Here's Who's Running For Middletown School Board In 2023

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — It will be a very competitive election this November for the Middletown school board. Here is who is running:

• Frank Capone: Putting Children First slate
• Jacqueline Tobacco: Putting Children First slate
• Caterina Skalaski: Putting Children First slate
• Ashley Studd: Be The Change slate
• Justin Meehan: Be The Change slate
• Kelly Del Sordi: Be The Change slate
• Mark Soporowski: Independent, running on his own

The election will be Nov. 7, and Middletown residents will be asked to vote for three.

Current Board member and former member of the Putting Children First slate Harmony "Barry" Heffernan has decided not to run for re-election.

All seven of the candidates have children enrolled in the Middletown school district.

The Be The Change slate seeks to topple Capone and Tobacco from their positions as heads of the Middletown school district.

Capone and Tobacco led the fight Middletown picked with the state of New Jersey this year, when the Middletown school board tried to install a policy that would require the district notify parents if a child is transgender. That policy got the district sued by the NJ Attorney General in June, and then in late August a Monmouth County Superior Court judge blocked Middletown from carrying out the policy.

Meehan said that controversial transgender policy was one of the issues that motivated him to try and oust Capone/Tobacco.

“I just couldn’t believe the lack of respect they showed the students, the community members —anybody that wasn’t on their side,” Meehan told NJ Spotlight on Sept. 7. “Whether you agree with the people or not, you don’t get to make the decision of who you’re going to listen to. We’re here to represent everybody in the community.”

The Be The Change trio posted last week on Facebook they want to bring "awareness to how politicized our Board of Education has become. We’re running to drive politics out and refocus time and resources on where our district needs it the most."

There are other issues in Middletown public schools, such as:

• The continued reduction in state aid Middletown school district gets from Trenton
• Delays replacing the track/turf at High School North, and the district got sued over it this year
• The differences in academic rankings and prestige between the two Middletown high schools, North and South
• Yes, redistricting is still on the table for Middletown and could still be discussed.
• Some parents say there is a bullying problem in Middletown schools, and a 14-year-old High School North sophomore girl took her own life last September.

Patch will be asking all seven candidates about these issues facing Middletown schools. Let me know the questions you want me to ask all the candidates: carly.baldwin@patch.com

Judge Rules Middletown Cannot Enact Trans Student Policy (Aug. 19)

NJ Sues Middletown, 2 Other Districts For Transgender Student Policies (June 22)