Howell School Board Election: 3 Seats, 4 Candidates

HOWELL, NJ — If you're still undecided about who to vote for in Tuesday's school board election, the four candidates got together for a meet and greet last week.

The event was broadcast live on Facebook by the Howell Happenings NJ page, and was an opportunity to ask questions about what each candidate sees as necessary and important issues facing the district. You can watch the replay below.

Mark A. Bonjavanni, Laurence Gurman, Joseph Tate and Cristy Mangano are the four candidates seeking the three, three-year terms on the Howell Township Board of Education, overseeing the kindergarten-to-eighth-grade district. School board members do not receive a salary; it is a volunteer position.

Bonjavanni, 65, is a current member of the board and serves as board president. He is a real estate agent and has two children who went through the Howell schools. He served on the school board from 2000 to 2005, then left and worked for the New Jersey School Boards Association for several years. He was elected to the board again in 2013 and is seeking his third consecutive term. He has lived in Howell for nearly 35 years. He has a sister-in-law who is a school nurse in the Howell district.

Gurman, 76, is a current member of the board. He is retired after working for the state's Office of Legislative Services for 40 years. He also was a professor at then-Monmouth College for five years. He has two children who went through the Howell schools. He was one of the founders of the Howell Township Education Foundation, which gives grants to classroom teachers in the district for a variety of educational programs. He has lived in Howell since 1976, and has a relative who works for the district.

Magano, 41, is a current member of the board. She is a registered nurse and has five children, four of whom are in the K-8 schools; her oldest is in the Freehold Regional High School District. Her youngest is on the autism spectrum. She has lived in Howell for 17 years.

Tate, 37, is a newcomer is the CEO of Fairy Glen Tate & Co., which sells gifts and collectibles, and he has two children, ages 6 and 3, and his wife is a teacher in the Freehold Regional High School District. He has lived in Howell for 16 years. He said he will bring fresh eyes to the district's operations.

At the meet-and-greet, the four candidates discussed several issues, including communication, school finances, busing, and the district's move to realign the schools by grade level, grouping more classes of the same age together.

The school realignment has received mixed reviews, with some parents favoring it and others opposing the changes it has brought.

Bonjavanni said the realignment was done in part to address crowding issues: some schools were at 113 percent of their capacity, while others were at 65 percent. It has helped teachers collaborate more on classroom strategies and educational ideas, because they have teachers of a similar grade level right down the hall.

Mangano said the move was rough for families who were split up, because they are grouped K-2, 3-5 and middle school. "I was not a fan," she said. "I think we did the best we could for our students."

On the issue of finances and district expenditures, Tate said he believes there is more that can be done to find efficiencies, and wanted to ensure the district is using the wisest approach to buying supplies, for example. He was questioned by a resident on his suggestion of consolidation, which he mentioned in a letter sent to voters, and said his suggestion applies to purchasing, not consolidating the schools.

Gurman and Mangano said the district already does bulk purchasing of supplies, and continues to look for ways to be efficient in other areas. Gurman said the Energy Savings Improvement Program, which has installed solar panels and LED lighting throughout the district, will save the district millions in energy costs, and allowed the district to install air conditioning in all of its schools.

The issues of busing changes that happened at the beginning of the school year and communication gaps during that process, which left parents confused and angry, were intertwined.

Bonjavanni and Gurman said Mangano has made suggestions about what can be done differently in the future, to make sure parents are aware not only that changes were proposed but that they had been approved.

Mangano said she wanted to see more use of social media to connect with parents, but Bonjavanni and Gurman said all of the information is available on the district's website, and said they encourage parents and taxpayer to come to the school board's committee meetings. They agreed, however, that more can be done to communicate, both with families and with taxpayers who do not have children in the district.

Tate said more information should be distributed to the community, rather than waiting for people to come to the website looking for it. "Make the information easier to get," he said.

The forum lasted about 90 minutes. You can watch it below.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Howell Patch on Facebook.