Ten Candidates Vie For 3 Seats On Westfield School Board

Caren Lissner
·14 min read

WESTFIELD, NJ — With 10 schools to deal with and the coronavirus situation constantly in flux, the Westfield Board of Education has some big decisions to make this year.

Who do you think should be making those decisions?

Currently, 10 residents are running for three spots on the school board. Residents can choose any three on Nov. 3.

Below are the profiles from the Westfield schools' website, and here is a link to the video of a recent candidate forum. These profiles are in the candidates' own words.

The candidates are (in alphabetical order by first name, for variety):

David Sexton (Bright Futures slate)

David Sexton is a resident of Westfield since 2012 and a software engineer and manager in financial services. He has 2 children attending the Westfield Public Schools.
David has a M.S. in Information Systems from Stevens Institute for Technology, a M.A. in English Literature from Boston College, and a BA in English Literature from Stonehill College.

In addition to working as a software engineer and manager in financial services for 25 years, David has worked at different times as a teacher in K-12 and College. David has also worked as a reporter for various news organizations. David is also an Eagle Scout and 8-time marathon finisher.

Deborah Feldman-Kahn (Bright Futures)

Deborah Feldman-Kahn is married to Stephen Kahn. Their twin daughters, Abigail and Jordan attend Westfield High School. The Kahn family have been residents of Westfield for over 12 years. Deborah has been a Girl Scout leader for the past 10 years. When her children were at Franklin Elementary School, she volunteered as a parent teacher of art, nutrition, and anatomy and assisted in the lunchtime drama program.

In college, she authored and produced New York City’s first public education video on poison prevention in children. She received a BA from the University of Rochester in Health and Society and an MD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. She completed an internship in pediatrics, a residency in radiology, and fellowships in both interventional radiology and body imaging. As an attending academic radiologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City and Rutgers University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, she was extensively involved in the education of residents. She served on education committees, drafted curriculums, and helped train over 100 practicing radiologists across the country. She has been honored as Teacher of the Year. Most recently, Deborah has worked on health insurance guidelines.

Eldanydia Pavon

Eldanydia (Eldy) Pavon was born and raised in West New York, NJ. Ms. Pavon is a first-generation Cuban American and the first in her family to attend university. Educated in the West New York public school system, she went on to receive a B.A. from William Paterson University and a Law degree from the University of Cambridge.

Ms. Pavon, her husband Andrew, and their two children moved to Westfield in 2013. Their search for a welcoming and inclusive community, with educational excellence, landed them in Westfield. In the years since moving to Westfield, she has immersed herself in the community and in being an active participant in her children's education.

Her children attend ECLC and Jefferson Elementary School. In addition to her volunteer work with several committees at Jefferson Elementary, she has also served as a Board Member for the Candlelighters, a non-profit organization that raises funds to provide programming and essential therapies for children with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.

Ms. Pavon is a Title Officer at Title Masters, LLC a Westfield-based title company.

Kent Diamond (incumbent)

Kent Diamond has been a resident of Westfield for 15 years. He and his wife, Carolyn, enjoy living in this wonderful town with their two elementary-aged children Natalie and James. Elected three years ago, Kent is a current member of the Board of Education. Presently, he is the chairman of the Finance Committee while serving on both the Curriculum and Technology & Communications committees. This past summer, Kent was one of two Board members on the District Restart Committee, which planned for the reopening of schools this September. In previous years, Kent has served on the committees for Facilities and Policies while also acting as the Board of Education liaison for the Westfield Memorial Library.

Kent brings an open mind to the BOE. When issues arise, he gathers as much information as possible, talks to those people he represents, considers the financial impact, and supports decisions that best serve the Westfield school community.

For the past 23 years, Kent has worked at Dow Jones, spending time in both Finance and the Print Operations group. He is a driven financial leader with extensive experience in setting strategic direction, financial planning and operational analysis, resulting in increased profits. Kent earned a BS in Economics from Rutgers and an MBA in Finance from Seton Hall.

Kent believes in giving back to the community. He is a founding committee member for the annual Miracles for Myeloma 5k race. In seven years, this race has raised well over $500K that finances grants to doctors to conduct cancer research. Recently, Kent also spent three years on the Rutgers Big Data Advisory Board.

As an experienced board member, Kent looks forward to continuing his service to the Westfield Board of Education, the school district, and the Westfield community.

