Meet The Parsippany Board Of Education Candidates

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Parsippany residents will head to the polls this November to elect Board of Education candidates, and Patch caught up with them ahead of the general election.

Susy Golderer, Judy Mayer, and Frank Neglia are running for the three open three-year terms, and are all incumbents. Andy Choffo and Kendra Von Achen are running for one open one-year unexpired term. We asked all candidates the same four questions:

• Why are you running for Board Of Education?
• What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?
• What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?
• What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

All candidates were sent the questions at the same time, and were given the same deadline to submit them. They were given no minimum or maximum word count, and encouraged to write as much as they needed, or to keep the answers brief if they wanted to. Answers were submitted by email and are presented here as submitted.

Andy Choffo, 1 year term

Why are you running for BOE?

It has been my privilege and honor to serve on the BOE for 10 years. The school district has made tremendous progress during that time in student achievement, district operations, technology and the security of our children. I believe that I have the necessary experience to continue to improve and enhance the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District for the benefit of all who live and attend school here.

What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?

The safety of our children should be the primary concern for all Board Members. I am proud that during my service to the school district we have been able to enhance school security and student safety in a number of ways. We have expanded our shared services agreement with the Township to provide additional resources in the schools; increased security training; and “hardened” our buildings.

What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Trustworthy. Practical. Fearless.

What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

A Board of Education is a complex organization. There are many moving parts. A Board Member needs to be concerned with student safety and achievement; establishing a sustainable financial plan; ensuring appropriate policies; and monitoring results. As a Director is a large corporation, I encounter similar challenges in my company and have to make decisions that create a positive impact. I believe that my 25 years of corporate experience, in conjunction with my 10 years of Parsippany BOE experience, allow me to be an effective leader on the Board and make decisions that will positively impact our children.

Kendra Von Achen, 1 year term

Why are you running for Board Of Education?

I believe in giving back to the community. One way I feel I can do this is to give of my time, my knowledge and experience and help shape the future of Parsippany’s educational system. Two things I’m passionate about, that also coincide with my career, are technology and communication. I want to ensure our district is continuously improving in its use of technology and embracing new technologies that will come in the future. With the use of technology, we can also improve upon the communication between teacher and student; teacher and parents; administration and parents; and even Board and parents and Board and students. This can be done by reducing the amount of paper being used while still getting the word out about school/district happenings.

I have two kids that are ages 10 and 5, so I’m committed to ensuring their education and their friends and future Parsippany children maintains the high ratings it currently has (if not gets higher).

What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?

Two main issues come to mind, not just for the Parsippany school district, but nationwide. First is school safety – after a rash of school shootings this past school year, and over the last few years, parents and students alike are worried about their safety when they attend school. While I can’t put a shield around every school in town to protect the students, teachers and staff at each school, I can learn about the safety concerns, read through the safety report provided by an outside consultant a couple of years ago, and ensure that we are doing everything possible to keep our schools safe. I will also want to make sure the parents are well informed about safety measures and any incidents that occur.

The second issue is bullying. While I don’t know of any specific incidents that have occurred in the past couple of years in Parsippany schools, again I believe this is a nationwide issue that needs to be addressed. Social media has provided a deeper layer of taunting that leads to outright bullying. I will address this challenge by providing more tools and educational sessions for parents and students to know what signs to look for, how to report incidents to schools, and how to handle social media with teens and pre-teens.

What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Caring, understanding, and friendly.

What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

I have served on several boards, both professional and non-profit over the years. I’ve served as President of the Business Marketing Association, NJ Chapter for 2 years after taking other leadership positions within the organization. I’ve served as a Board of Trustees for Child and Family Resources, NJ for the past 7 years, including serving as Treasurer for the past year. I recently was honored to sit on the Search Committee for my Temple to select our new Rabbi, working with a committee of diverse people to determine who would be the best fit for the future of the congregation. And finally I ran my own consulting firm for eight years.

I pride myself in finding a need and filling it. In college, I started a new group on campus because there was no similar group in existence yet. I went through all the steps necessary to recruit people interested in the group, ran it for my last 2 semesters of college, including bringing in outside facilitators and getting a grant to fund the program.

Susy Golderer

Why am are you running for Board Of Education?

I believe sincerely that every child has the potential to become the best person they can be and that education helps achieve dreams. All children have dreams and if we let those dreams die our future dies with them. They are the adults of tomorrow, what kind of future can we help them build? We are all intrinsically connected and we must take part in the process. These are the formative years where those seeds are planted and this is where we can inspire and deepen their trust in life by preparing them for a life of possibilities through education.

As a board member I will continue to safeguard the public’s financial investment in educating for the next generation. It is a volunteer position and we put in many hours of service to ensure the most efficient, responsible use of our resources.

My family and I have lived in Parsippany for over 22 years, I have 2 adult children that have gone through and 2 younger children that are currently going through our educational system. I strongly believe in giving back to the community that we chose as our home.

I have served from 2011 to 2014 and 2016 to present. I have found it to be a truly humbling experience. I also feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to perform a civic duty in serving our community. I am grateful for my time on the board. It is not an easy job, but one that we as a full board accomplish with hard work and true desire and dedication for the betterment of our community.

My pledge to you, our district, has always been the same:

• To continue to work with the community, administrators, and staff to make this one of the best educational districts for our children while making it a rewarding experience for all.

