Election 2022: Shannon Peng For Edison Board Of Education

EDISON, NJ — Twelve candidates are running for three seats on the Edison Board of Education this year. Board member Shannon Peng is seeking reelection to a third term.

A software engineer, Peng has two children in the school district. In her two terms on the Board, Peng said she helped the Board save about $10 million in the budget. Below is Peng's candidate profile.

(All of the candidates were given the same questions)

Editor's Note: Patch sent out emails to all candidates to the email addresses provided by the County clerk's office. All responses received will be published between now and Nov. 8 general election. Local candidates who did not receive the questionnaire from Patch can contact sarah.salvadore@patch.com.

Name: Shannon Peng

Age: 49

Town of residence: Edison

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: Married with two children in Edison Public Schools

Education: Master's degree from the University of Chicago

Occupation: Software Engineer

Previous or current elected appointed office: Board of Education (2 terms)

Campaign website: https://www.edisonstudentsfirst.com/

Why are you seeking to run for School Board?

Why district attorney charged 411 days of work in a 365-day calendar year? Why district insurance broker was the same for 20 years? Why has the food vendor never changed even with so many complaints from students/parents? Why do the science labs get cut in our high schools? Why our gym class is so packed that kids barely can move around? Why we paid so much tax but our kids still have no cafeteria and have to eat lunch at their desks? To answer and solve these problems is why I run for the Board of Education. Over the past few years, I helped the Board save about $10 million in the budget – by cutting fraud and waste and voting out over-charging vendors. Our team feels the imminent responsibility to see this money to be used wisely, and in our schools/programs. Without an independent and transparent Board to oversee, no matter how much money is saved for taxpayers, they can be abused and gone soon before the public ever know.

COVID-19 resulted in learning loss for many students. What will you do to ensure students bounce back?

I did some research last year – study shows small group high-dosage tutoring is one of the most effective ways to help academically struggling children catch up, but it could be expensive and not affordable for some families who usually need it most, so we need to be creative – we could get college-educated teaching assistants to tutor at a lower cost, and get high school kids to volunteer to tutor our elementary students With the covid relief and other state aids, we can enhance our afterschool classes so our own teachers who are the expert of the curriculum, would be helping the students in the same school with extra pay. It would be money well spent - research shows students participating in an afterschool program improved their school-day attendance and were less likely to engage in drug use or problem behavior. Most importantly, besides providing all the resources for academic improvement, we must create a better Social and Emotional Learning environment for our kids. We have to help our students re-engage with schools and regain their passion for learning.

What according to you is the biggest issue facing the school district currently? How do you plan to tackle it?

Overcrowding. The students are hurting, we are hurting, whenever another course or lab, or program is cut due to a lack of classrooms/resources. A master plan for school expansion has been designed and is on the way to start. We have the money, a plan, but do we have a team for successful executions? The fact is the superintendent is leaving. Knowing how corrupt some of the elected officials are, and how much dirty politics are in this town and infiltrating into our schools, as well as the almost zero transparency the board has – the future is not promising. Only a board that has no political ties, no business connections, and no personal gains, can select an independent, highly qualified superintendent to execute the master plan. Our team is here to make sure every decision is made for the benefit of students and tax payors.

What is your view on the sex education curriculum that Gov. Murphy put forth earlier this year?

Every kid is different, every parent has their own views. No one should try to influence the children or parents this way or the other. As board members what we should do is provide parents with all the information they need so they can make an informed decision. It is the parent’s right to know what is being taught to their child, especially elementary school-aged ones, and decide what’s best for their child. As board members we should guarantee the minimum:

• Transparency in the curriculum, published syllabus or maybe a sample class
• Easy and concise opt-in opt-out choices, an email instead of a piece of paper lost on the bus.
• Respect parents’ decisions. Once decisions are made, they must be honored.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

We are the ONLY team that: Never bribed or took a bribe. Our votes are not for sale. Has no business or contract with the township or county. Our votes are not to benefit our jobs. No one has been appointed to any position by the Township or County. Our votes are not to be hijacked.

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

Our team has a dream - kids should have enough classrooms to take any course, beautiful sport fields to play on, state of art auditoriums to perform at, and bright shining cafeterias to dine in. Our teachers should have all the tools and training they need, come to school every day with something to look forward to, and go home feeling accomplished and rewarded. our kids, teachers, and taxpayers deserve this – call it a dream but if we don’t have this dream we should not be running for school board. Our team, column 2, Romano, Peng, V.Patel will try our best to deliver this dream.

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