Bridgewater Board Of Education General Election 2025: James 'Jim' Maloney

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater's general election on Nov. 4 has seven candidates running for three open seats on the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Board of Education.

Board President Steven Singer, Board Vice President Emily Calistri, and Board member Lanfang "Lucy" Li are all running for re-election to the board.

The candidate field includes four challengers: James Maloney, Kim Fajardo, Deanna Nye, and Ketrin Maxwell.

Are you running for office in Bridgewater? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Bridgewater Patch.

James "Jim" Maloney

Age: 45

Town of residence: Bridgewater

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: Wife and two children (BRHS Class of 2025/freshman in college and a BRHS sophomore)

Education: Bachelor of Science, Stevens Institute of Technology

Occupation: Senior Software Engineer

Previous or current elected appointed office: Prior to moving to Bridgewater, I was appointed by the mayor to the North Plainfield Library Advisory Committee where I served for four years, initially as Treasurer and later as Chairman.

Campaign website: https://www.maloney4boe.com (also Maloney4BOE on Facebook/Instagram)

Why are you seeking election for Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education?

I believe that my collaborative approach to problem solving and dedication to improving my community would be an asset for the BRRSD Board of Education. I have been an active volunteer in my children’s schools for years, and have always had an interest in understanding issues relating to education and how schools are governed. As I learn more about the system, I feel fulfilled by helping others to navigate it as well. If elected, I would feel honored to represent the voices in my community to provide the best possible education for the students of Bridgewater and Raritan.

School finances have been continuously discussed in the district. The district recently approved a budget where 33 staff positions were cut and a 2.46 percent tax increase. Do you have any comments or suggestions on how the district could handle its budget?

It's no secret that our district has faced a number of strains on the budget over the last several years, as have districts across the state and nation. Rising costs, in particular regarding employee health insurance and transportation expenses have made budgeting difficult. In my opinion, one area where the district can find cost savings is with the bus fleet. Currently, transportation expenses are split with about 35% allocated to district-owned buses and drivers and 65% going to three contracted outside services. Shifting some of the workload to the district's fleet, which is more cost-efficient, will give some savings as well as help protect against the fluctuations in market rates for outside services that have been driving up costs.

While I acknowledge these rising costs, I believe that the district administration has generally been conservative with its finances. When the administration first began to work on the most recent budget, the superintendent described the situation as “a challenge”, seeing a potential shortfall significantly beyond the allowed 2% cap. However, through careful work and evaluating where cuts could be made without impacting the student experience, as well as utilizing only a fraction of the allowable adjustment beyond the cap, the district ended up with one of the most responsible budgets in the county. Across the state, compared to districts of a similar size, BRRSD falls right in the middle of the pack on per-pupil spending, while generally maintaining smaller class sizes, both indications that the district is effectively balancing the dual goals of providing the best possible education for the students while being responsible with taxpayer money.

These budget challenges, however, are not likely to just go away, and the district needs to be proactive as they are looking to the future. Recent years have seen declining enrollment, due largely to population decreases – the Class of 2025 was the largest cohort, and the number of students has decreased with each successive grade, although that decline does appear to be leveling off. I believe that the district needs to perform a new demographic study to better understand the current populations of Bridgewater and Raritan and determine projections for future years. The last study that was conducted projected enrollment out to 2026-2027, so it is rapidly becoming out of date. Conducting a new study to evaluate current and projected enrollment for the coming years, as well as understanding the impact of the recent 10 year affordable housing plans from both towns, will allow the Board to better plan and budget over the next decade.

The district is looking at adjusting its school start times, possibly later for high school students, and transportation options. What do you think about this?

There has been a push to adjust the school start times, particularly at the high school, for quite a few years now, and with the upcoming changes for Full Day Kindergarten, the district will need to rework transportation routes no matter what. I believe that this is the perfect opportunity to start with a clean slate and seek more cost efficient bus routes to help address the strain on the budget as well as evaluate school start times that better support the health and wellness of both students and staff. To that end, the district has worked with a transportation consultant to evaluate the current routes and provide options that meet those two goals.

These options were presented at the September 9th board meeting. While I understand the need to move ahead with the decision process in order to finalize routes and plan out next year’s budget, I don’t know that many parents were aware of how quickly a decision would be made. I feel that it would be beneficial to get more input from the community. A survey was sent out to teachers regarding the two options, but there was not a similar effort to gather input from others in the community. In my conversations with both parents and district staff members, it seems that many support the benefits of the later time at the high school and more efficient bus routes, but are concerned about the impact on working parents of students at the primary level. This is a significant change, and it’s important that it is done right. The district needs to ensure that whatever decision is made, the overall result is a positive one.

What other issues do you feel need to be tackled in the school district?

While I feel that the district generally does a good job with communicating information out to parents, I also believe that there is room for further improvements to ensure parents are not missing details. More than a few times, I have seen important information get buried in long messages.

I also feel that the district needs to make more efforts to proactively solicit feedback. One prominent example is the Special Education Parent Advisory Group (SEPAG). When the Special Services Department was last evaluated in 2022, the SEPAG was described as “minimally functioning”, and recommendations were made for a number of parent workshops and training sessions. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved since. NJ State Law says that each district "shall ensure that a [SEPAG] is in place ... to provide input to the school district on issues concerning students with disabilities," and I believe that the administration needs to put more effort into meeting this requirement. Likewise, I think the district should work to identify other populations that may be overlooked and seek their input, perhaps in small group settings.

What sets you apart from the challenging candidates?

I have been a dedicated volunteer in all of the schools my kids have attended, and have fostered positive relationships with parents, students, teachers, and residents. I know that there are those who do not agree with me on every topic, but I also know that with me, they can trust that we will have an honest conversation about those differences and, hopefully, find common ground. My goal with the Board is to provide the best possible education for all students that enter our doors while being responsible with taxpayer money, and I hope to achieve that through informed decision making and collaborative approaches to problem solving.

Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your campaign?

One thing that struck me as I attended Back to School Night recently was how many of the teachers have been working in our district for 10, 15, or 20+ years. I also noted that there are many teachers who themselves graduated from the district and/or live here currently. This does not happen by chance – BRRSD is a place where teachers want to work, just as it is a place where parents want to send their children, and my goal is to ensure that continues to be true.

It's been great seeing the reactions to my campaign so far – there was excitement when I first reached out to friends letting them know I planned to run, and with every post I make on social media, I see positive responses from parents as well as current and former students. These are the people that have seen me in action, and know the time and effort I put into helping the community and supporting the students and the district. This has extended to the conversations I have in person as well, and the new people I have been meeting – my positive and pragmatic approach resonates with residents who want a Board that they can trust will be looking out for their needs.