There are plenty of big names at the top of the general election ballot, but the most pressing poll for Robbinsville residents will appear down-ticket Nov. 8.
That’s where a ballot question appears that, if approved, would increase the township’s open space tax 1.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. For the average home in Robbinsville—$365,000—it’d be an increase of $55 per year.
Township officials, including Mayor Dave Fried, have asked residents to approve the measure so the township can preserve two parcels of land.
One is the site of Miry Run Country Club. A battle over the second parcel, 220 acres on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road, erupted in September when the developer began working on an approved 50-home development on the property. Fried, in September, said the township would file to condemn the property in November, once council approves the necessary funding.
The developer, David Henry, has said he will not go without a fight. As part of that, the developer’s parent company hired a public relations firm to start a campaign called “Robbinsville Grow Green Grow Smart.” The campaign petitions against the tax increase, arguing it is unnecessary since the developer has promised to save 165 acres of the property as open space. The 50-home development, known as both Washington Woods and Edinburg Village, would be built on the remaining 55 acres.
Five candidates are running for three seats on the Robbinsville Board of Education. The winners receive a three-year term. Below are the candidates’ biographies followed by their responses to questions posed to them by the Robbinsville Advance.
Thomas W. Halm, Jr. (incumbent), 46, is an attorney and partner at Hill Wallack LLP in Princeton. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Seton Hall University, and his law degree from Seton Hall School of Law.
A Robbinsville resident for 12 years, he has been a member of the Board of Education for the last nine years and board vice president for the last two. He is the chair of the Facilities, Finance, and Transportation Committee and the Negotiations Committee. Halm sits as a member of the board’s Ad Hoc Security Committee.
He currently also serves as a trustee of the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County and for Ryan’s Quest. Halm formerly served as the Mayor’s representative to the Robbinsville planning board and was on the Master Plan Rewrite Subcommittee.
He has three daughters (ages 13, 11 and 9) in Robbinsville schools.
Noushin Kanani, 48, is a medical technologist and lead flow lab specialist at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. She has 25 years experience at the hospital. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, and master’s in public administration from the University of Phoenix.
Kanani has lived in Robbinsville for 14 years, and is an active participant at Board of Education and township council meetings. She is the founder of “The Voice of Robbinsville” Facebook page, and a cofounder of Robbinsville CommUnity Club. She has two daughters: 18-year-old Melody, a graduate of Robbinsville High, and 15-year-old Milana, a sophomore at RHS.
Keith Kochberg (incumbent), 43, is president of digital at Mercury Media, and a graduate of Towson University. He has lived in Robbinsville for 10 years, and served on the Board of Education for four years. He has two children—one at Pond Road Middle School and one at Sharon Elementary School.
Jane Luciano, 54, is principal consultant and owner of Lighthouse-Consulting Partners, LLC. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Douglass College and her master’s degree from Rutgers University.
A Robbinsville resident for 20 years, she has three children: a son in 9th grade at Robbinsville High, a son in 7th grade at Pond Road Middle School and a son at Rowan University (RHS alumnus). Her husband is township recreation director Joe Barker. Luciano has volunteered as a religion teacher at St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church, a Cub Scout leader, on the HR board for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and as a back-up driver for Meals on Wheels.
Matthew T. O’Grady (incumbent), 44, is the municipal finance principal for Piper Jaffray in New York. He has lived in Robbinsville since 1999, and has been a school board member for nine years. He is involved in the Robbinsville Little League, Robbinsville Soccer Association, Robbinsville Wrestling Association, Hamilton Soccer Club, and RWJ Hamilton Finance Committee. O’Grady has three boys: Murphy and Nolan are 6th graders at Pond Road, and Colin is 4-years old.
Why are you running for the school board? What makes you qualified for a seat on the school board?
Halm: The Robbinsville School District is at a critical juncture, and I want to continue to serve the taxpayers, students and faculty in order to make sure that it stays on track to become one of the premier school districts in the state.
As a member of the board, I have been involved in every aspect of our school district’s progress, including participating in the recruitment process for our last superintendent, Dr. Steven J. Mayer; negotiating three different contracts with the Robbinsville Education Association; working on the referendum for the construction at Sharon Elementary School and Pond Road Middle School; and devising strategies necessary to bring in alternate revenue sources which have enabled the board to save millions of dollars while providing the district with needed facility improvements including upgraded security systems at all schools, new playgrounds at Sharon and Pond Road, and the replacement of the Robbinsville High turf and track. The Board is once again starting the process of recruiting a new Superintendent and Business Administrator, as well as entering into negotiations with the teacher’s union. We constantly face the pressure of producing a high achieving school district, but doing so in a cost-effective manner.
