MONROE — Seven candidates are vying for the three, three-year terms available on the Monroe Board of Education in the November election.
Incumbent Marvin Braverman is seeking his seventh term on the board; former board member Louis Masters is running for a second term; and candidates Anand “Andy” Paluri, Rupa Siegel, Richard Gibbons, Peter Tufano, and Krishna Tekale are seeking their first terms.
Board member Frank Russo is not seeking re-election.
Louis Masters, 47, who is an 11-year resident of the township, is married with four children.
“Our board is at a crossroads, split by political infighting and personal disagreements,” he said. “If something is not done presently, I feel irreparable damage will be done to our students and community.”
Masters said he can bring business acumen, management expertise and educational experience to the board.
“I feel I can use a combination of these skill sets to ensure that our students receive a thorough and efficient education while also efficiently making use of state and local funding,” he said.
If re-elected, Masters said he would like to focus on communication, internally and externally.
“I feel the board needs to work on its internal communications to better work as a team that represent the needs of the students and school district to the citizens, taxpayers and parents of the community,” he said.
Masters said board members could utilize communication workshops and coaching programs.
“[The board needs to work on] external relationships with local and state government, to champion the students and ensure the needs of the school district are fairly represented and funded by collaborating with local government and testifying at the state level,” he said.
Masters is employed as an information technology/cloud and developer operations manager. In the community, he previously served on the Board of Education from 2010-13, he serves on the Parent Teacher Association, serves as a recreational soccer coach, serves on the township Zoning Board, serves as a committeeman, served as a member of both ad hoc committees examining growth in the community for the district, served as a member of multiple strategic ad hoc committees, and served on the Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission.
Anand “Andy” Paluri, 55, who is a 12-year township resident, is married with two daughters.
“I’m running because the Board of Education is fractured into two groups, I can’t think of a more important election than this year’s election,” he said. “A voice of reason is needed to bring both sides together to improve communication, coordination and collaboration. I am committed to working towards educational excellence while being fiscally responsible.”
If elected, Paluri said he would like to focus on bringing additional funding to the district.
“I have established relationships with elected officials that I can leverage, as I have already done in 2018,” he said. “I will also work as a liaison between the planning board and [board] to better plan for future [board] needs.”
Paluri is employed as an engineer. In the community, he serves on the Shade Tree Commission, has served on the Planning Board for eight years, is a founding member of a community group, and serves on the board’s fair funding committee.
Rupa Siegel, 45, who is a nine-year resident of the township, is married with two sons.
“My main goal for running for a seat on the Board of Education is to assist in the process of re-focusing the attention on our children, providing them with the highest level of education possible,” she said. “For an enhanced student experience, we need to provide ongoing professional development for our teachers, the more they learn, the more knowledge that is imparted on our students. As we continue to enhance our school system, we do need to be conscientious of our unique community economic dynamics. We are all taxpayers, who want to see our monies being used appropriately and efficiently with the best academic rate of return on our investment.”
If elected, Siegel said one of her top priorities is re-focusing the board on the students and the education system.
“In my opinion, there are multiple ways to improve efficiency and strive towards academic excellence,” she said. “I believe that even with the growth in population, we can creatively work together to achieve our school district goals. Over my past nine years, as a parent volunteering in multiple capacities, I have built relationships in our school district and community. These relationships will aid us in enhancing the student experience as we work together to build an exemplary school system our whole community can be proud of. I want to be part of the solution, working with the board members and the school administration to achieve academic excellence.”
Siegel is employed in training and development/human resources/project management. In the community, Siegel served in the parent teacher associations at Barclay Brook/Brookside elementary schools and Monroe Township Middle School; she is a parent member of assistant superintendent, supervisor and principal search committees; served seven years with the District Wellness Council; is a member of the board’s pillar committees on communication and curriculum; and served as a member of the board’s first ad hoc committee on growth.
Krishna K Tekale, 44, who is a four-year resident of the township, is married with one son.
“I have attended every one of the board meetings for the last two-and-a-half years,” he said. “I am dismayed at lack of transparency, accountability and efficiency. The board does not believe they are accountable to taxpayers and the board does not hold the district administration accountable.”
Tekale said there is no transparency in the board’s decisions or spending, which is against the ethics of the New Jersey School Boards Association.
“The board handles one thing at a time,” he said. “The key stakeholders in public education – the children – are affected, and their future sacrificed at the altar of politics. The taxpayers are not getting the best return on their tax dollars.”
Tekale said he felt he was given three options to either sell his house and move away from Monroe, do nothing and go back to the grind, or contest the board elections and make a difference.
“I choose my path forward, contest the Board of Education and make a difference,” he said.
Tekale said there are multiple ways he can contribute if elected.
“Using my experience of managing large programs and budget, I can create and establish process(es) in place to better handle our budget, priorities and plan for a rapidly growing township,” he said. “I understand the expenses and the categories of expenses and will run them against comparable towns. Using this we can eliminate unwanted expenditure. I will get the community engaged by pushing to open with open agenda and allowing parents to voice their opinions. Alternatively, I can push to have open agenda meetings once a month to get the community engaged.”
Tekale said the engagement with the community will also help the board understand situations at the ground level.
“The board can also leverage this engagement to write letters to state representatives, and force the state to release additional funding to the school district,” he said. “All subcommittees should publish their discussions and agreements to the website. This will help eliminate the secrecy around mundane facts. [The board should] work with teachers and educators as equal partners in providing the best education to children.”
Tekale is employed as director of product management for Cloud Solutions. In the community, Tekale has volunteered with various charities, he attends board of education meetings, and translates the proceedings for his community.
“I have worked with the community and have gotten many of the community members to send letters, call the representative offices demanding fair funding,” he said. “The funding from the state has increased by $2 million due to the efforts of everyone in this community.”
Peter Tufano, 47, who is a 10-year resident of the township, has five children.
“I am a homeowner and of course a taxpayer,” he said. “I love living in my town and I want the board to be more fiscally responsible. I am afraid it is becoming impossible for some to keep up with their tax bill.”
Tufano said he is running for a board seat because he does not want the board to fall victim to local politics.
He is a small business owner based in Monroe.
Candidates Marvin Braverman and Richard Gibbons could not be reached by press time.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 6.
