Will Heffernan, Tobacco And Capone Run For Re-Election This Year?

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — There are three seats up for election in 2023 on the Middletown school board, and they are the seats held by Board president Frank Capone, vice president Jacqueline Tobacco and Harmony "Barry" Heffernan.

Of course, Middletown residents know this trio as the once-close 1,2,3 "Putting Our Children First" slate that swept the school board three years ago, in November 2020.

With Capone getting 16,543 votes, 16,354 for Tobacco and 14,628 for Heffernan — compared to about 8,000 each for their opponents, all sitting BOE members — it was the biggest landslide for a school board election in Middletown history.

At the time, the 1,2,3 trio spoke for the anger of hundreds, if not thousands, of Middletown parents: Angry schools were closed for so long, angry their children were forced to wear masks day in and day out, and angry sports practices, tournaments and more were all canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A Black Lives Matter protest held on the grounds of High School North in June of 2020 only intensified things. After that, the Monmouth County Republican Party even got involved in the Middletown school race, circulating a flyer on Facebook that showed then-BOE president Pam Rogers, wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, next to photos of Gov. Murphy and Nancy Pelosi. The ad read: "Progressive Pam and Middletown Democrats want to put their politics in front of your children's education."

(This is noteworthy, because in New Jersey school board races are supposed to be non-political.)

In 2023, so much has changed.

For reasons that are still not entirely clear, the 1,2,3 slate has drifted far apart.

"We definitely don't agree on all things," was all Heffernan would say Wednesday.

Heffernan said he is currently "thinking about" asking running for re-election. He said he "hasn't even thought about it yet" when asked if he would run with Capone and Tobacco again — or if he would run alone.

Heffernan said Wednesday afternoon: "I have children in the district, so I have enjoyed for the past three years having a say in their education and how the district is run. I am thinking about running for re-election, but I am really not committed yet. I have a lot to think over."

Patch asked Tobacco and Capone if they too intend to run.

Tobacco said she and Capone would not be commenting for this article.

Heffernan was censured by a majority of the board last month, after he allegedly told a principal he would confront a student he believed was bullying his child. Heffernan said one of his children has been bullied for months now, and he and his wife are not satisfied with the way the school is handling it. According to emails obtained by the Asbury Park Press, a school official said Heffernan said he would "wait until the kid walks out of the school" to confront the bullying himself.

Kate Farley, Joan Minnuies and Leonora Caminiti all joined Capone and Tobacco in censuring him. Capone was the one who introduced the resolution to censure Heffernan. Capone said a Middletown school district employee filed a complaint with the district over Heffernan's alleged threat, and thus the board made the decision to take action to censure Heffernan.

"The Board has a certain expectation of how its members should conduct themselves," said Capone at the time.

But Heffernan has some allies on the board: Board newcomers Gary Tulp and Joe Fitzgerald both refused to join the vote to censure him.

"I personally didn't think the whole thing was valid," said Fitzgerald last month. "He explained himself in executive session and I don't think what he did or said was necessarily unbecoming. I understand that Board members are held to a higher standard, but at the end of the day we're still parents, right? He was acting as a parent."

The election will be in November. Any Middletown Township resident can run for school board; you have to submit a petition with the signatures of 12 town residents who support you by July 31 to the Monmouth County Clerk's Office. Learn more about how to run for school board: https://www.njsba.org/about/me...