Asbury Park school board candidates want to know where the district money is going

ASBURY PARK - Six candidates running for three open seats on the Asbury Park Board of Education say the school district needs to audit its spending and sell off an empty school to deal with state aid cuts that have cost the district $26 million over the past seven years.

The League of Women Voters of Monmouth County hosted a virtual forum for the candidates last week ahead of the Nov. 7 election.

The Asbury Park Board of Education has nine seats. There are three seats up for election, and each seat carries a full term of three years. Candidates include residents Craig DiPaola, Denise Nadel and Will Wright, running their own campaigns, and the trio of Wendi Glassman and board incumbents Giuseppe “Joe” Grillo and Anthony Remy, running as the "Support Asbury’s Children" ticket.

Board President Carritta Cook is not seeking reelection.

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Glassman is a retired finance attorney and former vice chairperson for legal affairs at Bank Leumi, an Israeli bank based in New York City. Preceding that position, Glassman was the executive vice president and senior vice president.

Grillo is completing his second three-year term on the board. He was a development director for Sustainable Jersey, a nonprofit that helps New Jersey municipalities develop sustainable projects involving energy, transportation and other critical issues, before becoming a business development manager at New Jersey American Water. He also has a child in the district.

Remy is completing his first three-year term on the board, he was one of the candidates who formed the Children First (Asbury Park) ticket, saying they want to focus on doing a better job meeting the needs of city families, many of whom have opted instead to send their children to one of the district's taxpayer-funded charter schools.

DiPaola, a resident of the city since 2016, describes himself as someone who values civic engagement and firmly believes in the power of community. He said the city can be described as "thriving and full of promise. Unfortunately that cannot be said about our public schools."

Wright is originally from Mobile, Alabama, and moved to New Jersey after serving in the military. He has worked for numerous utility companies as both an inspector and supervisor, and he was the president for Asbury Park Pop Warner football for eight years and has been involved in Little League baseball in Asbury Park for 21 years. He is also a trustee at Good Hope Baptist Church on Washington Avenue, where he coordinates events and helps with maintenance.

Nadel moved back to Asbury Park a couple of years ago but has essentially spent her life in the city. Her mother, Rita Morano, a regular at City Council meetings, still lives in the house Nadel grew up in during the mid-1960s. Nadel wanted to make a change in the community that would ensure "the successful and bright futures" of the students. She aspires to bring "open communication and a collaborative process" to inspire real change.

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Dealing with state aid cuts

Since 2016, the Asbury Park school district has lost more than $26 million in state aid. The loss has been driven by a drop in school enrollment. As the school district raises property taxes to make up that state aid loss, that could drive more families out of town.

"We have known for years that the cuts in funding were coming and I think we failed to adequately prepare for that and live within those means," Glassman said. "We can do that if we specifically plan and identify what are true goals are, which is really the education of our kids. Everything else is secondary to that.

"We need support our programs that teach literacy," she continued. "We need to fund the arts; that is the other way we teach literacy. We need to give our teachers the resources to teach."

She added "we must dispose of unnecessary properties" such the vacant Barack Obama Elementary School on Bangs Avenue that closed in 2019-2020 or the maintenance building on Second Avenue.

Remy echoed his running-mate Glassman in regard to spending.

"When it came time to vote for more administrators, we (Grillo and Remy) voted no because we know it is not working. … We need to do what is right for the children and get them programs, more resources. We are advocating to the city, and we are advocating to the state to get us more funding," Remy said.

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Nadel said the taxpayers "are funding so much of the school budget that they are in distress."

"I have to say that the administration really needs to be streamlined and we really need to get the support people in there to work with the kids. They make the difference, the people who sit with those kids every day," Nadel said.

Wright said "we really need to evaluate the budget based on the programs and use the money wisely. That is the only way we can fix this particular problem that the school has."

DiPaola agreed with Glassman about selling unused properties.

"Sell off real estate that this school administration is holding. But I think one of the most important things to address the top-heavy administration costs. The board has the power to do this," DiPaola said. "I think we need to call for an internal audit, one that begins and ends with the request of the board. I would love to see this (administration) audited through an objective lens, see what jobs are important."

Grillo said "the district was ignored for 30 years and laid to waste because of corruption, malfeasance and disorganization."

"We voted no multiple times on redundancies and positions, most recently at the last meeting where there was an attempt to put an assistant superintendent on board, and we stopped that. I also believe in selling off the real estate that is not being used," Grillo said.

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Top priorities

Nadel said her first priority would be a "sound budget" that "takes care of all the students' needs and cuts out all the extra stuff."

"That goes with selling the properties that are unused and maximizing the facilities that we have, maybe investing in a way to rent out space on the nights and weekends to help our budget along," Nadel said.

DiPaola said his top priority is an internal audit.

"I am running on a message of hope, my ideas are being floated here. The incumbents are running on their record. … I don't know why," DiPaola said.

Grillo said he has been pushing for an operational audit for a long time but "we need the majority on (the board) in order for that to happen."

"But you start with a multi-year strategic plan that includes selling Second Avenue properties, selling the Obama school property for safe, sanitary and affordable housing for families because families are getting pushed out of Asbury Park, and the only silver bullet for your taxes going down is an increase in enrollment and ending the expensive leased offices," Grillo said.

Glassman said from that strategic plan "you identify what your actual goals are, what your mission is and how you get there. Everything that doesn't fall within that (strategic plan) is waste."

"The second thing is creating a culture of learning and excellence, for both the students and the teachers," Glassman said. "Once we do that we have improved literacy, our kids have confidence, our schools are performing better, our teachers are happier and engaged, we will get students back into the district."

Remy said "you can have the best ideas but nothing happens without majority votes."

"With (Grillo and Glassman) we would have majority vote to do the audit to keep advocating for our children, to keep doing the things we already been doing," Remy said. "Our test scores are increasing; people don't talk about that. We already have talks about relocation and repurposing buildings."

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Wright said he wants to get the board to work.

"Get the board to work together, get the board to work with the city, get the administration to work with the board, be able to work with the superintendent. We need to strengthen that particular area before we can move forward," Wright said. "Ideas are wonderful, ideas are great, but until we get a solid foundation we will keep talking about next year, next year, next year."

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com @CharlesDayeAPP

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park school board candidates want a spending audit