BOE Candidate Profile: Stephen M. Levine

As the local schools come back from their spring breaks next week, on Wednesday the Board of Education Elections will be held throughout the state of New Jersey, including right here in Howell. Six Candidates are running for three available seats on the board, with only two incumbents looking to hold onto their seats. This is the fourth article in a series of profiles Howell Patch is doing on the candidates.

• Candidate Name: Stephen M. Levine
• Address: 24 Poplar Street
• Occupation: Professor of Psychology, Georgian Court University

For the last 27 years Stephen M. Levine has been a resident of Howell Township and during that time he has taken his educational career not only across the state, but across the globe having worked as far away as New Zealand. 

Having spent nearly a half a century in the education field, Levine said he believes he has the skills and abilities needed to fill one of the three seats on the board of education. He has seen the inner workings of a school as a teacher, administrator and consultant at a variety of levels.

In addition to his time in the schools, Levine said his involvement in the community is also an important part of his candidacy. Having spent time as a leader in the Cub and Boy Scouts and the Pinelanders Soccer Club, he believes he knows what it will take for the board to help he district. "From these experiences I have developed skills and knowledges that I want to utilize for the improvement of the education of the children of Howell," he said.

Levine said that his goal is not only to help the students, but to, "do so in an extremely cost effective manner so as not to increase the tax burden on taxpayers."

Over the course of his career, Levine has worked in a variety of capacities in education, but believes his latest work will be of a benefit to the board if he is elected. That work focuses on teaching people to work with people with autism, including developing a graduate program with even more advanced techniques to help people even more. 

Having spent close to three decades living in Howell, Levine said there is a lot about the town, and the school system that he would like to be a part of continuing. "The quality of the educational programs of the district are exceptional with students achieving above the level of comparable districts throughout the state while doing so in a cost effective manner when compared to the state, county and comparable districts," he said. 

In fact, Levine said his family decided to move to the town based in part on the quality of education offered in the district. Now he said the goal must be to maintain that high level of services. "The educational programs of the district are of higher quality than they were when my wife and I chose to move to Howell. We must continue (to) support the quality education programs so that our children will be prepared to succeed both economically, professional and personally in the future."

And while there are good things about the district, Levine said he believes there are still areas for improvement. "I believe that increased attention needs to be given to eliminating the achievement gap among all groups of students in Howell and accomplishing this in a way that does not increase the tax burdens on the citizens of Howell."

Voting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, April 27 at locations across the district.

Editor's note: Like many news outlets, Patch is not enabling commenting on election-related stories as voting day approaches to avoid anonymous last-minute attacks.