With no municipal mayor or council election this year and three members running unopposed for the Education, Ewing voters won’t have too much to decide when it comes to local contests in the Nov. 4 general election.
Elections for municipal office take place every other year. Since Council President Jennifer Keyers Maloney, Council Vice President David Schroth and Councilman Kevin Baxter won reelection last year, their terms don’t expire until 2028.
And the seats held by Mayor Bert Steinman and council members Sarah Steward and Kathleen Wollert won’t be up for election until next year.
When it comes to the Ewing Public Schools, incumbent Board members Michael Miller, Nicole N.W. Harris and Daniel Angebranndt are running unopposed to reelection to three, three-year terms on the Board of Education.
Barring the appearance of a successful write-in campaign, all three are assured reelection.
The Ewing Observer asked each of the three candidates to provide biographical information and provide a statement about why they are running to continue serving on the school board.
The candidates were given free reign to write about whatever they wanted, but were issued the following issues to consider in their statements.
Enrollment and capacity
With the district enrollment increasing and potential for more students with redevelopment, how do you plan to ensure schools have adequate space and resources?
Budget and funding
How would you address the underfunding of more than $3 million mentioned in recent financial reports? What strategies should the district pursue (e.g., grant funding, local tax increases, cuts, reallocation)?Given constraints like the 2% cap on tax levy increases, what are your priorities for cutting or investing if the revenue side is tight?
Facilities and infrastructure
The district has several older schools. What is your plan for maintaining, renovating, or replacing aging infrastructure?How do you balance spending on facilities vs. spending on academic programs (staff, curriculum, technology, supports)?
Educational equity and support
How would you ensure that all students—especially those who are at risk, require special education, or come from disadvantaged backgrounds—receive equitable resources and support?What changes would you advocate for or implement to strengthen support systems?
Transparency, communication and community involvement
How often and in what ways will you communicate budget decisions, trade-offs, and the impact of developmental or facilities plans to the public?How would you involve parents, teachers, and community members when setting priorities or making difficult decisions?
Handling uncertainty
Given uncertainties such as changes in state aid, demographic shifts, post COVID effects, how should the district prepare for unanticipated financial or enrollment fluctuations?What is your approach to risk management in budgeting, such as setting aside reserves, planning for emergencies, etc.?
Biographical information and the candidates statements appear below. Miller did not respond to multiple e-mail requests to participate in this article. His biography has been compiled from past articles and the Ewing Public Schools website.
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Daniel Angebranndt, 38, is a lifelong Ewing resident, aside from his time attending college in North Carolina.
He attended the Ewing Public Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and went on to earn both his bachelor’s degree in management and a master of business administration with a concentration in accounting from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina.
Since 2013, Angebranndt has worked as an auditor with the New Jersey Division of Taxation, where he has been assigned to various departments. He has served on the Ewing Board of Education since 2021.
Angebranndt and his wife, Ellen, have two children, Zoe, a second grader, and Zachary, a kindergartner, both at Antheil Elementary School. The family are members of the Catholic Community of Hopewell Valley and attend St. James Church in Pennington.
He also devotes time volunteering with Ewing United Soccer, the Ewing Girls Softball Association and Lawrence Little League, where his children are active participants.
Candidate statement: I was appointed to a one-year post in January 2022 and won re-election for a full three-year term in November 2022.
I am seeking re-election to further advance the board’s mission and goals to create a positive and enriching educational and personal experience for all stakeholders within the district.
I want to continue to work together with administration and educational leadership to give our teachers, staff and students the tools and support necessary to provide Ewing students with a top-tier experience in our schools.
I believe we as a board need to lean on the people who are in the classroom every day and rely on their expertise on what works.
Too many times we are handed guidance from outside that doesn’t translate to or originate from the classroom. By gaining that knowledge, we can fine-tune mandated programs and curricula that are handed down to best fit our teachers’ and students’ needs.
One of my primary concerns as a board member is developing a budget that works for all parties. Developing a fiscally responsible budget is paramount to ensuring a school system is well-run and that we aren’t placing future generations of Ewing Public School students and Ewing taxpayers in an uncomfortable financial situation.
I have been involved in several budget planning processes with the board. The state legislature restricts local school districts with the 2% budget cap. This cap forces school districts to be financially creative.
My personal goal is to always develop a budget that ensures no programs are cut. That should always be a last resort after all other avenues are explored.
The district has so far fared well with the ambiguous school funding formula. The administration team has always developed several contingencies based on different school funding outcomes.
The board’s priority, in my opinion, is to always look out for our students and staff first. Furthermore, the administration and board are continuously scanning new grant funding opportunities and complying with all application requirements.
I am a member of the board’s facilities committee. Another challenge we are facing is the rising cost of construction and maintenance.
The board has worked together with our engineers and construction managers to develop a maintenance plan and future schedules for improvements.
We must balance our plan with our budgetary constraints, and up until this point, I feel the board has done a tremendous job pointing out improvement areas and strategically tackling projects.
For more information or any questions, contact me directly atdanangebranndtboe@gmail.com) or visit my Facebook page, “Re-Elect Daniel Angebranndt, Ewing Board of Education,” for Ewing schools and other helpful information leading up to and following the Nov. 4, 2025, general election.
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Nicole N.W. Harris, 58, has lived in Ewing Township since 2004. Originally from Jersey City, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and English from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.
Harris worked in elementary education for 28 years, including 23 years in the Ewing Township Schools. She was assistant principal at Antheil School for nine years and principal of Parkway Elementary School from 2007 to 2021.
