The 2020 Middletown Board Of Education Race: What Happened?

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Bloodbath. Mandate. Wipe out.

Call it what you want, but a perfect storm of factors caused a stunning magnitude of victory for Jacqueline Tobacco, Frank Capone and Harmony "Barry" Heffernan — all political newcomers — in the 2020 Middletown Board of Education race, knocking incumbents Pam Rogers, Nick DiFranco and Robin Stella off their seats.

"It was a mandate, no question. That margin of victory is not by accident," said Art Gallagher, a conservative political blogger who keeps an eye on local races in Monmouth County. "Biggest landslide to my knowledge in a BOE race."

Capone, Tobacco and Heffernan (the 1,2,3 slate) received 16,543, 16,354 and 14,628 votes, respectively, to 8,798 for DiFranco, 8,379 for Stella and 8,090 for Rogers. All vote counts are now certified and final by the Monmouth County Clerk.

"I didn't know I was going to win by that much," Heffernan. "But I believe there are several reasons why. (Rogers) lost because views she has and policies she believes in didn't fall in line with the conservative values of this district. I really feel like the town related more to what our agenda was than what her politics were. I really wish the three of them the best."

"The people of Middletown have spoken," Tobacco told Patch. "Mrs. Rogers was too blinded by her progressive ideology and political activism to see that her tenure as president was clearly failing the children and taxpayers in our district."

"That couldn’t be further from the truth," countered Rogers. "I never made any decisions based on my politics. The Democrats on our board never voted in a block of five. As board president, I was one of nine votes. I didn’t control the board on my own. But, you don’t have to take my word for it. Look at our voting record during my three-year tenure. Look at my body of work. I’ve been supportive of the administration in bettering the district for our students, always keeping taxpayers in mind."

But first, let's talk about COVID. Since March, Tobacco has been extremely vocal about her frustrations with the lockdowns and virtual learning. She vented her anger on social media months before her campaign for Board of Ed. began, where she openly questioned whether masks were safe or necessary, and lamented how much Middletown students, including her own children, were struggling with virtual learning. She also met with town leaders last spring to get special-needs students back in class.

The frustration Tobacco was feeling struck a deep chord with some Middletown parents.

"That's certainly why I voted for her," said Middletown mom Sue Cerbo, who herself has been very active to try and resume Middletown sports, particularly football. "I was all for her because she wanted to get the kids back in school. A lot of people are scared of this virus, but Jackie's whole point was let them stay home if they choose. But let the other kids back to school."

"You also have Pam saying she's a progressive liberal in basically a red town," Cerbo added.

Middletown is a Republican stronghold in Monmouth County: Trump won Middletown in 2020 (55 percent for Trump; 42 percent for Biden), and 2016 (59 percent for Trump, 36 percent for Clinton), according to final election counts. School board races are supposed to be apolitical but in a year of COVID, lockdowns and Black Lives Matter, politics simply could not be kept out of the Middletown school board race.

According to Gallagher, the 1,2,3 slate initially approached him about running their campaign. For whatever reason, it did not work out but Gallagher said he told them right away he was confident they would win.

"I was confident in their passion, their qualifications and the feeling in the community and the disgust," he said. "These folks ran a back-to-basics campaign on 'let's educate our children and not indoctrinate our children.' There was enough of a conversation that the incumbents were supporting indoctrination policies, and taking political positions and allowing political rallies. I think the majority of Middletown families felt offended."

He's referring, of course, to the Spread Love, Not Hate march organized by Middletown high school students and held on the grounds of High School North in June. It was part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rogers, as sitting Board of Education president, was not a march organizer. But she was included on several planning emails about the march, and she and then-superintendent William George acquiesced when the teens asked if they could hold the march on school grounds. The young people said they had nowhere else to hold it.

Hundreds of Middletown teens and and adults attended. Those who marched said it was about unity and sending a clear message: We are against racism in Middletown. The Middletown police chief spoke, as did many Middletown residents, many of them Black or people of color.

There were one or two signs in the crowd: ACAB (All Cops are Bad). Also seen was the Antifa duck symbol, a code for F*** the police.

