I have never known any school board member who is as caring and competent as is Michele Kaish. As a former member myself, I know the challenges of serving, and I know that Michele is unique — both dedicated and skilled, with a laser-like focus on our kids’ achievement and well-being.
Michele’s commitment to fairness and her policy expertise were evident as she shepherded the board’s consideration of naming the North baseball field. She was unwaveringly objective, concerned with hearing all perspectives, and focused on the professionalism of the process. I’ve observed this same approach as she grapples with other issues — Michele always, truly always, has our kids’ best interests in mind. She draws conclusions only after hearing all the evidence and professional recommendations and weighs the costs and benefits thoughtfully. I admire Michele’s ability to be a responsible caretaker of our tax dollars while staying true to our shared values of educational excellence for all our children.
The parents, students, and residents of West Windsor and Plainsboro are fortunate to have Michele Kaish on our board of education.
Michele Demak Epstein
Blossom Hill Drive, Plainsboro
Michele came to the board after many years of PTA and other volunteer work, and has been a valued and productive board member since 2012. I had the opportunity to work closely with her on a number of committees and assignments at the end of my own tenure on the school board. She is an extremely capable, diligent, effective board member, and I believe strongly that the board needs her experience and good judgment.
Her current service as vice president of the board and as chair of the Administration and Facilities Committee requires many long hours of preparation, coordination, negotiation, and judgment, which she effectively carries out. She is a respected and productive leader whose contributions to the district are commendable.
Robert J. Johnson
Van Wyck Drive
Johnson served on the WW-P School Board from 2004 to 2013.
As a former member of the WW-P Board of Education, I enthusiastically support the candidacy of Michele Kaish for re-election. Having been her colleague for many years, I know first- hand that she brings the qualities that are needed for maintaining the highest quality of service and results to the community.
Whether in the areas of curriculum, finance, or policy, Michele never brings a personal agenda to the table. She is a thoughtful and careful listener, who properly asks for data when analyzing any situation. She is respectful of all points of view, but when she determines what is in the best interest of each and all of our children, she honestly shares her position and rationale with all involved stakeholders and votes her conscience with full public disclosure.
Over the years I watched her monitor the careful use of resources, financial and personnel, keep a watchful eye for those individuals and groups who do not have a strong public voice, and demonstrate an unusual ability to multi-task both short and long term planning skills in a collaborative manner. Experience makes a difference when it is of the highest quality and based upon a strong ethical/moral foundation.
Michele does and will represent all of the many groups within this community, but always with the focus on what is best for all of our children.
Richard A. Kaye
West Windsor
Kaye served on the WW-P School Board from 2006 through 2014.
Michele Kaish has been an important member of the WW-P School Board for the past three years. She began her tenure with the board because of her desire to maintain the high quality for which this district has been known for many years. Now she has expressed her desire to continue the work she began three years ago by running for re-election. For many reasons, I am happy that she is willing to volunteer her time and energy to such an important position.
I have known Michele for many years and in many capacities. She and I are neighbors, but I didn’t really get to know her until I had the pleasure to interact with her when she was president of the Village School PTA. As a former Village School teacher, I saw Michele handle the rigors of organizing and planning activities that served our students and our staff. During her tenure as president, Village School students and staff flourished because of the commitment that Michele brought to her position. She energized parent volunteers, and she led them to create events and activities that were entertaining and educational for the children.
Michele was always eager to seek out new ideas and to listen to others in order to create an environment in which the children could thrive. She devoted many hours to bringing the parents and teachers together in collaboration on behalf of the students. Not only did Michele organize, plan, and lead, she also pitched in to help however she could. She continues to do that now. Even though her own children are no longer attending Village School, she is always eager to participate in the school’s activities each year on Read Across America Day.
Not only did Michele volunteer her time and share her talents with the students and staff at Village School, but while serving as president there, she was also actively involved in other schools in the district. As a PTA volunteer, Michele saw the value of keeping other PTA members informed and took on the roll as the official “e-mail blaster,” sending valuable updates to parents and teachers throughout the district. That practice is still in place today: it has become an important vehicle to keep parents informed about what is happening in their children’s schools.
As a board member, Michele listens to all stakeholders in the district. She wants to hear the different views of all of those who play a part in the WW-P community, and she brings to the board the views of those who reach out to her. This requires a lot of time on her part, and it also relies on the fact that Michele’s time in this community has allowed her to form relationships that foster open communication.
Additionally, Michele’s experiences as a parent, a volunteer, a long-term West Windsor resident, and a current member of the board provide her with the background to help make decisions that will propel our district forward in the coming years. I feel confident in knowing that, at the heart of her decisions, are the students. She tries to do what she can to ensure that all of them will have access to the fine quality of education offered in all of our schools.
Debbie Robl
In my more than seven years of personal and professional experience with Michele, she has always demonstrated a clear vision for our community, setting concrete and measurable goals. She has clearly communicated her actions to our community and has kept us informed of the districts progress and challenges. Michele is a consummate team member who always works efficiently, keeping the fiscal health of our district as one of her top priorities. Michele has consistently kept her focus on student achievement and has developed policies that help ensure success for all students.
