Meet Kate Farley, Running For Middletown School Board

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Five candidates are running for three seats on the Middletown Board of Education this November (election is Nov. 5, same day as the U.S. presidential).

They are: Current Board member Deb Wright, current Board member Joan Minnuies, current Board member Kate Farley, joined by a local mom running with her this year, Sara Weinstein (Today's Children First) and Mark Soporowski (Common Sense Education).

Patch asked all five candidates the same set of questions so they can introduce themselves to voters. All five candidates got back to us and submitted their answers. Here are the responses from Kate Farley:

Provide a brief bio on yourself. Age, education, occupation.

My name is Kate Farley. My husband and I are proud to be raising our three children, ages 10, 8 and 4, here in Middletown. I am 39 years old and have been a practicing attorney for over 15 years, currently employed in-house at a financial technology company. I earned a B.A. in history, magna cum laude, from The College of New Jersey, and my Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law.

For current school board members, what is some of the work you're proudest of that the Board has done?

I'm extremely proud of the "Away for the Day" cell phone policy that I drafted and was adopted unanimously over the summer. As reported by the superintendent during the September BOE meeting, the policy is going extremely well and students are really benefiting from being in a distraction-free environment while learning.

I love that Middletown schools were on the forefront of this initiative that has really taken off all over the country, and that we are already seeing measurable positive impact on our students just a few weeks into the school year.

I am also proud of being part of the team that brought armed Class-3 police officers into each of our school buildings to keep our students and staff safe.

I've been chair of the curriculum committee for the past three years and am proud of the strides we've made there as well. From my successful campaign to bring back full-year art and music for our elementary students, to implementation of a compliant but developmentally appropriate health curriculum with complete transparency and control for parents, to the roll-out of new literacy programs for our youngest learners based on the science of reading — with targeted early intervention programs to help identify and better assist students with additional needs — and everything in between, it's been an exciting and eventful few years with many positive changes as we work to counteract the negative impacts of Covid learning loss on our students.

Where do you think the Board needs to improve?

I think we have done a lot very well over the last few years, but there are always opportunities for growth. I'd like to see us work on continuing to increase communication and transparency between the district and parents. And I am hopeful that we can work on ways to foster a greater sense of community particularly through the upcoming strategic planning process. This is a great time to reflect on what we've done and what we as a community still want to do.

What do you think of the Middletown school board passing its transgender student policy that some say outs students to their parents? Can you explain why you voted FOR the policy, seeing as it is so controversial?

Our policy empowers parents and protects children. Even the Attorney General acknowledges there are situations in which a parent must be informed of these types of issues for the safety and well-being of their child.

I voted for the policy because as an attorney I identified what I believed was an area of potential liability for our district — withholding critical information about a student's well-being/mental health from the student's parents or guardians, which would hinder their ability to fully support their child and could lead to devastating consequences. When a child is referred out for psychological services, a parent or guardian is required to consent to such treatment. When I found out that it was possible that parents would merely be told that their child had anxiety or was depressed, without any mention of transgender issues if indeed those were part of the underlying reason for the referral, I was deeply concerned. Parents need to be part of the conversation at that point so that everyone can do what is best for the well-being of the child.

I understand issues like these can generate a great deal of emotion on both sides. All community members have a right to be heard, but part of our job as Board members is to make decisions based on facts and best practices. Most people in Middletown I've spoken to were supportive of our efforts, while many individuals who took a different view did not read the policy or regulation through which the policy would be enforced.

Unless there is a situation where a child would come to harm, parents should always be part of a conversation for something as serious as a public social gender transition of their child. And, even when controversial, part of my job as a school board member is to protect the district and taxpayer dollars. This at times requires a nuanced approach that many protesters of the policy were not willing to consider. Let's stop the vilification and redouble our commitment to protect our kids.

Looking ahead, what are some of the biggest challenges facing the Middletown school district in the next 2 -5 years, and how do you plan to confront them?

The budget is certainly one of the biggest challenges our district will continue to face. I will continue to scour the budget to seek out efficiencies and eliminate redundancies. My goal is always to make sure our children are never short-changed in spite of our budgeting woes, but that our taxpayers do not experience exorbitant tax increases when it is already so expensive to live in New Jersey. I will also continue to try to work with our state legislators to obtain additional funding for our district.

Our 16 aging school buildings and other district facilities also must be a priority in the coming years — maintaining and improving these spaces to give our students and staff a safe, modern environment conducive to success.

Ultimately, we never know what lies ahead, especially with an extremist political agenda and attempts to diminish local rule over our school boards that certain politicians in this state have brought to light these past few years. But I know that Sara and I are prepared to face these challenges head on guided by our foundational principle of putting Today's Children First.

Who else got back to us:

Meet Deb Wright, Running For Middletown School Board

Meet Mark Soporowski, Running For Middletown School Board

Meet Joan Minnuies, Running For Middletown School Board

The election will be Nov. 5, but you can vote early in person at Croydon Hall (in the Assembly Hall), at 900 Leonardville Road, Leonardo NJ 07737, from Oct. 26 - Nov. 3. Hours will be Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary, according to the state of NJ Division of Elections. And there is also mail-in voting.