Beyond the Budget: A Vision for Holmdel Schools

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Why I'm Running for Holmdel Board of Education

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Like many Holmdel residents, my husband and I came to this community for its beautiful open spaces, close-knit neighborhoods, and exceptional schools. We wanted a place where our daughters could put down roots and experience the kind of childhood we remembered growing up in Monmouth County. Today, with one daughter in 6th grade, one in 9th, and one in 12th, I care deeply about our students, our schools, and the taxpayers who make them possible. I'm running for the Holmdel Board of Education because I believe we can continue providing excellent schools while being honest, disciplined, and creative about how we pay for them.

Last Year's School District Budget Process Should Concern All of Us.

This year, Holmdel Schools face extraordinary financial challenges, including a potential $6 million dollar deficit and major capital decisions like a proposed referendum to address aging infrastructure that could approach $100 million dollars. The Board is also considering additional tax increases, another round of substantial cuts to teachers and programs that would likely push class sizes at Village above 30, and ballot questions that could permanently eliminate courtesy busing and some extracurricular programs. These challenges require strong financial oversight, a long-term plan, and accountability from the entire Board of Education, not another year of crisis-driven decision making.

Last year's budget process illustrates why short-sightedness is not sustainable for a district facing increasingly complex financial challenges. After voting "yes" to increase taxes in 2024 and 2025, our opponents voted "no" on the 2026 budget they had spent the year helping to develop as members and chairs of the Budget and Finance Committee. Throughout that process, their roles on the committee and in leadership positions changed several times, raising questions about consistency and accountability in a process that required everyone to remain engaged and focused on finding solutions. Despite ultimately opposing the budget they helped develop, neither offered viable alternatives or helped to bring the Board together around a long-term financial plan. Holmdel needs board members who will stay at the table, do the hard work, and take responsibility for the decisions they help shape, not step away when those decisions become difficult or complicated by an election year.

I believe Holmdel residents would like to avoid another political fight over the school budget. Most of us are neighbors first. We want Board members who represent the entire community, regardless of political party. We want our children to receive an excellent education. We want our teachers to have the resources and stability they need. We want to maintain the value of our homes and the quality of the community we have worked so hard to build. And we want to be able to afford to live here. We have so much more in common than we sometimes realize.

Our current financial challenges should be an opportunity to broaden the conversation, not narrow it. A forward-thinking vision of our schools could include creative solutions like expanded tuition-based programs, summer academic offerings, eligible nonresident enrollment, advocating at the state level for affordable healthcare, and equitable sharing of PILOT revenue. Instead of asking every year which programs we can eliminate or how much more we can ask homeowners to pay, we should be asking a bigger question: What do we want our schools to look like five, ten, and fifteen years from now, and what combination of responsible spending, new revenue, and community investment will allow us to get there?

A Different Way of Thinking about Education

I studied Environmental Geoscience and rowed on the crew team at Boston College and then went on to participate in a professional research program in Conservation Biology at Columbia University. I currently serve on the board of Citizens for Informed Land Use here in Holmdel and was also appointed to Holmdel Township's Open Space and Recreation Plan Committee. For many years, I worked in environmental and outdoor education, taking young people on adventures ranging from backpacking and mountain biking to cross-country skiing and rock climbing. I led groups of teens, many of whom had rarely, if ever, stepped beyond the streets of Boston, into the wilderness.

We learned how to read a map, pitch a tent, stay warm, navigate unfamiliar terrain, and trust one another. The outdoors became a classroom of sorts, where risk-taking, challenge, and even failure were part of our vocabulary. A steep climb, a cold, rainy morning, a wrong turn on a trail—each provided a chance for kids to problem-solve, grow into leaders, and discover, often to their own surprise, just how capable they were.

These experiences shaped the way I think about education. The most meaningful learning opens a door and gives young people the tools and confidence to walk through it on their own. Our schools already provide strong foundations in the classroom, but the policies we adopt should do more than just measure what students know. They should spark curiosity, build resilience, teach risk tolerance, and give students the ability to imagine possibilities beyond high school.

I have watched my own daughters struggle with academic policies that sometimes seem stacked against them. I strongly disagree with the district's current practice of allowing a handful of major assessments to account for as much as 85% of a marking period grade, and I'll push the administration to bring that weighting into a healthier balance. I'll also work to restore families' and teachers' voices in course placement decisions, so every student has a real path to challenge themselves, not just those students with the highest test scores.

I'll ask that the Board take a closer look at summer assignments and waiver work too, so students have time over the summer to rest, recharge, and be kids. And I would like to see our most advanced classes expand beyond the traditional classroom. The final weeks of an AP course could become an opportunity for students to publish research, pursue specialized summer internships, connect with professional mentors, or find volunteer work that aligns with their career interests. Those experiences can turn a strong academic foundation into something tangible that students can carry with them into the real world.

I've Spent Years Advocating for My Own Kids, Let Me Advocate For Yours, Too.

For more than 17 years, Holmdel has been our home, and I'm proud to be raising my family here. I love our schools, and I believe we can continue to provide the high-quality education our community expects while being thoughtful and responsible about how we get there.

Our students deserve academic opportunities that prepare them, not just for the next test, but for the challenges of life beyond high school. Our teachers and staff should have the resources to do their jobs well. Our taxpayers are justified in demanding fiscal responsibility and schools that contribute to rising home values. And our community deserves a multi-year financial plan that provides a clear path to stability and moves the district away from a cycle of annual financial crisis. We cannot build a better future by simply staying the course. We need leaders with the courage to change direction, the integrity to remain accountable, and the fortitude to pursue a clear, long-term vision for our schools.

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