That angered some in Middletown. Is Middletown not ready for the Black Lives Matter movement?

"It's offensive to suggest that if you are not OK with your kids being indoctrinated then you are somehow racist," said Gallagher. "Middletown is sophisticated about what BLM is: A highly financed, corporate political movement that is anti-police and anti-unity. Middletown is not a racist community and I believe impressionable young adolescents were easily manipulated by their teachers and accomplices on the BOE by this very sophisticated, extremely well-funded political movement."

Rogers sees it very differently.

"So many families who marched that day lost and those students were not heard," she said. "In the weeks that followed, I could not believe the ugly, intolerant posts I read on social media from supporters of 1,2,3. I hope that, in the future, Middletown will listen and be more receptive to diversity."

She also said:

"The winners of the 2020 Middletown Board of Education election ran a dirty, undignified, classless and racist campaign funded by the Monmouth County Republicans. I can only hope that this does not reflect on how they intend to govern."

Why did the Monmouth County Republican Party get involved in a school board race?

Rogers is referring to a flyer the Monmouth County Republican Party circulated on Facebook. It showed Pam, wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, pictured next to images of Gov. Phil Murphy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The image read "Progressive Pam and Middletown Democrats want to put their politics in front of your children's education."

"The Monmouth County Republicans created an attack ad about me, editing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. from 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' a foundational document of this nation," said Rogers. "They chose to remove a few words from the quote on a sign I was holding that said 'Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?' They changed it to read 'We will be extremists.' They did so to make me look like an extremist and make the peaceful march I attended seem violent and extreme."

"Tactics like this have been used for years to silence people of color and those who support them. I personally think it’s racist, or at the very least, racially insensitive to disrespect MLK, Jr. and the BLM movement like that," she said. "This was done to support the 1,2,3 campaign. This tactic worked. They won."

Why would the Monmouth County Republican Party, led by Sheriff Shaun Golden, get involved in a little Board of Education race? What are they afraid of that Rogers, DiFranco and Stella represent?

"I don’t know," said Rogers. "But they put their name on that ad and (Assemblyman) Gerry Scharfenberger made phone calls for Mrs. Tobacco, so I believe it was their intention to support these candidates publicly."

"I don't know anything about that," said Scharfenberger when asked why his party created the flyer. He is a Republican Assemblyman who lives in Middletown and represents this area in Trenton. "But when 62 percent of your property taxes go to education, it becomes very important how the schools are run."

"I guess they must have felt strongly enough to get involved," he said, referring to the Monmouth County Republican Party.

In October, Patch asked the Monmouth GOP why they ran the ad, and got no answer. Gallagher said he was not involved with the ad and could not speak to it.

The Monmouth Republican Party was not the only outside force meddling in this year's Middletown school board race. The Middletown Democrats offered to let Rogers and her team use their phone banks, she told Patch. And it is still unknown who created this website that reported Heffernan was fighting an insurance fraud lawsuit filed against him by the state.

Scharfenberger said he was happy to support the 1,2,3 slate and said he wished them well as they take the helm of Middletown schools in January.

"I think their philosophy captured Middletown's psyche," he said. "I think Middletown is a very traditional town; it's very steeped in Americana, and I think that's reflected in the way people look at their kids' education. They're not big on radical stuff and we had a little foray into this this year. These three (Tobacco, Capone, Heffernan) were a breath of fresh air. They emphasized traditional education."

This year, nearly 700 Middletown High School graduates signed this petition, asking to change the high school curriculum to make it "anti-racist," such as introducing new required reading. The valedictorian of Middletown High School North said before graduating this spring that she survived "years of racial discrimination and disgusting comments from close-minded people ... in this Godforsaken town."

Rogers said meetings have been held to discuss how to incorporate the proposed curriculum changes. She also previously told Patch that The 1619 Project, a controversial theory that America's origins started with the slave trade, would not be added to the curriculum.

"The administration feels that The 1619 project, while valuable in many ways, is just too partisan and political for a public school district to adopt," she said this fall.