Leila Morrelli (Preparing Tomorrow's Leaders)

Leila Morrelli was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from CUNY Brooklyn College. Mrs. Morrelli holds her Certificate of Clinical Competency from the American Speech and Hearing Association. She and her husband moved to Westfield in 2006 after the birth of their first child. They wanted a town with an excellent school system and a warmhearted welcoming community. In both ways, Westfield has exceeded their expectations. The Morrellis now have three children. This fall, their eldest daughter, age 14, is entering Westfield High School while their younger daughter and son, 11-year-old twins, are starting Edison Intermediate School. Currently, Mrs. Morrelli is employed by the Mountainside School District as a Speech-Language Pathologist working with preschool through middle school-age children.

As a parent and in her professional life, Mrs. Morrelli is a strong advocate for children’s individual needs. Having proudly worked in the education field for over 16 years, she is uniquely well-suited to approach a Board of Education position from the perspective of both a parent and an educator. In the position, Mrs. Morrelli will bring her wealth of experience as an educational specialist who has worked well with all stakeholders: parents; teachers/staff; administration; board of education members, and the New Jersey Education Association. Mrs. Morrelli was recently a liaison on Mountainside’s contract negotiating team assisting the district and the local union to reach a mutually satisfactory settlement. She is a member of the Mountainside Child Study Team as a Speech-Language Pathologist. She uses her knowledge of childhood development to help identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and to develop individualized education programs (IEP) to meet their needs. This summer, Mrs. Morrelli volunteered to be a member of various committees within the Mountainside School District tasked with planning to safely reopen under the COVID-19 pandemic guidelines.

As a Board member, her wish is to continue and enhance Westfield’s tradition of excellence by contributing her professional expertise as an educator along with her perspective as a parent of Westfield-educated students. Mrs. Morrelli’s goal is to continually support the students and staff to provide an atmosphere where all feel safe, represented, and included and where all have equal access and opportunity to thrive.

Paul Monusky (Preparing Tomorrow's Leaders)

Paul Monusky is a 40-year-old married father of two girls here in Westfield. He was born in raised on Long Island and is a graduate of the University of Maryland. He is also an 11-time EMMY winning Producer and Director at NFL FILMS.

His life, both professionally and personally, has primarily revolved around sports. One of the most rewarding things he has done since moving to this town has been to help coach our children on the soccer, flag football, and softball fields, on the basketball courts, and on the hockey rinks. One of the best things about sports is that there are very simple themes that always seem to be constant. Teamwork, fair play, talent, and pride, are qualities that always shine through. The members of this town exhibit these same qualities.
There are great things about this town, but there are things we can do better. From figuring out a better way to use our resources and tax dollars, to supporting our teachers more and giving them the best opportunity to help your student.

It is so obvious throughout these first weeks of school that we have some amazing teachers and administrators that work in this School District. Mr. Monusky would like to try and help continue a system where EVERYONE is included and represented in our education system to make sure we continue to be the best we can be for our kids.

Priti Dave

Priti Dave and her husband, Sandeep Talati, have lived in Westfield for over 12 years. They have two children in the Westfield schools - a daughter in 8th grade at Roosevelt and a son in 6th grade at Edison. Over the years, Priti has seen firsthand all that the Westfield school district has to offer – from the strength of the teachers and the education offered to the strong sense of community. Now she would like to use her experience and perspective to contribute to the school community.

Priti is hard-working, driven and dedicated to furthering the education afforded to all students in Westfield and believes that addressing the needs of teachers and students are essential in the success of a school district. Education does not begin and end within the regular school day and Priti believes that the school district should provide students as many opportunities as possible to be successful, both academically and socially. This can only be accomplished with the full support of and collaboration by students, parents, teachers, administrators and the Board, especially in the current hybrid school environment, where schools need to adapt as improvements to the current model are available. As a graduate from NYU Law School in 2001 and a practicing corporate attorney in New York City for over 15 years, one of Priti’s strongest traits is her ability to listen to others, collaborate and work towards the best possible outcome, and she believes this is an essential quality in a Board of Education member.

