Bridgewater-Raritan School Board Election 2022: Saad A. Toor

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Board of Education general election on Nov. 8 has seven candidates running for four open seats.

Saad Toor is running for one of the three, three-year full-term seats representing Bridgewater.

Opposing candidates include Emily Calistri, Steven Singer, Sally Bartlett, Lynne Hurley, Lanfang "Lucy" li, and June Wang.

There is also one, one-year unexpired seat representing Raritan open. There are no candidates for that seat at the moment.

Are you running for office in Bridgewater? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Bridgewater Patch.

(All of the candidates were given the same questions)

Saad A. Toor

Age: 31

Town of residence: Bridgewater, NJ

Position sought: Board of Education, Member

Family: Single

Education:

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences* / Neag School of Education**
• B.A. Political Science, Concentration: International Relations, Minors: History / Middle Eastern Studies*
• M.A. Education: Curriculum and Instruction**

OXFORD UNIVERSITY (England, United Kingdom)

• St. Antony’s College / Oxford School of Global and Area Studies***
• M.Sc. Modern South Asian Studies, Concentration: International Relations, History, and Politics***
• Linguistics: Fluent in English, Urdu / Hindi, and Punjabi

Occupation:

FORM DEAN, TEACHER, COACH, ADVISOR: The Pingry School*, Basking Ridge, NJ
PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL STUDIES: Sacred Heart University**, Fairfield, CT
Former Instructor for Stanford University (BING) and Lecturer for University of Connecticut (OLLI)
*UPPER SCHOOL
**DEPT OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Previous or current elected appointed office: No. Note: Legislative Intern at CT General Assembly for President of CT State Senate, D. Williams

Campaign website: N/A

Why are you seeking to run for School Board?

In the aftermath of teaching for seven academic calendar years at the secondary education level and three academic calendar years at the higher education level, I am seeking the support of Bridgewater residents to become a Board of Education member at the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. I was motivated to run as a result of my conversations with both current and former members of the Board of Education who inspired me as a result of their commitment to public service, students, families, and teachers.

I would love to have the opportunity to work with fellow board members to ensure that the culture of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District continues its legacy of providing a quality education for our students. As we move forward into an academic calendar year with normalcy, I envision our graduates embodying our values that encompass committing to creative thinking, being lifelong learners, and responsible collaborators. I seek the support of residents to help me facilitate the journey of knowledge our students undertake prior to taking on the world, tomorrow.

School security has been an issue raised recently. Do you feel the Board and administration are handling this properly? And why?

I was born and raised in Connecticut and two of my siblings moved to Texas, last year. I was shaken by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that occurred while I was in my senior year of undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut. After meeting with the families of victims while being a legislative intern for the President of the Connecticut State Senate, Don Williams, I undertook a personal commitment to pursue a path of service, becoming a teacher. During that same school year, Malala Yousufzai, was targeted in Pakistan, near the Afghan border. She was eventually a classmate of mine at Oxford where we undertook some common South Asian Studies seminars, collectively. The classroom was being targeted both at home and abroad, in Pakistan, the nation from which my parents immigrated from to the United States. All of this really concerned me. School safety is public safety and our community needs to come together to partake in this discourse especially after the recent Uvalde tragedy, a decade after Sandy Hook. The safety of our faculty, staff, and most importantly, our students, is paramount, however, this should not be politicized. As a certified teacher, I know the daily risk of being an educator and/or student in a United States classroom.

I have attended a few board of education meetings where as an observer I noticed that our township’s administration is being too confrontational regarding assigning law enforcement across the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. One should note that there is clearly a difference of opinion in town as there is still an active investigation regarding Bridgewater Police and their treatment of youths at the Bridgewater Commons. A precedence of such treatment is truly not a sound foundation to pitch having active officers on Bridgewater-Raritan School District’s K-12 facilities. I support siding with campus monitors as district employees whom consist of former law enforcement. Both parents and students should voice their concerns at board meetings so that their opinions can be taken into account as we move forward with finding a solution-based outcome in the interest of school safety.

A referendum is in the works looking to focus on fixing school building infrastructure and adding full-day kindergarten. How do you feel about this?

I am interested in exploring a full day of kindergarten as childhood development is critical. The previous academic year was headlined with discussions on vaccines and masks. However, what is important to note is that our students lost valuable time in regards to being present, in person, at schools, where they can interact with their peers and teachers. Having a full day at kindergarten can help, tremendously. I welcome the use of referendum as it will embed the perspective of individuals across our community and the input of families is vital on this matter. I am looking forward to being part of the dialogue in regards to seeing how the district can accommodate this for the academic calendar year, ahead, and beyond.

What other issues do you feel need to be tackled in the school district?

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, I believe America was moved and rocked as a nation. Lots of institutions across the country started to have pages on social media dedicated to the anonymous experiences that people of color had while being students and/or part of a learning community. I am glad to see the awareness such initiatives have spread across New Jersey and the nation. As a history educator, I believe that having multiple perspectives in social studies curricula is imperative to give students several sources while one facilitates their learning, respectively. This helps with overcoming bias and seeing events through the modalities of several mediums.

Bridgewater-Raritan is one of the best districts in our state and we need to embrace the growing diversity in Somerset County. I believe our faculty needs to represent our town’s demographics and our district’s professional developments for educators and staff should be focused on initiatives that address equity in order to make our schools a more inclusive environment, for all. I was raised in a Post 9/11 America and Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Xenophobia should have no place in our classrooms or community. Last year, I spoke out in town about the Anti- Asian hate that exists in our society especially as a result of the pandemic and our previous administration’s outright bigotry. Our schools need to feel not only safe from a public safety standpoint, but should further be an environment that embraces a culture of belonging. This will foster a sound platform for our youths and their mental health / well-being.

What sets you apart from the other challenging candidates?

The experience of being an educator, with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction, sets me apart. My focus is dedicated to being a public servant and to actively engage in my community. As an educator, I took on a career dedicated to the service of others and obtaining a Board of Education position will provide me with the opportunity to continue to do so beyond the classroom environment.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

As a certified teacher, I have held experience teaching in Connecticut public schools prior to joining the faculty of the Pingry School in Bernards Township where I am engaged in the following roles: Form Dean, Upper School History Teacher, Coach, and Advisor. I have also taught, internationally, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as an IB Humanities teacher and further led the Department of Humanities as an Associate Chair. In addition to currently serving as Professor of Global Studies at Sacred Heart University, I had higher education lecturing experiences at Stanford University (BING) and also the University of Connecticut (OLLI) while completing graduate degrees in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) and Modern South Asian Studies (International Relations), respectively, at the latter, and Oxford University’s St. Antony’s College.

I will be teaching my fourth academic calendar year in Basking Ridge, this fall, while having resided solely in Bridgewater since moving to New Jersey in the aftermath of having resided abroad in both the Middle East and Europe. I am an advocate of global citizenship and embarked on that path after having lived in New England all my life, prior. I enjoy the growing diversity of Bridgewater and the representations of so many faiths across our township. I love driving through Martinsville and Green Knoll as it displays the so many houses of worship that have propped up and beautified Bridgewater both in architecture and spirit. I admire not only the history of our town’s connection to the American Revolution but also the overall terrain and geography.