Election 2023: Peter Conforti, Freehold Twp. Board of Education

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, NJ — Peter Conforti is one of seven candidates seeking three full-term seats on the Freehold Township Board of Education in the Nov. 7 election.

Conforti, of Outlook Lane Freehold, is seeking his first three-year term on the school board for the kindergarten through 8th-grade district.

You can access his campaign website here. He is not affiliated with either of the two teams of candidates that are listed below, saying he supports only the interests of his "constituents in the Freehold Township community and the students who attend its schools."

Conforti says that the learning gap created by school disruption during the pandemic is still a major issue for the school district: "We have yet to fill the knowledge gap lost from 2020 and educators need continued community support and resources to re-engage with their students," he says.

He also cites his experience in government and education, as well as "a decade of expertise acquired through various organizations in cash management, budgeting, and financial analysis" as areas that equip him for a position on the school board.

In these profiles, candidates provide voters with background about themselves and their positions on the issues, as they see them.

Read more from Peter Conforti:

Background:

Candidates were asked to provide their professional or volunteer information, school board experience and personal background.

I've been a resident of Freehold Township since 2000 and received the majority of my education at Freehold Township schools. I am a proud graduate of Laura Donovan elementary school, Barkalow middle school, and the Global Studies magnet program at Freehold Township High School.

During that time, I dedicated myself to various extra curriculars and volunteer work. I received my Eagle Scout rank at Troop 155 and, in my senior year, for my work in Human Relations and Anti-Bullying committee, I was the recipient of the Freehold Township Raymond Kershaw Youth Humanitarian of the Year Award, which received coverage in this publication.

I currently own a home in Freehold with my fiancé Sheila and our 2-year-old rescue dog Sydney. I have a large family presence in the area. My parents still live in my childhood home and are local business owners.

I also have two cousins who are local and attend our schools: one is currently in the 8th grade at Barkalow and the other is in the 5th grade at West Freehold Elementary.

My professional background in government, public education, finance, and human resources equips me with the skills essential for success in the role of a school board member.

I have experience in creating and developing education policy in local government. At the Delaware Department of Education, I worked under the Teacher Efficiency Task Force where we reevaluated and improved teacher contracts, which prevented potential classroom disruptions and modernized teacher compensation. While working in the Delaware State Legislature, I functioned as a fellow dedicated to advancing a critical piece of legislation aimed at ensuring that every public school in Delaware had access to an on-site nurse.

In addition to my government and education experience, I bring a decade of expertise acquired through various organizations in cash management, budgeting, and financial analysis.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I made a career shift to join the Child Mind Institute, a prominent children's mental health clinic and research center. In this role, I played a crucial part in maintaining the organization's financial stability, enabling physicians and program leaders to concentrate on delivering high-quality care to their patients.

Presently, I hold the position of vice president, Human Capital Management & Global Services, at Morgan Stanley, where my responsibilities include ensuring employee compensation plans are compliant with various regulations. My diverse professional background equips me with a well-rounded skill set that I believe would be invaluable in contributing to the success of the Freehold Township School Board.

Education: Master’s Degree in Public Administration & Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy both from the University of Delaware.

Occupation: Vice President, Human Capital Management & Global Services at Morgan Stanley

Top issues:

Candidates were asked about the important issues in their district, and how the school board can address them.

The biggest issues concerning our schools are the learning gaps/lower test scores as a result of COVID, continued fiscal challenges, and recruitment and retainment of strong teachers.

Our middle schools’ math and reading scores fall just at or below neighboring school districts. We have yet to fill the knowledge gap lost from 2020 and educators need continued community support and resources to re-engage with their students.

Students today are used to fast-paced, bite-sized content similar to what they view on social media. This makes it harder for them to stay engaged in traditional lecture style classroom activities. With changing educational needs, teachers must have the flexibility to be creative, ensuring that students are engaged and understand the material taught in lessons. The board and the community need to continue to support our teachers to allow them to focus on teaching and preparing our students for the future.

At the Sept. 26, 2023 school board meeting, it was discussed that they have a list of about $42 million dollars of projects for our schools that need to get updated. When looking at the tax rate history of Freehold Township over the last 13 years, the local school tax rate is actually at its lowest at .898 compared to .936 in 2010 and 1.074 in 2019. This means that our tax dollars are stretched more now than ever before. Our money needs to be spent appropriately so that students have what they need to excel without the need to further increase our taxes to cover potential future budget gaps.

