Hoboken School Board Candidate Profiles: Malani Cademartori

HOBOKEN, NJ — Four candidates are running for three school board slots in Hoboken. The Board of Education has nine members in total.

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The four candidates will be on the ballot along with the presidential candidates running in the Nov. 5 General Election. You can choose any three.

School board races in Hoboken are non-partisan.

The following candidates are running:

• Patricia Waiters, under the slogan "Support All Children."
• Incumbents Malani Cademartori, Ailene McGuirk, and Thomas Kluepfel using the slogan "Building Futures Together."

McGuirk is the current board president. See the incumbents and find out more about the board here.

See Hudson County school election information here.

We asked all four candidates various questions and are publishing the three that we received back.

You can find the other profiles and local news here.

Here is Malani Cademartori's profile.

Name: Malani Cademartori
Age: 52

Education: BA in Political Science and East Asian Studies, New York University (’94); Juris Doctor, Fordham University Law School (’99)
Occupation: Former Partner, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP; Currently working at home and serving on BOE (both of which are unpaid)

Past volunteer jobs and any government service:
Former PTO President at Calabro Elementary (when it was an elementary); 2 terms (including current) on BOE; library board designee for last 2+ years; former Girl Scout Troop co-leader.

Other experience relevant to the position:
Family history of teaching and working in higher education (parents and sister were/are all professors in various universities in U.S and Australia)

Do you have any relatives working in town government or the schools now, or volunteering on town boards? Who?
None

How long have you lived in town, and where did you grow up?
In Hoboken since 2012; born in Bangkok, Thailand 1972; moved to Canberra, Australia through 1979 (age 6); Philadelphia, PA 1979-1990; NYC, NY 1990-2012.

Questions (250 word limit for each answer):

1. What do you think are the most important issues facing your district, and what will you do to address them?

ACHIEVEMENT GAP: This is a nationwide issue. Locally, we’ve made great strides in implementing new and proven programs to address the achievement gap and are leaders in supporting the varied ways our students learn and achieve. Need to continue to focus on providing alternative pathways to success for our diverse learning population and embrace flexibility in supporting new and creative ways to address the issue within our District.

FACILITIES: Three of our schools are well over 100 years old and we’ve not had any major investments in our educational facilities for over 60 years. The way students are educated has undergone vast changes in that time, rendering our facilities somewhat outdated, as well as expensive to retrofit. Meanwhile, enrollment continues to grow in line with the demographic study released in 2022. While enrollment growth is a great indicator of our success, it has also pushed almost all of our schools to or near educational capacity. We need to broaden support for change at the state level around the way facilities are funded/subsidized and push for our fair share of funds disbursed by the state, while continuing to educate our community on the benefits and inherent advantages of supporting upgraded facilities for the health and future of our students and the community as a whole.

2. Should you win, how would you get people more involved in the issues who either aren't involved, or who supported your critics? How can town politics become more inclusive instead of divisive?

I have found that most of the reasonable criticism comes from a lack of information and/or long (sometimes tightly) held opinions rooted in a very different time. Our schools, the leadership and our focus have undergone vast change. We will and should continue to engage and educate the community about the great strides made and incredible programs available through the district, as well as listen to constructive criticism and concerns. More importantly, we should continue to highlight our students’ achievements and successes and reinforce the value of public education as an important public service supported directly by the taxpayers. We also need to continue to engage with our other locally elected politicians to foster the type of across the board support for the public schools that other district’s experience, and make it less popular to choose sides when it comes to the future of our community’s children.

3. If you're an incumbent, what are some of your proudest achievements? If not, what has your involvement been in the schools in the past?

There are so many. Making the decision to keep our schools open during the pandemic was a difficult decision which paid off in so many ways. Our students did not experience the learning loss that most of the country is experiencing still. In fact, our students now outperform students across the state in math and ELA and lead the county in those areas. Our high school students have the opportunity to explore various career and life paths including a future in flight through our Aviation and Innovation Science and Technology Lab. Our high school students have also shown tremendous and impressive growth in their AP scores and have the opportunity to be involved in more extracurriculars and sports programs than ever before – there is literally something for everyone. I am also incredibly proud of the implementation of reading curriculum like the Orton-Gillingham method and additional math program partnerships to address differences in our learners and support achievement and success for all. However, as a parent of two children in the district – one in middle school and the other a freshman in high school – I interact with many of our district’s students on a regular basis, and it is their overall pride, excitement and love of their teachers, learning and opportunities that makes me the most proud.