My experience successfully serving this community in all of these areas over the last 9 years gives me an advantage, as there is no learning curve. I can simply hit the ground running and be immediately effective. In addition, my career as a creditor’s rights attorney and court-appointed receiver in Ponzi scheme cases gives me the necessary critical eye when reviewing budgets and financing, which has been a benefit to the board.
Kanani: I decided to run for the board since I strongly feel I have a lot to offer to the community from the years of dealing with different strategies at RWJUH. My heart and love and concern is for the kids, from their well being through their education and safety. Their awareness of all they will face at each stage of their lives until they graduate and start a new chapter of their lives is my main concern.
I believe the teachers and administrators have a lot to contribute not only for the education but for mentoring the kids throughout their whole lives.
My education, my experience and my Lean Six Sigma training and strategic planning will bring a capable hand to unit the parents, teachers and students to the BOE to work together to make our township number one in New Jersey.
The challenge that currently is facing our board is paying enough attention to the gap that exists between our kids and their families in their level of education and understanding, diversity, and their frustration that comes from lack of communication between elected officials, parents, teachers and the community as a whole. I am a foreigner who is an American citizen by choice for the past 31 years and understands diversity everywhere I go, work, meet and live. Our board must become a diverse board. We have different ethnicities in our township. It is time our Board of Education shows their acceptance and support of their diverse families in Robbinsville.
Kochberg: My motivation for running for a seat on the Robbinsville Board of Education includes ensuring that we continue to provide all possible resources for our students to prosper in and out of the classroom. As a parent of two students who have many years left in our school district, I feel this is an opportunity to continue to contribute and give back to the community. Over the last 5-plus years, the Robbinsville School District has grown in size and stature due to the hard work of our administrators, educators and support staff.
For any organization to fulfill its goals, a certain level of continuity is needed, and therefore I would be privileged to continue as a part of the Robbinsville Board of Education. Having built a business over 15 years, I possess leadership, team building, technical, planning and financial expertise, which has provided useful to the board.
Luciano: I really enjoy making our community better. My husband, Joe Barker, heads recreation for Robbinsville Township, so I have had the opportunity to meet many people in the community and volunteer.
All three of my boys will pass through this system, so I have a vested interest in Robbinsville schools. Being on the school board is all about the kids. There is no greater cause than education of our children. The board is charged with providing the best possible education for all the children in our district and doing it within the confines of a responsible budget. For me, that is a very worthy mission and something I would like to be part of. I have been a corporate leader. Now, I feel it’s time to be more of a community leader.
After leaving corporate America, I wanted to have more balance in my life, more time for my family and community service, as well as, work. Starting my own consulting company has allowed me to try a variety of service opportunities over the last two years, serving on Trenton Area Soup Kitchen’s HR board, volunteering as a back-up driver for Meals on Wheels; helping plan the 74th Annual Philadelphia USO Gala and our first food truck event. Also, I spent 9 years as a religious education teacher at St. Greg’s and 5 years as a Cub Scout leader in town.
The BOE election presents a unique opportunity for me to combine 30 years of corporate experience in Human Resources, learning, budgets, productivity and leadership with my passion for community service. Being on the school board is all about the kids. As the former head of Global Learning and Development, I have experiences and skills that will translate nicely to school board; for example, determining and developing the capabilities that will make kids successful; managing big budgets and diverse groups of people; and attracting, developing, rewarding and retaining top talent.
The exemplary education I have received afforded me the opportunities to explore my interests and strengths. This directly contributed to the success I have had in my career. Education is always the catalyst to success. This is what I want for my children and all of the children of Robbinsville.
O’Grady: I’m running for the school board in an effort to keep Robbinsville Schools moving in the right direction. School districts need stable leadership within the administration, and we are facing some very big decisions as a board. We are actively looking for a new Business Administrator, and we could be embarking on a Superintendent search as well. These are arguably the two most important positions within the school district. My experience in conducting these searches within the board construct will be extremely beneficial.
Sustainable growth for Robbinsville schools depends on leadership continuity within the school administration, and I will work with the board to make sure that happens. With solid leadership in place, the board and I will work hard to deliver academic excellence while maintaining fiscal discipline.
What is one challenge facing the school district that you believe deserves more attention?