She now works at The College of New Jersey in the Student Wellbeing and Health Promotion Unit, where she oversees Religious and Spiritual Life, manages The SHOP@TCNJ campus food pantry, creates health and wellness programming, and supervises 13 peer educators.
She was first appointed to the Ewing Board of Education in 2022 and is serving her second full term, which runs through 2025. At the Jan. 6, 2025, board organization meeting,
Harris was elected vice president. She also represents the board on the Mercer County Vocational Coordinating Council and serves on the Superintendent Evaluation/Board Self-Evaluation/Board Solicitor Committee as an alternate, as well as on the Negotiations Committee.
Harris is the recording secretary of the Trenton Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and serves on the advisory team for the Iota Beta Chapter at TCNJ. She is also a member-at-large of Delta Sigma Theta
Harris and her husband, Napoleon, have one daughter, Julienn, who attended Antheil Elementary School and the Pennington School. She is now a senior at Delaware State University.
Candidate statement: In my current position at The College of New Jersey, I continue to flex my educator muscles and hone my administrative skills by planning and facilitating student health and wellness presentations and events, participating in student mentoring, and coordinating the collaborative efforts of the recognized student organizations that make up religious and spiritual life on campus, while managing the campus food pantry,
The SHOP@TCNJ. Working in higher education has given me a front-row seat to some of the social and emotional needs, as well as academic skills, students must possess to be successful beyond K-12.
This shift in perspective gives me an interesting viewpoint of where students are within the K-12 education system, the place we need to get them to post-graduation, and how we get them there. This time has reinforced my belief that it is our responsibility as educators to not only prepare our students to be effective thinkers and problem solvers but also cognizant social beings.
As an Ewing Township resident, I feel the need and desire to stay connected with the educational program and continue to fulfill that desire as an elected member of the Ewing Township Board of Education.
During my three-plus years on the board, I continue to work to learn the regulatory side of local education while being a resource as an administrator with 23 years of experience in Ewing Township Schools.
Coupled with my higher education experience, it is my goal to bring an increased awareness to the board regarding building-based teaching and administration ideals, and “out of the box” problem-solving techniques.
Ewing Township School District and its board members have worked together and successfully remained within the state-mandated 2% cap increase for multiple years.
The district’s school business administrator, along with the superintendent and the board, continue to work together to create a budget that maintains current academic, supplemental and co-curricular programs while respecting the financial responsibility of the Ewing community.
Education is multi-layered, and it is the responsibility of the district to create and implement curricula that is grounded and supported in current research and meets New Jersey Department of Education standards. It is paramount that one of our top priorities is to ensure the education provided is equitable for all students.
As we continue to realize the need to support some students differently, it is important that we look at our funding structure and how we partner with local resources such as TCNJ to establish this needed support. “Providing a Foundation for Life” gives the community members an expectation that when students attend Ewing Township Schools, they learn how to be critical thinkers and problem solvers in addition to good citizens in society.
With this next three-year term, I will work with my fellow board members to increase parent awareness of and involvement in the district strategic plan.
In addition, it is my goal that together we look for new ways to increase the diversity of the teaching staff to more closely reflect the current demographics of Ewing Township. I will also work with my colleagues to expand supportive programming efforts by teachers and administrators on every level to increase the number of students of color in gifted and talented, honors, dual admission and AP classes.
I am thankful and grateful for this opportunity and am humbled and honored to represent the Ewing Township community on the Board of Education.
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Michael S. Miller, 51, was first elected to the Ewing Board of Education in November 2019 and is serving his second term, which runs from 2023 to 2025. He was elected board president at the Jan. 6, 2025, organization meeting after serving as vice president in 2024.
Miller is a 1992 graduate of Ewing High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Towson State University. Since 1999, he has been the director of tennis at the Hopewell Tennis and Swim Center.
He and his wife have three children. Their oldest graduated from Ewing High School in 2022, their middle child is a member of the Class of 2025, and their youngest is also enrolled in the district.
Miller serves on the board’s Superintendent Evaluation/Board Self-Evaluation/Board Solicitor Committee, the Sustainable Facilities Committee, and the Negotiations Committee. He has also been active in a number of community athletic, recreational and charitable initiatives.
Although Miller did not provide information for this article, the following is the statement he provided The Observer when he ran for the board in 2022: My name is Michael S. Miller, and I’ve been a lifelong resident of Ewing township. A little over three years ago {now six} I made the decision to run for the Ewing Township Board of Education because I wanted to give back to the schools and town where I grew up and reside.
The students we serve are the town’s life blood. They bring the energy, insight and vision for our future, not only as a town but as a country and world. It has been my pleasure to be on committees that are bringing about change such as the Facilities Committee.
We are in the process of completing our referendum ’18, which has brought about many new and exciting changes to the district, such as our newly renovated gyms both at the High School and Fisher Middle School, as well as our newly renovated auditorium at the High School.
Even though these projects are coming to an end, we have a number of new renovation and modernization projects scheduled. As a returning board member, it would be my honor to continue to work with this committee and plan the future both for the kids and fiscally for our community members.
In addition, I’ve been a strong advocate for or technology advancements and work in the social emotional learning of our children. We’ve been able to become a 1 to 1 device district for technology, which means every child has an opportunity to have a chrome book or iPad.
The SEL (social emotional learning) aspect is a difficult challenge, which we’ll be working on for years to come with both our kids and staff. My goal is to make sure we have all available resources allocated for them to get counseling and grow.
I look forward to continuing to serve in my position as member of the Ewing Board of Education.