Scharfenberger meanwhile said he has drafted a bill in Trenton that would mandate The 1776 Project — created by Robert Woodson to counter The 1619 Project — be taught in New Jersey public schools.

"I told them (Tobacco, Capone and Heffernan) about it and they loved it," said Scharfenberger. "The 1619 Project has been totally debunked and is damaging to education. I feel very strongly about this and they (1,2,3) supported it."

Payback for closing Port Monmouth Elementary?

Then there was that lingering anger from North Middletown.

In March, all three incumbents were part of a majority Board vote to close Port Monmouth Elementary, a school with a dwindling student body and a school building that was deteriorating and actually physically unsafe.

Rogers, DiFranco and Stella all voted to close it. Rogers told Patch at the time that parents were so angry they actually followed her to her car the night of the vote and that one mom tried to physically attack her; she had to be held back by her husband.

"The incumbents had it against them with the closing of Port Monmouth, which upset many people in that northwest area of town," said Gallagher.

Rogers, Stella and DiFranco also backed a controversial proposed redistricting plan, which, should it be approved, would move Middletown students out of schools they currently attend and put them in new schools. The consulting firm Middletown schools hired to work on redistricting will present more options at the next BOE meeting Dec. 16.

"Robin, Nick and myself will not vote on it. That will be the job of the new board," said Rogers. "The public has made it clear in the answers to our survey and from comments they made that the majority of them would support a rezone to lower class sizes and promote equity throughout the district."

Tobacco and her slate said now is not a good time for redistricting.

"We ran on a platform to promote fiscal accountability and bring real strategic planning to this board," said Capone. "The incumbents seemed to be more focused on social interaction when the voters and taxpayers are faced with the complex financial and operational needs of the district. Clearly, our backgrounds and message resonated, and we intend to fulfill that promise."

Did a third slate siphon away votes?

Then there was the "Unifying Middletown" slate of Kelly Brodin, Pam Smith and Patricia Reed (8,9, 10), who painted themselves as a cohesion party, promising to bring together a community driven to opposite poles of Stella/Rogers/DiFranco vs. Tobacco/Heffernan/Capone.

Did they siphon away votes that would have helped Rogers and her allies?

"That’s certainly a possibility," said Rogers. "However, I have no data to support that theory. 8,9,10 was a strong team. They did extensive research and attended all of our meetings. I hope they’ll consider running again in the future."

Brodin, Smith, Reed received a similar number of votes as Stella, Rogers, DiFranco, roughly 8,000 each. Brodin, Smith, Reed did not respond when Patch asked if they would like to comment for this article.

"But there's no telling who those voters would have voted for," pointed out Gallagher.

Lucky ballot placement?

And of course, the cherry on top for Tobacco et al was sheer lucky placement: 1,2,3 at the very top of the ballot in a presidential year that saw huge voter turnout.

"I think their 1,2,3 ballot position was helpful," said Stella. "I also think that record numbers of Republicans voted because it was a presidential election and they also voted for 1,2,3. I believe that the other votes were split between us and the other candidates."

Having first ballot placement is a "built-in advantage," said Gallagher.

"But it wasn't all down to the ballot position," he said. "When this race started, anyone could have won. 1,2,3 ran an aggressive campaign. They had signs; they had a social media operation; they had mailers. They took the negative social media posts against them and turned them around. And there was a strong anti-incumbent feeling for ideological reasons: Parents don't want their kids indoctrinated."

Rogers had this final message:

"As a mom in this district, I am rooting for them to succeed. I hope they will resist the urge to go back to the days of the dysfunctional Middletown Board of Education," she said. "I’m so proud of everything we’ve accomplished these past three years and will always remember my time on the BOE fondly. My colleagues and I were able to unify a dysfunctional board and accomplish things for this district that hadn’t been done in 20 years. With our strategic plan, we have set the future board up for success. I hope they respect the process and all those who volunteered their time and efforts to the plan as they make very difficult but necessary decisions this coming year."

"To my supporters, who never believed any of the lies they heard about me: You kept me going through the dark times. We will always have each other’s backs and always fight for equity in this district and town together."

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