in the South Mountain Reservation, and exploring historic sites, mountains, and botanical gardens with his wife, Megan, and children.
Bimal Kapadia has lived in South Orange since 2016. He’s the co-founder and COO for Meadowlark Media, a startup focused on storytelling through personality driven shows, films, documentaries, and podcasts. Together with his wife, Swati, they have two children who attend South Mountain Elementary. In his spare time, you can find Bimal at one of the many public tennis courts in town or on the sideline at his kids SOMA FC soccer matches where he is also a volunteer for the program.
