South Brunswick Board Of Education Profile: Deven Patel

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Incumbent Deven M. Patel is running for re-election to the South Brunswick School Board of Education. A civil engineer at the Department of Transportation, Patel has been a Board member since 2011.

He believes he should be re-elected because stability is what the school district needs during this time, when school across the country are adapting to remote and hybrid learning modules.

Read below to learn more about Patel and his platform for the upcoming elections in South Brunswick.

Name - Deven M. Patel

Age (as of Election Day) - 49

Position Sought - South Brunswick School Board Member

Family - Sonal (wife), Vinita (daughter), Vivek (son) and Viresh (son).

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? - No

Education - B.S. in Civil Engineering from NJIT

Occupation - Civil Engineer at The Department of Transportation

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office - South Brunswick School Board Member since April 2011

Why are you seeking elective office?

The COVID-19 situation has caused many problems to the school district which includes re-opening of schools and financial hardship. Being an incumbent helps me to tackle these issues since we are working on it. All board members have knowledge, and established communication channels with the legislators or Department of Education, which helps to resolve issues faster. I am confident that my nine years of experience as a School Board member can help the district tackle issues.

The single most pressing issue facing our community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing our community is new development looming around the township and financial hardship because of that. The township has many cases in court to stop new housing development. Sooner or later, the sort might give access to developers to build new housing development. If that happens, we will need more schools and more funding to support new student populations. The South Brunswick School District (SBSD) has been proactive in this situation and we created a task force to look into this issue and came up with many possible scenarios if this happens. I was part of many committees to make sure that we provide the best service to our children in South Brunswick.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I’ve been a South Brunswick School Board member for over nine years. During these nine years, I worked with the Superintendent, administration team, teachers and student to resolve many issues related to the school system. This experience will help me face any forthcoming issues that the district will face, including finance, equity in the education, new housing development planning. Due to the current COVID-19 and financial situations SBSD needs experienced members on the Board. This can be achieved by re-electing incumbents. I chair the curriculum committee and am a member of the policy committee. These two committees meet monthly to review curriculum and review school district policy and fine tune everything. Over the summer, all incumbents board member worked very hard on the re-opening plan, everyone worked with the State Legislature to get funding or keep existing level of funding. Experience, trust, transparency, leadership, and unity of incumbent are critical difference between us and other candidates seeking for this post.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

Giving equity in education by providing more opportunity to students who are struggling or can do better. SBSD is constantly working on this issue for many years. SBSD created an equity committee and involved parents, students, teachers, school administrators, and Board of Education members. I am part of this committee as well. This committee worked on opening doors to many students to take AP courses, honors courses without lowering the standards. We still need to work as a community to fill the gap and help those students who can do better in life.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Following are my accomplishments that will help me to handle my job as South Brunswick School

• District Board Member - South Brunswick School Board member for over 9 years.
• Chair for the SBSD Curriculum committee and member of SBSD Policy Committee.
• Board of Director representing Middlesex County at New Jersey School Board Association (NJSBA).
• New Jersey School Board Association (NJSBA) Health and Wellness Steering Committee member.
• Certified Board Leader (CBL) from New Jersey School Board Association (NJSBA).
• Certified Public Manager (CPM) from the State of New Jersey.
• Member for South Brunswick Transportation Advisory Committee for over 11 years. I was chair for this committee for 5 years.
• Representing South Brunswick at the Middlesex County Transportation Committee for 11 years.
• Coached soccer for six years at the South Brunswick Soccer club.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Focus on task, work hard and smart to resolve issues.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am an experienced South Brunswick School Board member who always works with the community for South Brunswick and New Jersey's children's future. I will continue to serve the South Brunswick community as school board member. In this difficult time of the year, the school district needs stability and experience.

In anticipation of the upcoming election, Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns. We will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

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