In Parsippany, crowded field seeks school board seats in Morris County's largest district

PARSIPPANY — Three incumbents are among a crowded field of candidates vying for seats on the township board of education in the Nov. 8 election.

Parsippany is Morris County's largest municipality with 56,000 residents. The school district operates 14 schools, including two middle schools and two high schools serving more than 7,000 students with an operating budget of about $166 million.

Seven candidates are seeking three three-year terms: Incumbent Andrew Choffo leads a slate that includes challengers Jack Raia and Yvonne Ferise. Incumbents Alison Cogan and Kendra Von Achen are running with Michelle Shappell. Falgun Bakhtarwala, running independently, completes the field.

The race has mirrored hotly contested school board races throughout New Jersey, with the state's new health curriculum standards a major dividing point, along with questions on how to teach history and diversity in the classroom.

The health standards set broad requirements which local districts then choose how to teach. They don't mandate sex education in the early grades, but call for discussions on debunking gender stereotypes by second grade. Fifth graders are expected to know “the connection between sexual intercourse and human reproduction,” whereas earlier standards discussed puberty.

Eighth graders are now expected to know definitions of vaginal, oral and anal sex, where earlier standards limited classroom education to broader topics like sexual attraction, contraception and pregnancy.

The Daily Record and USA Today Network New Jersey asked candidates in select races how they felt about those standards and other issues motivating them to run. What follows are excerpts of the answers from Parsippany candidates.

Andrew Choffo

Choffo is an HR executive with 15 years of experience on the board. He has two children who previously were schooled in the district.

Priorities for the Choffo-Raia-Ferise ticket: "Provide a commonsense approach to education; protect parental rights; develop fiscally responsible budgets; provide a secure environment for our children to learn; create policies and set goals that increase student achievement; enhance academic and co-curricular programs; support special education; invest in technology as a teaching and communication tool."

Choffo on the new sex-ed curriculum: "I believe that this curriculum sexualizes children, especially at the elementary school level. Children do not need to be exposed to the graphic extent this curriculum is requiring. The state is literally robbing the innocence of our children. This is why I have added the protection of parental rights to my goals. Parents need to have a voice."

Choffo on whether the district's curriculum is generally too liberal, too conservative or about right?: "I consider the district's curriculum to be about right in many areas. I do believe that we need to do better job at celebrating what is great about our society and culture, instead of focusing on past mistakes. I believe that the Board not only has a role in what is being taught, but how."

Alison Cogan

Cogan is a CPA who has been on the board since 2014. She has one child in the district, one out of the district and three more who are recent graduates.

Cogan's priorities: "My top goals would center around safety. Providing a safe place for children to learn and grow needs to be a priority. In my opinion, safety not only includes protections from physical violence and bullying, but it also means creating an environment where students feel like they can share their thoughts and opinions. We have a very diverse district and celebrating everyone's unique qualities is not always easy. It is important to me that school staff have the supports they need to provide a safe learning environment.

Cogan on sex-ed standards: "The standards provided by the state are adaptable to each district. I believe our district has done a very good job providing curriculum that is age-appropriate and covers the necessary topics. I do believe more discussion on this particular curriculum is needed to ensure that parents know what is being taught at each grade level. I am concerned about the amount of false information that is being circulated on this topic."

Cogan on politics and the curriculum: "Our district's curriculum is slowly changing to match our diverse population. I believe the more we encourage open communication and a willingness to learn from each other that the district curriculum will reflect the priorities and values of our residents."

Falgun Bakhtarwala

Bakhtarwala is an electrical engineer with two children in Lake Parsippany School and a strong interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

Bakhtarwala's priorities: "With my S.T.E.M background and professional experience, I would work with my fellow board members and superintendent to help students to: gain pandemic learning losses; eliminate wasteful spending in the district and be frugal with taxpayer money.; [achieve] smaller class sizes and student-teacher ratios; implement advance learning tools and technology for students and teachers."

Bakhtarwala on sex-ed standards: "Elementary age students are young children. It is not appropriate age to expose sex education those young minds."

Bakhtarwala on politics and the curriculum: "Board of Education's sole responsibilities [are] to serve all children in Parsippany school district. Board must be independent. Boards must operate Parsippany school system without any outside special interest."

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Jack Raia

Raia is an accountant whose youngest child graduated from the district in 2021.

Raia's priorities: "Parental Choice, fiscal responsibility, resist woke education."

Raia on sex-ed standards: "No. Inappropriate for young children."

Raia on politics and the curriculum: "It's a little too liberal. Would like to see the board maintain a conservative leaning."

Related:Sex, diversity, 'divisive' books are focus of Parsippany school board candidate forum

Michelle Shappell

Shappell is an accountant with one child in the district and experience coaching, mentoring and supporting youth through the PTA and PTSA, classes, clubs, and sports.

Shappell's priorities: "The diversity in our town is our biggest strength. It is our duty to provide all students with a safe environment where they can receive a robust education and feel represented and supported. Through careful scrutiny of our budget to provide those resources, we can make best use of our taxpayer dollars. Different views are what bring out the best innovation and progress. Ensuring that the board operates in a respectful, non-partisan manner will allow us to achieve our potential and deliver for our students, educators and community."

Shappell on sex-ed standards: "I don’t think people really understand what the standards are. I strongly encourage all voters and parents to read the actual standards and not depend upon only what they are hearing through the media or other contacts. I do support the district enacting the state’s enhanced Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Student Learning Standards."

Shappell on politics and the curriculum: "Education, like general society, is ever evolving so it is good practice to regularly evaluate what changes we should be considering. I would be committed to the representation of all students in our incredibly diverse town throughout our curriculum."

Kendra Von Achen

Von Achen is a functional architect and salesforce implementer with two children in the district. She is seeking her second term on the board.

Von Achen's priorities: "Continue our board’s efforts to be more transparent and communicate more with the constituents of our district. I will be proactive and push for all key holidays celebrated by the different groups in our district to be reflected on the school calendar and celebrated in some way in the classroom. I will also do everything I can to keep politics out of the classroom and district. Students should not be caught in the middle of political battles fought by adults around them!

Von Achen on sex-ed standards: "I feel our district did an amazing job at ensuring the curriculum was age-appropriate for each grade/level. ... I feel it is too soon to determine what changes, if any, should be made, since they just began to be implemented this September. As things stand today, I have no reservations about this curriculum being presented to my children.

Von Achen on politics and the curriculum: "I don’t look at our curriculum as liberal or conservative. I look at what content we are teaching our children, how it is being taught, and the student performance metrics. I believe in teaching students life skills and critical thinking (not to be confused with critical race theory which is not taught in any K-12 curriculum.).

Yvonne Ferise did not respond to the survey.

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

Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Parsippany NJ school board election preview: Who's running?