Halm: One of the district’s critical challenges is the need to concentrate on more effective recruitment and retention. With Dr. Mayer’s passing and the departure of our Business Administrator, it is more important than ever that the district start the search for its next great visionaries and leaders. In the meantime, with the beginning of negotiations with the teacher’s union, it is also important that we make a concerted effort to find ways to recruit and retain the amazing faculty who work with our children every day.
Like so many other things we face in this district, our financial constraints affect our ability to recruit and retain the most talented professionals. I believe that we need to concentrate our efforts over the next couple of years to find ways to rise to this challenge.
Kanani: We are losing many good teachers to our surrounding districts. It is time to find out why and how to stop the leak of our good and powerful teachers to our neighbor districts. We must bring the competitive edge back to our school system to give our students the tools and help that they need to compete.
New Jersey government is broken, and has many flaws, one being unfair to townships like ours. They have not and continue not to pay our fair share of budget per pupil for our school. I want our board and our township council to work on this issue together.
Kochberg: As a district with high standards, there will always be challenges we must face. Public education is an environment with fixed resources and strict regulation. Often times, if there is a perception that a challenge is not given attention or popular resolution, it is actually driven by resource or regulation guidelines.
That being said, the district must continue to think outside the box to address the increasing student population, resulting pressure or class size, and retention of quality educators.
Luciano: One challenge that I feel passionate about is teacher retention. We have far too many top teachers leaving our district for other school districts in the area. We need to figure out why and come up with solutions that will stop this. As an experienced human resource person, I have looked at retention and engagement in a number of organizations.
Although there are many proven strategies and tactics to consider, we must first seek to understand why some teachers are going or even looking and then pick the right strategies and tactics to try.
O’Grady: I wish Robbinsville Schools only had one challenge to focus on. The biggest challenge is helping everyone understand how many issues the district faces on a daily basis. Finding the proper balance between competing interests like what we’d like to do, what we need to do, what’s mandated, what makes sense, what’s sustainable, what we can afford, and what can’t afford is a constant balancing act. It’s these issues that create the need for creative thought and collaboration. It’s also why being a good board member requires commitment and command of all the issues because they are all interrelated.
Are any areas in the school district budget that need to be looked at in order to reduce expenses? Are there any programs you would like to see added or improved?
Halm: Over the last nine years, the board has required the administration to institute zero-based budgeting. This has been very effective in reducing unnecessary and duplicative expenses. Every year we examine ways to make the district more efficient and to find ways to lessen the fiscal impact on our taxpayers without detrimentally effecting the quality of the program. As it has become more difficult to cut the budget, one of our solutions has been to find new recurring revenue sources such as the RED program and our solar initiative which enable us to fund new initiatives or improvements to our facilities without having to ask the taxpayers for larger tax increases or to seek funds through additional referendums.
If re-elected, I pledge to continue to explore alternative revenue sources. I would like to find ways to continue to restore foreign language classes for our elementary school which were cut several years ago and to further expand our very successful engineering program to the middle school. In addition, I would like to find ways to further supplement offerings at our high school to provide every student with an experience that they are passionate about.
Kanani: There many grants and awards for schools if they participate in different programs. We are not aware of most of them. This is a part of the budget that needs to be looked into.
Also, we have our teachers that are on complete awkward pay increase. They have unions that we negotiate with, but it seems like we do not value the good teachers as they should. Many teachers left due to the salary differences that they received from other townships. Our teachers must show their perfect report card same as any other employment that gives employees yearly evaluation. We cannot and should not treat all the same, and it seems we do. That is the part I would like to look into on the budget.
Kochberg: Having been a part of many budget cycles, I can say that all areas of the budget are reviewed and considered in the decision making process. Every year, difficult decisions need to be made, and they are thought through by the administration and board with input from the public. Everyone in Robbinsville wants the best for our children. Unfortunately due to legislation, the economy, the state funding process and the growth of the community, there are never enough dollars to fund all existing efforts and add as many programs as we all would like. Therefore, I would like to see the same rigor applied to the budget going forward as I have seen over the past four years.
Luciano: We need to look at the whole budget to see if there are opportunities to ensure that every dollar is aligned with the goal of providing the best education to the children of our community and get the most for our tax dollars. Just like in corporations, where their shareholders require fiscally prudent spending and productivity savings annually, the BOE has the same fiscal responsibilities to our community with a school budget that makes up such a large portion of the tax base. Decision-making always has to be made through the lens of what is good for the children of our community in terms of their education.
In terms of new programs, there are three I think raise to the top of the priorities. I would like to see us build more executive functioning skills, emotional intelligence and continue in the direction of the skills being identified as the 21st century skills into the curriculum. I would like to conserve or redirect some money for retention and engagement of our best teachers. We need to come up with an ongoing preventive maintenance plan to keep our facilities in good shape. Fixing small problems will help us avoid more costly major overhauls in the future.
