Who says there is a lack of involvement from community members in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district? You wouldn’t be able to tell if you attended the school board’s special meeting on September 16.##M:[more]##
There were a total of ten interested residents who applied for the school board seat vacated by Stan Katz in August who were interviewed by the school board during the meeting about their backgrounds, goals, and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. The board will select one of them to fill the spot at its meeting on Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Community Middle School.
Among the candidates were John Farrell, of Millbrook Drive, who the father of two children — a son, Connor Farrell, who is the star quarterback for High School South’s football team, and a daughter at Grover Middle School. Farrell worked at Ernst & Young for over 28 years and now serves as the assistant dean of graduate programs at Rider University. He has experience in teaching classes there as well. He has also coached boys’ lacrosse at the middle school level in the district and was a volunteer varsity coach at High School South last year.
Joe Jensen, of Glengarry Way, who has lived here for 10 years, also has two children — a daughter who graduated last year from High School North and is now attending Seton Hall University, and a son, who is a sophomore at North. Jensen, who works for Pfizer, also has background in construction and management and in dealing with labor unions, various construction entities, and with working on and developing contracts. He has also coached the local Babe Ruth 15s.
William Ku, of North Longfellow Drive, a 13-year resident of West Windsor, has raised three kids with his wife, all of whom have gone through the school district. His youngest is a freshman, and he has a daughter who is a junior at South. His eldest just graduated from the high school last year. Ku taught at Columbia University for 15 years, and has worked at Citigroup for 20 years, primarily dealing with corporate finance. He also has a background in working with technology. He says for the first time in four years he has some free time and just wants to give back.
Andrew Lipka, also a father of three — a son who is 22 and graduated from South and later Yale University, a daughter who is a junior at North, and daughter who is in eighth grade at Grover Middle School — lives on Partridge Run. He is an eye surgeon and ophthalmologist in Princeton and also has a background in teaching. He has also been active in the community, as a coach in the West Windsor Little League, and as a sponsor of a team. He also worked a number of years with the Yale alumni committee. He also served as an advisor to the National History Day Club at North, after his daughter, Carolyn, founded the club.
Matthew Ma, of Tiffany Court, is the father of two girls — a junior at North, and a first grader in middle school. He was educated in China before coming to the United States for his advanced degree. He worked as a researcher at the Panasonic research lab in Princeton for the last 12 years. He is also an independent consultant helping scientists and engineers to create new innovations and develop strategy. He says he has experience in working with people of diverse backgrounds.
Brett Boal, of Park Hill Terrace, who has previously run for a seat on the board, has a background in statistics, analytics, and information technology. Boal, who has three daughters in the district, is an independent business strategy consultant, and has lived in the township since 1999. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in management science from MIT, and served as an assistant coach for Lightning Lacrosse. He has served as CEO, COO, CIO, and an officer of two NASDAQ traded corporations.
Jay Bryant, of Steele Drive, has also previously run for a seat on the board. He has a background technology, education, and has worked for an educational testing service for a number of years. He has a background in assessments. He also has a background in working in professional development programs. He has a daughter who attended the school district and just began studying at Penn State.
Dondapati Chowdary, of Priory Road, has experience in the biomedical field as a research scientist, and he also has experience teaching pre-med students. He has worked for Johnson & Johnson.
Michael Donnelly, who also has previously run for a seat on the board, lives on Benford Drive and has been a West Windsor for four years. He has four children — one who attends High School South, one who attends Maurice Hawk, and one at Grover Middle School. He has been involved in the local soccer clubs. Donnelly is an attorney by trade.
Beth Hahn, who has lived in the township in the last three years, has four children in the district — three of whom were adopted from abroad. One of her children is at High School South, another is at High School North, another is at Maurice Hawk, and another is at Village. She said she came to the district because of the ESL program it offered for one of her children. She says her needs were not well-addressed in the previous school district in Essex County. Hahn previously served as an attorney for the former deputy attorney general for New Jersey. She also was an attorney working on child abuse/neglect proceedings associated with the Division of Youth and Family Services, and now represents parents as designated counsel in the public defender’s office.