While her children were at Franklin Elementary School, Priti was actively involved with the PTO, chairing Math Night and coordinating the 5th grade plays of Shrek and Willy Wonka. As an Indian-American woman wanting to promote the appreciation of diversity, she worked with the Franklin administration and parents to implement Franklin’s first Cultural Diversity Night, where a variety of different countries were represented through food, crafts, music, games and language. Priti was able to use her experience with this event to assist with the first town-wide Cultural Diversity day held in Mindowaskin Park last Fall.

She would be privileged to serve as a member of the Westfield Board of Education.

Sahar Aziz (Preparing Tomorrow's Leaders)

After practicing law in Washington D.C., Sahar Aziz entered law teaching out of a deep commitment to education and learning. Her parents immigrated from Egypt to the United States for the purpose of pursuing educational and economic opportunity for themselves and their children. Indeed, high-quality public education was the key to the family’s social mobility. My parents arrived with minimal material resources, but through hard work, resilience, and grit raised a law professor, a medical doctor, and an entrepreneur.

After completing a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas in Arlington, Sahar received a Master of Arts in Middle East Studies and a J.D. from the University of Texas in Austin. As a practicing attorney, she represented low-income employees in class action lawsuits alleging a pattern and practice of discrimination on account of gender and collective actions alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Sahar is currently a professor at Rutgers University Law School where I teach Torts, Evidence, Critical Race Theory, Middle East Law, and National Security and directs the Center for Security, Race, and Rights. Her myriad professional experiences working with and teaching people of different races, ethnicities, and socio-economic classes have taught her the importance of possessing cultural competency for professional success in our diverse society. With nearly ten years of experience teaching at the university level, she has an insider’s perspective on the types of academic skills and life experiences that contribute towards success in college. Students must not only be academically prepared in a traditional sense, but they must also be resilient and able to collaborate with people from different backgrounds than their own. Our children will be working in a demographically diverse society and a globally interconnected economy for which they should be prepared throughout their K-12 education.

As a parent, an educator, and product of the public education system, Sahar deeply appreciates the service of those on the school board when she was a student. She hopes to pay it forward by investing in the community’s public education system. Working together through a growth mindset, we can continue Westfield’s tradition of excellence in education to the benefit of all students.

Sonal Patel (Teacher + Progress + Compassion)

Sonal Patel has a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from Lehigh University, a Masters in Education in Educational Leadership Instruction, and is Certified by the New Jersey Department of Education to teach K-12 mathematics.

As a professional educator, Mrs. Patel has been a middle school math teacher in Edison Township for the past 17 years. As a teacher, who has interacted with thousands of students and parents over the years, Mrs. Patel is well versed in the intricacies of public school education, curriculum, and staff development.

As a parent, Mrs. Patel has 2 boys in Westfield High School (and formerly in Tamaques Elementary School and Edison Intermediate School) who are involved in sports, music, theatre, and scouting.

With her significant background and education, Mrs. Patel is well equipped and informed of the practical realities, possibilities, and promise of public schools in our community.

Wendy H. Rogers (Bright Futures)

Wendy Rogers would like to thank you for taking the time to consider her candidacy for this year's School Board of Education election, along with her running mates Dr. Deborah Feldman Kahn and Mr. David Sexton.

Wendy has lived happily in Westfield for 6 years. Prior to moving to Westfield, she had the opportunity to experience many school systems as a result of being part of a military family. The experience of watching her children attend schools both stateside and overseas has given Wendy the chance to see how different schools work with and for their communities, as well as how they do not. In her view, out of all of these school districts Westfield is far above the others in many ways.

Wendy and her husband Tony have three children currently in the Westfield schools, and have recently had the blessing of a very young cousin join their household who may also have the privilege of one day obtaining an amazing education here in Westfield.

The motivation behind Wendy's school board candidacy is directly related to her experience with our school system. Having two children with IEPs, she has witnessed all three children flourish and obtain exactly what they need to be the most successful version of themselves. Unfortunately, she also sees (on social media and elsewhere) that not every parent in town has had the same amazing experience, especially with IEPs. This is her motivating factor. Wendy wants to see every parents' concern be heard, and that their children receive what they need to be the best version of themselves as well. With your vote, Wendy and her running mates will be there to make sure parents and children are truly heard, as well as to encourage diversity and inclusivity in our schools and hopefully the community as a whole.

Related information:

More information on the election can be found under the board tab on the district website https://www.westfieldnjk12.org.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To be the first to get news alerts with breaking stories in Westfield, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters.

This article originally appeared on the Westfield Patch