Morris County school board races feature many candidates but few choices in some districts

Increasing political divides fueled a surge of board of education candidates last year, when previously incumbents often enjoyed little or no competition in some districts, while other districts did not attract enough candidates for all open seats.

Following this week's deadline to file for school-board races in November, that surge appears to have leveled off in Morris. Only 19 races in 40 school districts, covering all 39 towns in the county, will see contested races. That compares to 26 contested races in 33 districts last year.

Residents of many towns also will find it hard to vote for change: Of the 157 school board candidates for 104 available seats on the 2023 ballot in Morris County, 24 incumbents in 14 districts face no competition to retain their respective positions.

The good news: Only three Morris County board races do not have enough candidates to fill all seats, one each in Boonton, Rockaway Township (Morris Hills Regional District) and Wharton,

The following is a quick snapshot of some of the more interesting races.

Parsippany Board of Education

Morris County's largest municipality has the biggest field of candidates − 12 for three seats. Two incumbents, Matthew DeVitto and Kendra Von Achen are running for re-election while Debra Orme is not. Notably, Von Achen is a former member who was appointed last spring to temporarily replace Timothy Berrios, who resigned his seat when a family member was hired by the district. Berrios is running again, as is another former board member, Andrew Choffo.

Nilesh M. Bagdai, Falgun Bakhtarwala, Balakrishna "Bala" Samaga, Cassandra Cogan, Wendy Wright, Nicole Dellafave, Lily Benavides and Deitria Smith‐Snead complete the field

Roxbury Board of Education

After a spring semester that saw huge crowds pack board meetings that reflected the national debate over the inclusion of LGBTQ+ books in the school library, six candidates are filed to compete for three seats. The field includes incumbents Heather Champagne and Anne Colucci. Joseph Bocchino is not running for another term.

Champagne is leading a Kids First ticket with Dan Masi and Kimberly Schwartz. Colucci is on a Back to Basics ticket with Valerie Galdieri and Camilo Bonilla.

Free speech is another topic the candidates will debate as a lawsuit brought by the Roxbury High School librarian against residents she claims defamed her in public over the book-banning issue proceeds through the courts, with discovery tentatively scheduled for the fall.

Hanover Board of Education

After the Hanover board found itself embroiled in a court battle with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin over a controversial parental notification policy, the three board members up for re-election have bowed out of this year's race. Six new candidates, representing two tickets, will vie to replace them.

Christina Dunne, Brian Gibbons and Karen Mascolo fill the "Focus on Education" ticket. William McCabe, Christopher Mattessich and Michelle Stricchiola represent the "Students Matter Most" ticket.

The original version of the new board policy laid out criteria that teachers were expected to use to inform parents about concerning behavior exhibited by their children related to a range of problems, such as eating disorders and depression, but also sexual orientation and gender identity.

But the Attorney General's Office, which sued to stay the policy, said in June that even a revised version of the policy submitted by the board would still unlawfully discriminate against LGBTQ+ children.

Complete list of 2023 Board of Education candidates in Morris County

• * denotes incumbent

• Boonton (3 seats): Jennifer Darling*, Brianna O'Halloran

• Boonton Township- (3 seats): Benjamin Mills, Heather LeVar*, Christine Cabana*, Grace McBride*

• Butler (3 seats): Cassandra Haddad, Katarzyna Figura, Marta Hoedt, Jason Karpowich*, Mike Gogel, Jonathan Jorda, Jane Tadros

• Chatham (2 seats): Jill Weber*, Michael Ryan*

• Chatham Township (1 seat): Bradley W. Smith Jr. *

• Chester Township/West Morris Regional (1 seat): Natasha Chandler*, Srividya Ramamurthy

• Chester Borough/Township (3 seats): Misrain Beltran, Carolyn "CiCi" Byszewski*, Erick Arostegui, Suzanne Dundon, Michael Barish

• Denville/Morris Hills Regional (1 seat): William Maher

• Denville Board of Education (3 seats): Won James Kim*, Dino F. Cappello*, Michael W. Andersen*

• Dover (3 seats): Krista Seanor*, Lorenna Garcia, Angela Ramos‐Gama, Victoria Pinales, Maria Solines, Washington Pro

