After canvassing West Windsor the entire month of October, school board vice-president Michele Kaish received the most votes in any township race this year, though her opponent, High School South senior Jordon DeGroote, garnered more than 40 percent of the vote.
When asked what can be attributed to her opponent’s strong showing, Kaish said: “As you can tell from our school board meeting, change is very difficult and there are probably people in WW-P who want the status quo and as a result might have had anti-incumbent feelings. I very strongly support David Aderhold’s vision of developing the whole child and that the district will become better than it is under his leadership.
“Reasonable minds can disagree, there is no right or wrong answer. We all hear the data and we all try to do what’s best for students. I believe the changes that have been implemented and are about to be implemented will strengthen our district and the educational experience for our students. We’ll hear more comments. Nothing has been decided, and I believe my board colleagues will have questions.”
The next three years will be Kaish’s second term, and this year’s campaign was markedly different than her first one in 2012. That was the last year before board elections were moved to November, and the date change also eliminated the district budget vote.
“The difference between running in April, 2012, and running in November is huge,” Kaish says. “It’s become way more political, and all the good and bad that comes with that.”
The first November school board election in 2013 was similar to previous elections, but not so in the 2014 election.
“Last year everything changed,” Kaish says. “There was a lot more money. That’s when all the signs came out, the mailings. I don’t think there was precedent before last year. There is a benefit from a budget standpoint to move the election to November. Now what is going to happen is the people who are going to run are those who can fundraise and have money in a school board race. It muddies the potential candidate pool, but that’s the reality and consequence of November. I don’t see districts going back to April.”
This year her self-funded campaign purchased signs for the first time, though she declined to say how many.
“I got way less than everyone else running in West Windsor. I can tell you that every one of my signs was placed legally on private property with written permission from every single person. I knew exactly where my signs were, and less than 24 hours after the election, every one of them was removed.”
The key to her re-election? Printing 1,500 flyers and personally ringing 1,500 doorbells.
“I have a vision of academic excellence and social and emotional growth for all our students,” Kaish says. “I have always tried to support and be focused on what is in the best interests in education for our students and hoping that our district can give an excellent education to all learners.
“We don’t serve just a particular group. Every student learns differently. Our students have lots of different needs and I would like to make sure that every student has a voice that can be heard and have an opportunity to be successful.”
