Brick School Board Candidate: Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone

BRICK, NJ — There are six candidates vying for two seats on the Brick Township Board of Education — seats being vacated by incumbents Karyn Cusanelli and George White.

We are profiling each of the six candidates. Responses are in their own words, with edits for grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone has lived in Brick Township for more than 50 years. "I have an interest in giving back to the community that I have lived in for most of my life," she said. "I am a Brick High School graduate and have never left my hometown." She has worked for Brick Township in the Recreation Department since 2010, and has been involved in many special events as well as the daily needs of the department.

Before working for the township she was a full-time master stylist-colorist-hairdresser for 20 years and still works part-time weekly in the profession at the Ocean County Mall. She graduated from Brick High School and has taken some college courses at Ocean County College, and graduated from the Capri Institute in Brick many years ago. She has one daughter in high school and a granddaughter in elementary school, and has three other children who have graduated from Brick's school system. "I have served on many boards and have donated my time to many committees that are very dear to my heart," she said.

If you are elected to the Brick Township Board of Education, will you have any conflicts that would force you to abstain from voting? f so, what are they?

I do not have any conflicts that I believe would impact my ability to vote on any critical issues that may come before me. I do not have any family members that work for the Brick Township School District, the Township of Brick or at the Brick Municipal Utilities Authority.

Property taxes are a huge concern, but there is also significant concern about the state of the facilities, which have been neglected or shortchanged for decades. How would you balance the need to address critical issues with the concern over property taxes?

Many municipalities, county and state governments are presently plagued with the same dilemma of deteriorated infrastructure, dilapidated buildings and antiquated systems of management and operation.
These burdens almost always negatively affect taxpayers. Look at the gas tax just instituted by Trenton this week to fill a gap in the state transportation fund. My belief has always been to run businesses like a household, shop with prudence, and purchase what you can afford. If you do have to borrow or take out a loan, insure that you have budgeted accordingly and can afford to make the payments. If everything checks out then proceed but only by being fiscally responsible without burdening other members of your family or in this case, the taxpayers of your community.

There has been much discussion about teacher salaries at recent board meetings. What do you propose to balance the need to manage costs while maintaining experience?

First I would like to recognize the teachers of our country and municipality. I have many nieces, nephews and cousins who are and were, very dedicated teachers and I can tell you how much I admire them. They are the unsung heroes of life; they can make the difference. I have seen it in my life and I have seen it in my
children’s lives. I believe all teachers deserve to be compensated relative to their contributions to their school system and our municipality. Experienced teachers who are familiar with the most modern and proven teaching techniques are the most valuable assets to learning in our municipality.

That being said, balancing the need to manage costs while maintaining experience should be the primary concern of the Board of Education. The board may be able to streamline some programs in order to
save costs. I will only know these factors once elected. I promise that once I get better insight as to where costs average and add up I will work with the board to make any changes that will only
enhance the learning experience without creating additional costs.

What in your view is the most important thing that can be done to improve student achievement, and how would you prefer to see that measured?

I believe right now with so much uncertainty in the world that things become confusing for our children, our students and they lose direction. There are so many electronic devices and forms of media out there, although educational, can at times also be very distracting and siphoning them of social skills, social interaction and possibly home study. Presently I think there is great opportunity in every educational climate throughout the country and right here in our town to make a positive difference. One program can be to utilize retired and successful citizens that hail from Brick Township or have become residents here to share their stories of success with our students. Our students may be able to relate to someone else’s struggles and challenges that may be similar to theirs and it may serve as an inspiration for them to succeed. Programs like these may be able to be offered to the schools with absolutely no costs at all associated to the taxpayer.
The PARCC testing that is now in place since 2015 is slated to supply meaningful and important data to improve learning, I would like to see where it stands after a brief history in our school system.

Patch graphic; photo provided by Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone