Lara Freidenfelds Chatham Borough School Board Candidate

CHATHAM, NJ — The School District of the Chathams Board of Education has a contested election this fall, for both borough and township candidates.

There is one three-year seat and two candidates running from the borough, as well as one seat for a one-year unexpired term.

Lara Freidenfelds is challenging incumbent Ann Ciccarelli for the three year seat.

The other candidates on the ballot for the one-year unexpired Chatham Borough seat include:

• Chris Delsandro
• Brian Hargrove

Representing Chatham Township, there are four candidates for two, three-year seats, who include:

• Michelle Clark
• Lata K. Kenney
• Kyle C. Roberts
• James A. Nau

Editor's Note: Are you a candidate on the ballot? Patch sent out emails to all candidates to the email addresses listed for their campaign provided to the office of the clerk. The responses received will be published between now and the General Election. Candidates who would like to participate but did not receive one (for whatever reason) may contact jennifer.miller@patch.com.

Lara Freidenfelds

Name: Lara Freidenfelds

Town of residence: Chatham Borough

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: Felix Wu, spouse; two children at Chatham High School

Education: A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University

Occupation: Historian

Previous or current elected appointed office: Chatham Borough Board of Health

Why are you seeking to run for school board?

I have a unique combination of knowledge and skills that speak to the current moment, and I want to use them to serve my community. I am a professional historian, with thoughtful and nuanced perspectives on how to teach our nation’s history in its complex fullness. I am a researcher, so I have first-hand insight into the skills and mindset our students will need to be developers of knowledge and leaders in their work. I am an optimist, and I believe that taking responsibility for our nation’s history and current state is an inspiring act of responsible citizenship, one which will support our students to be leaders in their communities.

What is your stance on masks in schools?

As a historian of science and medicine, I am well aware that pandemics are hardest on the vulnerable. Right now, the needs of two of our most vulnerable groups – immunocompromised students, staff, family, and community members, and special needs students – are to some degree in conflict. I feel deep empathy for those who are struggling to wear masks in school, and the parents who are struggling alongside their children. Because I have some vision and hearing impairment from multiple sclerosis, I am well aware of how masks can exacerbate disability. At the same time, as a member of the Borough Board of Health, I have seen how the well-informed policies and actions of our Borough and Township Health Officers, school administration, and Board of Education, in concert with our New Jersey Board of Health, have kept our students safe, healthy, and learning at school, and protected the immunocompromised and elderly in our community. I therefore support our district’s ongoing compliance with state guidance and requirements, including the mask mandate; at the same time, I believe that the schools should be doing all they can to support our students with special needs and help them manage a difficult requirement.

Should schools offer a virtual option?

Because our students, faculty, and staff are doing an excellent job at following the pandemic guidelines and keeping everyone safe at school, I do not believe a remote option is currently necessary. Remote learning was a necessary second-best option during the height of the pandemic, but it is a burden and a distraction for our teachers, who are already working harder than ever to help our students catch up on missed learning from the past year and a half.

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

Once we emerge from the pandemic, the biggest challenge for our district will be to maintain and advance the intellectual excellence of our schools for all our students while addressing the troublingly high rates of anxiety and depression that Chatham shares with high-achieving districts across the country. Some of this distress comes from internalized pressure to achieve; some of it comes from students feeling that they are not entirely accepted because of their cultural background, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, race, or other difference.

I and my running mate, Brian Hargrove, have proposed some initial ideas for building community connections and inclusion in ways that we believe will support social-emotional health and wellbeing for all our students and give them a solid grounding for long-term career satisfaction and success and responsible citizenship. We hope to work with the Board and administration to implement relevant policies, and consider additional ideas in the future.

First, we would like to recognize the increasing number of international students and families in our district as a remarkable community resource, and invite willing community members to share language skills and cultural knowledge with students studying languages, conducting oral histories, considering study abroad, etc.

Second, we would like to create a sister-district relationship with a district socioeconomically different from Chatham, to provide a scaffolding for student groups and teachers to organize joint projects (service work, tutoring, sports scrimmages, etc.).

Third, we would like to bolster an emphasis on foreign language learning and opportunities to travel abroad.

In these and other ways, students can learn how to appreciate and enjoy each other’s differences, to see people who are different from themselves as future friends and valued colleagues, and to develop themselves as integral members and leaders of communities at multiple levels: local, regional, national, and global.

What sets you apart from the challenging candidates?

I have spent my entire career in research and education. I hold a Ph.D. in History of Science and an A.B. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. I have taught at Harvard, U.C. Berkeley, and Wellesley College. I am an enthusiastic lifelong learner, and I know what colleges expect of our graduates. As a professional historian, I do my research and writing within a national and global community of scholars, and I am fortunate to have the benefit of both historical and cross-cultural perspectives in understanding our current moment.

I have published two deeply-researched history books with top academic presses, I am a regular contributor to a peer-reviewed blog on the history of medicine and gender, and I have written for the Washington Post and CNN.com. I also work as a historical consultant. I know what it means to do rigorous and nuanced thinking, research, and writing, and I believe K-12 is the place to begin developing these skills.

Much of being a good scholar is in being able to listen and learn patiently and deeply. As a school board member, I promise to listen carefully and thoroughly to parents, students, staff, administrators, and my fellow board members, and then ask smart questions of our administrators to help them clarify the issues and craft creative solutions to difficult problems.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

I have a variety of local experiences and interests that will significantly expand the scope of understanding encompassed by the current Board of Education. In Chatham, I serve on the Borough Board of Health, coached FLL Robotics, and taught Museum on the Move at WAS. For a number of years my husband and I helped lead the Corpus Christi marriage preparation program, where I taught, among other things, communication skills and coping with difficult times. During the pandemic I am serving as a nanny for a Chatham teacher and I occasionally substitute teach at Sprout House. I had a second career as a modern dancer, and I care deeply about the arts. With my husband, I coached children’s chamber music groups for local Chinese New Year celebrations. I will bring to the Board relevant experience and understanding of the performing arts, math and technology, and public health, in addition to my professional work as a historian and educator.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.