4. To what political party do you belong? Who did you vote for in the last presidential election (if you're willing to say), and do you think it should matter in terms of your candidacy?

I do not belong to any political party and never will. When I decide for whom I will be voting, it has nothing to do with the party and is 100% about my personal research and impression of the individual running. I believe that we vote by secret ballot for a reason and whom people vote for, and why, is their own business. Accordingly, I don’t share information on whom I vote for in presidential elections even with my immediate family, so I will decline to do so here. I feel strongly that zealousness for political parties and the tendency to make knee-jerk judgments about each other based on apparent affiliations is an unfortunate trend that has led to significant unrest and divisiveness, as well as a dearth of true and inspiring leaders, and consequential rise in extremism. If we want to get back to something that resembles reasonableness, we need to start thinking of our leaders and elected officials less blindly in terms of affiliations and more as individuals who need to be judged on track record and character. Specifically, the BOE election is a non-partisan election because of the unique public service provided through our schools. Schools and education should not be politicized. I will continue to speak out against any trend to politicize education and therefore strongly believe it should not matter. Anyone coming into the BOE election with a political agenda would be coming in for the wrong reasons.

5. Since many students in Hoboken attend charter schools or those outside of the regular district, do you think there should be more ways of getting students from different schools involved in activities together?

Hoboken is a small city with a plethora of options for families to choose from when it comes to education. As with anything else, parents and guardians must weigh the options, which include what is offered at each school, the school environment they think will best serve their child(ren) and their child(ren)’s interests. We are an open enrollment district offering many extracurriculars – there is no lottery, there is no tuition to be paid, and families can enroll or un-enroll at virtually any time. Other education options in Hoboken offer their own programs and extracurriculars and, presumably, parents and guardians choose those alternatives after weighing what is offered and what they believe will serve their child(ren) best. No single option is going to offer everything - that’s the nature of making a choice and weighing the pros and the cons. Once a choice is made, based on a weighing of offerings and programs, our children are bound by that choice and are not necessarily entitled to cherry pick what they like best from other educational institutions. As a parent myself, I look to the city, as well as the various private programs operating here, to provide experiences that may not be available at their school and/or to get involved in activities with their friends (or make new friends) from different schools.

6. Do you think it's important or appropriate to try to draw some of those students from other schools and districts to the Hoboken Public School District?

As stated above, parents and guardians have many options in this city and are free to make the decision to take advantage of the excellent education, beautifully diverse and inclusive environment, and various extracurriculars and programs offered by our traditional district public schools, at any time, or to do otherwise. We do not actively recruit anyone from other schools, but we are proud that so many have made the decision to move to our schools because of what is happening in our schools, including the immense growth in student achievement and expanding support for our varied learners. The availability of high quality choice when educating all of our community’s children is always appropriate and important.

7. What else should the voters know?

I am running on a slate with fellow incumbents Tom Kluepfeld and Ailene McGuirk. I have an immense amount of respect for both of them based on their dedication, vision and the points of view they bring to the Board. We don’t always agree on everything, but our job is to come together for the good of the district and to provide an excellent, efficient and fulsome education to all of our community’s children, as well as provide an important public service for the benefit and future of the community as a whole. We have been fortunate to be able to do so in a respectful and cooperative manner for many years, with a focus on supporting our truly excellent administration who is really behind all of the amazing progress we have made as a district. It’s important to keep that going. We have proven that we will continue to do whatever it takes to fulfill our duties and care for our students and are happy to talk to anyone who would like more information on us, the district or what it means to be a Trustee. Ultimately, we would really like to inspire the next generation of candidates who are passionate about public education and the possibilities for a better community that comes with this volunteer service

Other Information

• You can submit your ballot any time through 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• Want to vote on the machine? Polls will be open a few before Election Day for early voting, and then on Election Day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. See the early voting hours here.

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See the New Jersey voter information portal and election timelines here.

See the timeline for the general election here.