• To continue to do whatever it takes to illuminate issues that are challenging but important to discuss
• To work closely with the administration to bring forth budgets that help our children educationally, but are not riddled with excess.
• To continue to give my most loyal and undistracted attention to the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District and community
• To always be impartial and respectfully listen to all sides regardless of my personal views.

What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?

It would be ideal to say that there is one big challenge, but the truth is that there are many challenges that all go back to one monster issue: Finances. The school district has a lot of needs:

Security – keeping our children safe and providing all necessary services to this end.

Educational Tools – providing an environment where our children receive all the ever evolving tools needed for them to succeed in their respective environments.

Building structure maintenance – many of our buildings are quite old and though we try to keep a schedule for maintaining boilers, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots, electrical upgrades, HVAC, water fountains, floors, etc., it is not easy when the costs rise constantly.

Salaries – there are many cost factors associated with delivering quality instruction such as administrators, faculty, para-professionals, secretaries, office aides, custodians, bus drivers, bus aides, lunch help, etc. There are healthcare costs, pensions, and many other expenses.

It is not an easy challenge because there are so many factors to take into account within the finite number that we receive back from the state, we need to always remember that we are not a profit making entity and though there are many areas vying for the same monies, the board members must very creatively and carefully continue to fulfill our fiduciary responsibility to the public.

What three words you would choose to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Kind, Loyal, Resourceful

What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

I have a BA in Psychology with a specialization in Industrial Organizational Psychology. I also attained an NJSBA (NJ Schools Board Association) Master Board Member certification this year – the first and only one in our district.

During my tenure on the board I have taken every opportunity available to take and attend workshops and classes in areas such as Student Achievement, Special Education, Labor Relations and Negotiations, budget building, board ethics, Open Public Meetings Rules, and School Security.

I have gone to every 3 day workshop offered by the NJSBA which is offered every year without pay from my employers. I also attend workshops at night and on weekends throughout the year hence the achievement of Master Board Certification.

I have over 30 years of experience in Business Operations and Human Resources. I have managed various departments including billing, payroll, AR/AP, recruiting, purchasing, and customer service. The industries I have worked in are: Manufacturing, Printing, Information Technology, Medical, Engineering, and Real Estate.

I received many promotions in my career due to my dedication and passion for success and striving for doing the right thing at all cost at all times. I never sought the spotlight, I always felt that I didn’t succeed unless we all succeeded. I was looked at as someone who was reached out to in when there were issues with a particular department and I could be trusted to without prejudice, look at a situation determine what was wrong or what the department needed to be more successful and made it happen. I never let personal feelings cloud my judgment.

Judy Mayer, 3 year term

Why are you running for Board Of Education?

I have been on the BOE for 4 years. Before that, for 22 years, I was a teacher in the district. My 3 children went through the Parsippany schools and received an excellent education which prepared them for their future pursuits. I want to give back to the community and help ensure that other students receive the best education Parsippany can offer.

What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?

The biggest challenge is funding. We are committed to keeping our students and staff safe and keeping our educational system moving forward. Funding is a delicate balancing act and very challenging.

What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Caring, committed, sincere

What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

My teaching experience enables me to understand the challenges faced by our district. Last year I took part in an exchange program with China and was able to visit different schools. It was a great experience observing their culture and educational system. There is a great respect for education in China and it is viewed as a privilege not a right. The hope is that in the future our educators can go there and exchange ideas and methods.

I helped craft the strategic plan for our district as well as serving on the superintendent interview committee. At times, decisions are difficult and I have always thought long and hard about what is best for ALL the students.

Frank Neglia, 3 year term

Why are you running for BOE?

I've been on the BOE since 2006. I am still on it because I enjoy giving back to the community
I live in and raised my children but most of all to be an advocate for the children of the community

What is the biggest challenge facing schools in your town, and how will you address it?

The biggest challenge is to get the most we can out of the dollar to enhance our education system, keep
up with technology and keeping our children safe. We have to all put our heads together and think of innovated ways, sometimes out of the box, to do whats best for everyone.

What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Humble, Conscientious, Motivated

What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

For the past 3 years I've had the privileged of being the BOE President. Working with the many outstanding Board members, Administrators, teachers and staff we have been able to achieve quite a bit

During my tenure as President the BOE has been actively involved in an exchange program with China called the American Education Exploration. This is a program in which students from China come to our district and participate in it, as well in various community activities. I've had the honor of bringing 2 separate teams to China two separate times and witness China's way of education and take part in their culture and learning process. It is my hope that one day we can have our educators go there to exchange our ways of education and learn from each other.

In addition while I was President all union contracts were settled , a new superintendent hired along with many key Administration positions, (thanks to a great BOE), the budget was kept tight and no programs involving our children were cut. Considering some other BOE's had to make drastic cuts, this is a great achievement which was collectively overseen by a magnificent BOE here in Parsippany. Also our Security program involving our schools has increased and we've done many things to enhance the Security for our students.

In addition I've been the Chairperson of the Recreation Advisory Committee for the Town of Parsippany since 2001 and the President of the Towns PTW Little League for over 20 years.

This along with my professional experience as a Facilities Project Manager for 30+ years and a Security Director for 20+ years has given me a solid background to be an effective leader.

All candidate images submitted by the candidates and used with permission.