Whether talking to Michele about issues with our personal lives, the School Board, or any of her various PTA responsibilities, I have alway felt welcome to speak about any questions, concerns, or suggestions I might have with an ultimate confidence that I would be heard and sincerely listened to. Michele is a stand out in her candidacy and I have no doubt she will continue to serve our community in the most positive manner.
Michele conducts herself with such grace, dignity, and professionalism and she should be an inspiration to us all.
Patti Kuczmarski
Ellsworth Drive, West Windsor
I have known Michele since our sons were in kindergarten, now college graduates. When I first met Michele I was attracted to her open-mindedness and her natural instincts toward fairness and sound of judgment. In addition, I found her to be a warm and sensitive as well as clear-thinking.
Many years later I continue to see these same characteristics in Michele. These were once again in strong evidence at the High School North baseball field-naming school board vote in December, 2014. I attended that meeting because I had long been a supporter of naming the field after David Bachner, who had played baseball with my son at High School North.
I also attended the meeting to see what others had to say. Members of the board, as well as community members, articulated their thoughtful and heartfelt opinions. But to my mind, it was Michele’s comments that stood out. She took the position that, indeed, David’s commitment, passion, and accomplishments were substantial and continued to inspire baseball players at North and elsewhere. These were the criteria set forth in Policy 7250, and she felt that they had been more than sufficiently met to meet the request to name the field in David Bachner’s honor.
I listened to all of the board members that night and I felt that Michele’s position was the most fair representation and most thoughtful response of all. It was very clear to me that what was most important to Michele was that there had been a fair, respectful, and accessible process completed by the ad hoc committee on naming, that anyone who wished to voice an opinion on the topic had been heard.
It was also apparent that Michele had given considerable thought to the information that had been put forth on the topic. That information and the premise of Policy 7250, that the naming of a facility be on a case-by-case basis, guided Michele to vote ‘yes’ to the naming.
I strongly believe that, as a school board member in her second term, Michele will continue to provide the fair-minded and thorough thinking in making balanced and informed decisions in the best interest of the students and the community, just as she did to the baseball field naming. The WW-P district is fortunate to have such a dedicated individual on its board, one who thoughtfully and intelligently works through the issues confronting our school district.
Maureen Henriques Hase
Glacier Drive, West Windsor
For the past 18 years, Michele Kaish has worked tirelessly as a volunteer in our school district. She has held every board position on the PTA/PTSA executive boards across three schools and has spent the last three years working on the WW-P School Board.
One of the qualities that make her an essential voice on the school board is that she always places the interests of the child front and center. Each decision that she makes takes the “whole child” into consideration and addresses multiple aspects of a student’s educational experience. Michele understands that no two children are the same — and that differentiation within the classroom is crucial for our students to succeed.
Another quality that makes Michele well suited to her position on the school board is her method of decision-making. She explores the research on a particular topic and weighs the pros and cons — with respect to both what’s best for the students and what’s financially responsible to the taxpayers — before taking a position.
In the nine years I have known and worked with Michele, I have found her always to be a woman of considerable integrity who works hard to make a difference in the school community and to make WW-P schools the best they can be.
Allegra D’Adamo
West Windsor
A strong school board is a well-balanced entity that is represented by different perspectives. Michele Kaish as WW-P School Board member will continue to bring a parent’s perspective to the board. As a parent in the district, she clearly understands the challenges of students but also brings the administrative perspective with her many years of experience on PTSA boards and her recent tenure as a School Board Member. I have known Michele for 13 years now, first as a PTA board member during our Dutch Neck days and as a board member in the last few years.
Is our district perfect? Probably not. Is there opportunity for improvement? Sure. Anytime I have had concerns with a school-related issue, Michele has been one of the people I have reached out to personally. She has continued to be our voice on the board and also represented the board well on PTA. At the end of the day, it is the students (and parents) who must matter to the board. Michele brings a balanced approach to how our schools function. In my opinion the two most impactful changes Michele has influenced are:
1. The restructuring of summer assignments to make them more purposeful. She drove the initiative to ensure that summer assignments are due only during the school term and they are tested for after the first few settling in days are completed.
2. The school’s heavy emphasis on math and sciences meant fewer honors options in humanities during freshman year. Michele worked to bring the social science honors offerings, in particular world history for the freshmen in high school.
As a parent with children in the district, I personally want to have a board member who represents me and my child at the school. I have continued to have a dialogue with her and am assured that Michele Kaish is the right candidate for the position.
Kalpana Patel
Five years ago, I met Michele at a PTA meeting. While many of us were nervous at a new school, she was welcoming, friendly, and supportive. Her experience as a parent and as a former PTA board member allows her a practical knowledge of how schools work; this insight allows her to make better decisions that will impact the students, parents, and teachers.
Michele has always shown a professional and warm demeanor when dealing with the public even when responding to controversial questions and issues. Her willingness to listen lets many voices be heard. Her responses to complex questions show that she is insightful and takes time to understand a problem before trying a solution.
She has been attending school PTA meetings and other events to meet with parents and to hear what our concerns are. Michele Kaish is dedicated and committed to making our school district a better one.
Karen Sue
West Windsor
