#b#Michele Kaish#/b#, a resident of the township for the past 18 years, moved to West Windsor when her husband, Harvey, who works as an attorney, needed a convenient commute to his job in Newark. Kaish also wanted to live close to her family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, but like many parents the local school system became her chief consideration.
“I contacted the New Jersey Department of Education and requested school district report cards from all the districts along the Northeast Corridor train line. The impressive statistics and reputation of the WW-P school district led us to buy our house in West Windsor,” she said.
Kaish and her husband have three sons: Michael, 19, a 2010 graduate of High School North who is currently in his sophomore year at Northwestern University; 16-year-old Jeremy, a sophomore at North; and Harrison, a sixth grader at Community Middle School.
Kaish grew up in Forest Hills, New York, and attended New York City public schools. She earned her B.A. in history from Brandeis University. Kaish worked for Griffin Bacal Inc., an advertising agency in New York, as manager of employee benefits for seven years before deciding to be a stay-at-home mom when her first son was born.
As her children grew, Kaish decided she would get back into the workforce. For the last six years Kaish has worked part-time as an assistant at a local tax preparer’s office.
Her children led to a second career that Kaish titled “school volunteer” — dedicated to WW-P over the past 15 years. “I have spent countless hours regularly volunteering in every class and school my children have attended. This includes having held every possible PTA board position and being involved in numerous other activities that support our schools,” Kaish wrote in an E-mail.
Kaish’s father worked in men’s clothing retail and owned his own stores in that industry. Her mother was a bookkeeper, and one could say that her mom’s financial management skill set was passed down. Kaish has been in charge of finances related to school projects and activities in the past, and she’s ready to call on her experience making budgetary and fiscal decisions if elected to the board.
“Whether I was planning activities or events, considering gift purchases for schools, or evaluating mini grant applications, I’ve always made decisions that maximized our resources and benefitted the largest number of students,” she says.
Teamwork is another key for Kaish, who said she has worked with parents, teachers, and administrators across the district and in a number of roles. “Serving our community by being a member of the Board of Education is a natural next step for me, and it is a challenge I am eager to undertake,” she says.
#b#Peter Abitanto#/b#. A resident of West Windsor for the past decade, Abitanto is the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Brown & Brown Benefit Advisors, an insurance brokerage firm headquartered in Philadelphia. Abitanto’s office is located in Lambertville, however, and his business has led him to have much interaction with New Jersey school districts.
“Our firm collectively manages the employee benefits for over 285 school districts throughout the state. My relationships with superintendents, business administrators, and school board members empower me with a network of resources that I can utilize to effectively assist the district. I’ve been involved in collective bargaining meetings with board negotiations, committees, and finance committees, the teacher unions, and members of NJEA,” he says.
According to Abitanto health insurance is typically the second largest agenda item in a school district’s budget. He has firsthand knowledge of the financial analysis, underwriting, and rate negotiation processes with insurance carriers for school districts. He says that experience allows him to speak with board members of other districts and research how they have addressed certain issues.
“My position requires continual analysis of internal processes and identifying process improvement opportunities. In my industry we manage conflict on a daily basis and identifying the source of the problem and implementing a plan to resolve issues are skills that will help me if I am elected,” he says.
After earning a B.A. in economics from Lafayette College in 1992, Abitanto became a manager for Moen Incorporated before moving on to Oxford Health Plans in 1996. In 2006 Abitanto joined LDP Consulting Group, which was acquired by Brown & Brown in 2008, as the vice president of sales and marketing. He says he will continue in the industry he has worked in for 16 years because it continues to change. “That keeps it interesting for me,” Abitanto said.
Connections to K-12 education helped inspire Abitanto’s run for school board. His wife, Mary, was an elementary school teacher in Linden, teaching first and second grades. She has also taught at St. Francis in Metuchen and was recently asked to be an adjunct professor for retail marketing at Rider University, where she attended college and also earned her MBA.
Mary Abitanto’s mother, Peter’s mother-in-law, also worked in education. She was an administrator for the Union County Department of Education and monitored all the schools in Union County, working side-by-side with the former Commissioner of Education Vito Gagliardi.
Abitanto grew up in Edison and attended St. Joe’s High School in Metuchen. His father worked in satellite communications after earning his masters of engineering from NJIT, beginning his career by building satellites. Meanwhile Abitanto’s mother was a dental hygienist who decided to become a stay-at-home mom.
Abitanto says one of his father’s greatest accomplishments was his work on a satellite that is now being shown at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Seven years ago his father retired, and Abitanto’s parents currently reside in Sea Girt.
Abitanto and his wife recently celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary. Mary Abitanto owns and operates a wholesale women’s apparel business called BYI. Abitanto describes his wife and himself as avid exercisers, and the couple met at a gym in 1997.
After Abitanto and his wife were married the couple moved to East Windsor in 1999. “We realized we loved the area, so we decided to move to West Windsor for the school district,” he said.
Abitanto has three children attending WW-P schools. His oldest child, 12-year-old Maggie, goes to Community Middle School and previously attended Millstone River and Maurice Hawk. Ten-year-old Sydney attends Millstone River School, while the youngest of Abitanto’s kids, six-year-old Jack, goes to Maurice Hawk School.
Abitanto is a soccer dad and coach in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association. His two girls have made dancing a priority, learning at the Dance Corner on Princeton-Hightstown Road. The family is actively involved in the Dance Corner’s activities and its competition team.
“My decision to run was based on wanting to become more involved in a community I feel very connected to, and to utilize my experience to help continue the success of the district so that my children and other children will benefit,” Abitanto said.