O’Grady: The school budget is constantly being worked on. In years past, that wasn’t always the case, but the current board has worked long and hard with the administration over the last eight years to instill this consistent focus. Budget season is a yearlong effort, not just three months.
Working within a two-percent budget cap and being grossly underfunded with regard to our state aid for over a decade has required extreme creativity and fiscal discipline. Truth be told, there are several programs that we’d like to expand and grow but we simply can’t afford it. Without sustainable revenue beyond what we already have, we will not be able to hire the necessary teachers to facilitate these initiatives.
I recently met with the Commissioner of Education to discuss these issues and raise awareness that Robbinsville needs their help to continue to be a high performing school district. I’m hopeful that we may get some assistance, but I’m also grounded in the fact that our reality has been fairly consistent for the last decade. In any event, our reality will not dissuade me from working hard for our students and our residents.
Effective communication between the district and parents and students is crucial at all times. What role does the Board of Education play in ensuring that the district’s vision and implementation are well understood by parents and students? Is it fulfilling this role well?
Halm: In a community of busy professionals like ours, I don’t think it is surprising that taxpayers do not have the time to come to the monthly Board meetings all that frequently in order to hear about the district’s vision for itself and the implementation of that vision.
When I joined the Board, I did not believe that it made enough effort to really get information like this out to the public. As a result, we have made real efforts to reach out to the community in different ways in order to keep our citizens informed. We now post the audio of our meetings on the district’s website and our meeting minutes (which are also posted online) are significantly more detailed than in the past. The Board has also charged its Community Relations Committee to come up with new methods to reach out to the community and for the community to reach out to us such as the School Connection Forum.
The district has made great improvement in this area, but there is always room for improvement. In the next term, I would like to see if we could utilize new media better to keep the community involved and get feedback.
Kanani: The best way to communicate the crucial information, change of protocols, and different agendas with parents and students is through open forums during the school year, open letters to parents, close contact and Q and A sessions with the students. The information should not only be discussed during the teachers/parents conferences, and it should be shared with all students through out the year. Parents have ideas and expectations that must be discussed with the board and teachers in a brainstorming environment and all sides should be open to share and accept ideas.
After years of asking and demanding this from our board, they are just starting to see my point and started to have gatherings with parents about different subjects.
Kochberg: Effective communication is critical in any organization, public or private. One of the Board of Education’s responsibilities is to set the vision and communicate it properly to all constituents—residents, administrators, educators, support staff, students, etc. My experience on the Board as well as my professional experience leading a digital media business, provide insight as to how difficult it can be to get our message out.
The Board has taken all the right steps in providing transparent communication in the form of calls, letters, emails, social media usage and public board meetings. Unfortunately, in today’s culture, there is incredible media fragmentation, and we need to continue to explore all forms of communication until we get our message received more broadly. I encourage residents to attend Board meetings and to read all Board minutes that are posted online.
Luciano: The Board of Education plays a critical role in partnering with the school to develop the vision for education in the district, oversight of the implementation of that vision and working with the school administration to listen to the community, communicate and answer questions.
There are a number of ways the school board fulfills this role, like open school board meetings where the public has an opportunity to listen and comment or ask questions, participating in school connection forums with members of the community to gather input and communicate strategies and programs and representing the school at many events and answering questions on behalf of the school to all the constituent in the community. There are many good channels for communications already and the BOE is doing a very nice job already. I would like to see us continue to look at all the stakeholders, explore new channels for communicating, measure the effectiveness of the methods and ensure understanding of the vision and buy-in from stakeholders to help us get there.
O’Grady: Effective communication starts with consistency. People need to know what the protocols are and how information is processed. The board is always working on improving communication so everyone feels connected to the school district.
The digital age has created a multitude of platforms for districts to communicate, and we are always tweaking things so we deliver information in formats that they find convenient and user friendly.
With that said, the school board has been working with the administration to increase communication continuity and quality so that each building leader uses the same protocols. Earlier in the year, the administration added oversight of district communication to an existing position within the central office. One of the first initiatives was to revamp the district website.
As board members, our biggest communication challenge is raising awareness about the issues the district faces and then making sure every voice is heard. No one likes to make decisions in a vacuum, and without transparency and collaboration students and residents run the risk of being underserved. As a board, we will continue to work hard to involve all of our stakeholders in an effective and cogent fashion.
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Noushin Kanani,
Matthew O’Grady,