Lastly, in order to keep our top-quality educators, we need to develop a more competitive salaries, benefits, and resource packages. Every year teachers recently hired and even tenured are leaving our schools to go to neighboring districts because they are receiving either more competitive salaries and benefits or schools that can offer more classroom resources and technologies.

Less volume of highly skilled teachers leads to larger classroom sizes, more part time staff, and even more turnover. Teachers are a foundational element in our community and we want educators who are excited to go to work and feel supported by administration and parents. I will work with the board to evaluate our compensation and benefits packages and establish a multi-year plan to better incentivize teachers and feel encouraged to stay in our schools.

Policy 5756:

Candidates were asked if they wanted to comment on state Policy 5756, which provides guidance regarding transgender students, including communication with parents. Some districts in the state are repealing or amending the policy.

In today's diverse and inclusive educational landscape, it is essential to strike a balance between ensuring parents' rights to be informed about their children's school activities and creating a supportive environment for its students.

Policy 5756 attempted to address this issue, providing essential language and clarifications for school staff on how to appropriately address transgender students. Unfortunately, despite its good intentions, there is some language that is causing confusion for both parents and administrators of the policy.

The primary statement in question is: “There is no affirmative duty for any school district staff member to notify a student’s parent of the student’s gender identity or expression.” Policy 5756 cannot be repealed without a replacement written that better outlines the rights and protections of parents and students, while keeping the guidance on how a school district should accommodate transgender students.

Further down in the policy, in relation to informing parents on gender identification changes, there is language that guides school districts on how to share this information with parents: “Prior to disclosure, the student should be given the opportunity to personally disclose that information. The school district should make every effort to ensure any disclosure is made in a way that reduces or eliminates the risk of re-disclosure and protects the transgender student from further harassment. Those measures may include the facilitation of counseling for the student and the student’s family to facilitate the family’s acceptance and support of the student’s transgender status.”

Language like this is necessary for administration to give them a road map on helping the student disclose their feelings and decisions to their parents. Having the involvement of guidance counselors/social workers written in a policy is key since we want our students to be guaranteed to have the resources necessary to discuss these decisions with trained professionals.

The policy, as it is written today, tries to make black and white a very grey topic. Every student’s situation is different and there is no out-of-the-box solution that will account for every problem.

Teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators need the freedom to be flexible when it comes to addressing concerns of the students. School faculty are mandatory reporters, and will report anything that jeopardizes the health and safety of a student.

Some students' parents are very accepting in addressing a child’s desired gender and pronouns, while others may resort to violence and shunning their children. We would hope the latter would never happen but unfortunately that is reality for many. Over 40 percent of homeless children are a member of the LBGTQ+ community. Recognizing the complexity and diversity of each student's circumstances is essential, and we need a policy that provides educators with the flexibility to address these concerns with sensitivity and care.

The issue with this year’s election is that people with outside political agendas are trying to use our schools as a battleground to fight their culture wars.

The more time we focus on arguing about pronouns, the less energy we can put towards on improving reading and math scores and firming up funding to recruit and secure strong educators.

Unlike my competitors, I am not running as a group or being supported by any outside interests. You will see no official designation under my name when it is listed fourth on this year’s ballot.

The only special interests I support are those of my constituents in the Freehold Township community and the students who attend its schools.

Parents have the right to be informed about their children's affairs in school. However, Policy 5756 contains essential language and clarifications to guide school staff in addressing transgender students appropriately that must be preserved in order to protect this marginalized population.

Candidates for Freehold Township Board of Education: (Full term; vote for three)

• Zane Howcott: Protecting Parental Rights
• Carmela Spieler: Protecting Parental Rights
• Michael Amoroso: Respectful Educational Leadership
• Peter Conforti
• Mary "Meg" Thomann: Respectful Educational Leadership
• Michelle Lambert: Respectful Educational Leadership
• Denise DuMont: Protecting Parental Rights

In a separate vote, the election to the Freehold Regional High School Board of Education representing Freehold Township is not contested:

Candidate for Freehold Regional High School District: (Full term; vote for one)

• Elizabeth A. Higley

Note: Candidates who have not received their request for profile information from Patch should check their spam folders or can contact Pat McDaniel at patricia.mcdaniel@patch.com for the email with candidate questions.