Parsippany school candidates debate diversity, parental rights, development at BOE forum

Eleven candidates for three seats on the Parsippany Board of Education presented a variety of options for voters during an online forum on Tuesday cosponsored by the Daily Record, the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area and the Women's Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills

Three candidates are veteran board members - two hoping to regain previously held seats - who have joined forces on a ticket touting their experience. But other contenders said they could better represent the growing ethnic diversity of Morris County's largest school district.

Some came to the debate with resumes bursting with professional experience, including two career educators with doctoral degrees.

All of them discussed town-centric issues including ongoing residential development sure to increase enrollment in the 7,000-student district. They also tackled hot-button issues including parental rights, controversial library content and state-mandated privacy provisions for LGBTQ+ students that some districts, including neighboring Hanover Township, are challenging in court.

A video of the forum can be viewed on the League of Women Voters Morristown Area YouTube channel.

Parsippany candidates debate 'experience' vs. 'change'

Two incumbents, Matthew DeVitto and Kendra Von Achen, are hoping to retain their positions on the board. Another incumbent, Debra Orme, is not running for re-election.

DeVitto is ticketed with former board President Tim Berrios and Andy Choffo, who has spent 15 years on the board but lost his re-election bid last year.

Berrios hopes to regain the seat he gave up in May to avoid conflicts while his daughter was being hired by the district as a fourth-grade teacher. Von Achen was appointed to replace him. Attorneys now advise Berrios he can still serve while abstaining from votes that would involve his daughter.

"We know how to fund a district. We know how to work with the administration to accomplish the goals that the people of Parsippany want and the students of Parsippany deserve," Choffo said in his closing remarks.

Von Achen also highlighted her three-plus years of total experience on the board and noted all the volunteers who sit on the board have a "thankless job."

"Yet I sit here before you, asking to continue to do the hard work," she said. "We are a large and diverse district. We have students with varying needs and backgrounds. Every decision should be about the collective, not the few."

"We have a new superintendent, we need new board members," said Nilesh Bagdai, who is running with Falgun Bakhtarwala and Balakrishna "Bala" Samage on the "For Education Excellence" ticket. "Parsippany is changing. The kids are changing. The biggest challenge is the diversity in the community that has to be addressed right away."

School holidays and diversity

Bagdai referred to the current demographics of the township, 37.2% of which is Asian, according to 2022 U.S. Census figures.

Lily Benavides, an active volunteer who has grandchildren in the district, offered her services to "represent the Latino community that is growing in town." Parsippany's Hispanic-Latino community has grown to 9.3% of the total population.

Deitria Smith-Snead also noted the lack of diversity on the current board. "People pride themselves on saying how diverse Parsippany is, but it's not reflected in the school calendar," said Smith-Snead, discussing the issue of school holidays.

The current district calendar recognizes a Christmas break and days off for Yom Kippur and Eid, but not the Hindu holiday of Diwali.

"We have to make it fair and equitable for everyone," Smith-Snead said. "No one should have to petition [for] their faith when someone else's faith or high holy days are an absolute."

Educators promise 'evidence-based' leadership

Smith-Snead also offered her experience as a mother of two children in the district and as a career educator with a doctorate in educational leadership who currently serves as principal of the Pinnacle Academy High School in Plainfield.

Another career educator, William Paterson University Professor Wendy Wright, brings more advanced degrees to the table, with a doctorate in political science and a master's in public policy. "I am committed to evidence-based, forward-looking, caring and civil leadership to best afford our students, teachers and community," she said.

Completing the field is Nicole Dellafave, a mother of two students in the district, a former PTA treasurer and a 17-year teacher at Lake Hiawatha School who left the classroom in 2021 to join a family business venture. "Taking a parent's perspective and merging a teacher's perspective, I can see a few areas we should focus on. We need an approach to this board that can quiet any political noise and get down to business, supporting our kids."

Parental rights debate

With 11 candidates, the debate presented questions to three candidates at a time. Questions were submitted by the public and edited by the cosponsors for clarity and relevance to the district.

Several debate questions referred to controversies in other districts, including debates over LGBT+-themed library books in the high school and New Jersey Policy 5756, which recommends that school officials accept a student's preferred gender identity and pronouns without requiring parental notice.

Wright stressed all students should feel safe and that the balance between parental rights and a student's right to privacy needs to shift as the student gets older.

Berrios was adamant that parents are "major stakeholders" in their children's growth. "Their child, not the state, not the county," he said.

Development and school overcrowding

With 1,300 new residential units under construction in Parsippany and more to come, an influx of new students has many residents worried. Bagdai and Dellafave said they would try to work more closely with town officials to stress the burden new development puts on the schools. Smith-Snead acknowledged proactive actions already underway, including the construction of a new addition to Littleton School, but she said fiscal responsibility was crucial.

Expanding the issue to developers who negotiate Payment in Lieu of Tax deals with towns known as PILOT programs, which do not include school taxes, DeVitto brought up the PILOT for the District at 15fifteen, where nearly 500 apartments are going up.

"I think there's that need for better communication with the township administration to find ways of leveraging what the PILOT has done and being able to properly fund the schools." Von Achen said the board has limited influence in this matter but should "try to collaborate more" and "bridge a stronger relationship" with the mayor and council. Choffo said PILOTs for residential developments "are a bad idea" but said his ticket had experience forging shared-service agreements with the town.

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: Parsippany NJ BOE candidates on diversity, parental rights