Election 2023: Montu Patel Running For New Hope-Solebury School Bd.

Candidates running in the Nov. 7 general election are providing background about themselves and their positions on the issues to voters in these profiles, which will run in Patch individually for each candidate.

NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY — Incumbent Montu Patel is seeking re-election to the New Hope-Solebury School Board. Seven candidates are vying for five open seats on the board including John Augenblick (D/R), Montu Patel (D/R), Judy McHenry Finn (D/R), Linda Swedo (D), Nik Hebel (D), Ron Felix (R) and Donald Martin Jr. (R).

Biographical Information

Name: Montu Patel
Age: 46
Town of residence: New Hope/Solebury
Position sought: School Board Director
Are you an incumbent? Yes
Party affiliation: Pro student
Family: child in 2nd, 8th and 10th grade
Education: Vassar undergraduate in Psychology and NYU Masters in Asset Management
Occupation: Real Estate

Questions

Why are you running?

I have always enjoyed giving back to my community in various ways and have spent many years attending school board meetings before deciding to run 4 years ago. I have been serving as a school board member for just under 4 years and have enjoyed making a positive change in our
district. There's still work left to do that we started over 3 years ago and I'd like to see the facilities projects that I started through to the finish line. We are bringing positive change that is well received by our key constituents and I believe there is unfinished work that I still have to do with the help of the Board, Administration, Teachers and the Community. Together we will create a new roadmap for education that other districts will come and want to emulate.

What do you see as the top issues facing the district and how do you plan to address them?

I would like to seek new ideas for our bus-related issues and continue to improve the cafeteria's offerings as we reduce the amount of highly-processed foods that have been served in the past.
While every district has issues we don't have the same challenges that we faced four years ago when I first ran for office. Now we are more focused on building on what we've started.

If elected, what would you fight to change or keep?

Continue the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work that we have started in our district that has made us leaders in PA. Setting policies that help each student reach their highest potential in our school district. Continue to achieve excellence in our school district. Continue to make NHSD one of the best schools in PA. Make fiscally-prudent decisions. Continue to attract and retain the best administrators and teachers that are available in the market. Over the past three years we have been implementing our comprehensive plan and we're working on rolling out the next three year comprehensive plan that builds on the achievements we've made since the last plan.