• East Hanover/Hanover Park Regional (1 seat): Michael Lomio*

• Florham Park (2 seats): Kristina Heinold*, Stacey Sabatos*

• Hanover/Hanover Park Regional (1 seat): Michael C. Pombo

• Hanover Board of Education (3 seats): Christina Dunne, Brian Gibbons, Karen Mascolo, William McCabe, Christopher Mattessich, Michelle Stricchiola

• Harding (3 seats): George Boyan, Alexander Anastasiouv*, Abhinov Singh*

• Jefferson (3 seats): Diane Perez*, Jill Small*, Stacey Poulas*

• Kinnelon (2 seats): Jean Donaldson*, Dana Leonard*

• Lincoln Park (2 seats): Morabia Gonzalez, Jennifer Aiello*, Todd Henches*

• Long Hill/Watchung Hills Regional (1 seat): Carol Prasa*, Meri Levonian

• Long Hill BOE(3 seats): Thomas D. Grosskopf*, Kim Casev, Alexander D'Jamoos*, Justin Foster

• Madison (3 seats): Lisa Ellis, Deirdre M. Ostrowski, Eric Fontes, Dionne James, David J. Duran

• Mendham (3 seats): Catalina M. Wolfmeyer*, Stephen McLaud*, Michael Nichol

• Mendham Township/West Morris Regional (1 seat): Robert O. Strobel*, Christina Lee

• Mendham Township BOE (2 seats): Thomas Keeling*, Rekha Mandel*

• Mine Hill (2 seats): Peter Briuseo*, Brian Homeyer*

• Montville (3 seats): Michael J. Palma*, Joseph Daughtry*, Nicholas W. Agnoli, Michael F. O'Brien, Michelle Zuckerman*

• Morris Plainsn(3 seats): Shawna Longo*, Denise Rawding*, Jessica Williams*

• Morris Township/Morris School District (1 seat): Alan L. Smith*

• Morristown (2 seats): Meredith Davidson*, Elisabeth L. Wall*, Arielle Shack

• Mount Arlington (3 seats): Rachel Byrne*, Melissa L. Eckert*, Karl Svenningsen*

• Mount Olive (3 seats): William Robinson, Anthony Giordano*, Kamalavalli "Kamali" Raghuraman, Karen Fiumara, Douglas Fano, BethAnn Figueira, Jeannie L. O'Neill, Marc X. Owrzillo

• Mountain Lakes (3 seats): Tom Chiang, Sara Forman, Jennifer R. Parker*

• Netcong (3 seats): Kimberly Albensi, Andrea Almendinger, Edward J. Koster, Jayson Latham*, Walter A. Barbero*, Bernadette Dalesandro*

• Parsippany‐Troy Hills (3 seats): Matthew DeVitto*, Kendra Von Achen, Nilesh M. Bagdai, Falgun Bakhtarwala, Balakrishna "Bala" Samaga, Cassandra Cogan, Wendy Wright, Nicole Dellafave, Lily Benavides, Deitria Smith‐Snead, Timothy P. Berrios*, Andrew Choffo

• Pequannock (3 seats): Sam Ciresi*, Timothy Gitin*, Cara Shenton*, Erin Heider, Sean McShane, Kara Van Kleeff Shenton

• Randolph (3 seats): Jaime Walker*, Stephanie Levin, Meredith Kurland‐Ross (1 unexpired term): Ron Conti*

• Riverdale (1 seat): Marybeth Thomas*, Josephine Iurato

• Rockaway (2 seats): Edward Graf*, Jennifer DahlRockaway Township/Morris Hills Regional (1 seat): Robert Crocetti Jr. *

• Rockaway Township (2 seats): Alison A. McGeary, Lisa Mezik*, Olivier Borno; (1 unexpired term): Andrew J. Forst*, Noel Anderson, April Matera‐Patiro

• Roxbury (3 seats): Valerie Galdieri, Camilo Bonilla, Anne T. Colucci*, Heather Champagne*, Dan Masi, Kimberly Schwartz

• Washington/West Morris Regional (1 seat): Suzanne Bliesath, Melanie Bratton

• Washington (3 seats): John R. Oldmixon, Isabel Vieira, Jennifer Ryan, Marisa Baker, Cynthia McConnell, Laura Wengel

• Wharton (2 seats): Anthony Astrologo

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morris County NJ school board elections: See who's running