Change and Challenge Face Board of Education

Another school election in Parsippany-Troy Hills has come and gone. Newly elected board members Sharif Shamsudin, Susy Golderer and Gary Martin will be sworn in at Thursday night's reorganization meeting at .

The ticketmates by a substantial margin—including ousting incumbent Andrew Choffo—after campaigning hard on a platform of change, transparency and respect. 

Shamsudin said he was still excited about the victory a few days after the votes were tallied last week. He said he isn't the only one feeling positive about the election result.

"I was out taking down campaign signs," he said. "People saw me and were congratulating me, waving, giving me the thumbs-up. The town called for change, and the people seemed really happy."

Board member Debbie Orme said she's also pleased, particularly about the BOE school spending plan, which won a narrow victory during last week's vote.

"I'm extremely pleased and so very thankful to the voters of Parsippany that recognized the value of the 2011-2012 budget," she said.

Orme added that by accepting the budget, citizens showed they appreciate "the importance of maintaining all the wonderful programs, services, class sizes, staff, dedicated administrators and terrific teachers that together work to promote student opportunities, educational successes and student achievement."

Board member Fran Orthwein echoed the sentiment.

"I am so happy the community supported the budget," she said. "It is a good budget that balances the needs of the children and the taxpayers, while increasing taxes less than 1 percent."

Still, the vote total for the spending plan was almost evenly split. There were 2,667 votes cast in favor of the budget, while 2,525 opposed.

"The close vote on the budget suggests that the Board of Education and the administration have a great deal of work to do to rebuild their relations and credibility with the Parsippany community," outgoing board member Robert Crawford said. 

Crawford, a vocal critic of 2010-11 Board President Anthony Mancuso and Superintendent LeRoy Seitz's new contract, said the BOE will have to earn the trust of the public again.

"Hopefully a new board leadership will be elected to begin the work of restoring that trust," he said.

Crawford won't be a member of that new board. He decided against running for re-election to focus instead on launching a . The lack of trust affected more than the budget vote, in Crawford's opinion.

"The resounding  defeat of the incumbent, Mr. Choffo, and the election of Mr. Martin, Mr. Shamsudin and Mrs. Golderer clearly shows that the public strongly repudiated Board President Mancuso's efforts to put the financial interests of Superintendent Seitz before the well-being of the Parsippany community," he said.

The anti-incumbent passion was not lost on Choffo, who served six years on the BOE and fell short during his re-election effort. 

"It gets me how people's anger over this one issue [the superintendent's contract and the lawsuit] outweighed all of the good we achieved, everything else we did," he said last Wednesday.

Shamsudin said he agrees that a large number of voters chose his ticket because they were angry with the BOE status quo. At the same time, he offered other reasons for his election victory.

"Teamwork and persistence," he said. "We worked together as a team and we didn't stop. We made phone calls. We made sure citizens of the town were heard. We put up a lot of signs.

"When your name is out there, people are going to see it," he added. "The more and more they saw us, the more and more they thought about us, about lines six, seven and eight. And we told them, 'Don't worry about the names. All you have to do is go into the voting booth and remember six, seven and eight. If they trust you, they'll remember."

At the same time, Shamsudin, a longtime Lake Hiawatha resident, does give some credit to name recognition. He contends that residents in his community turned out to support the ticket, as did people he knew from working with the local recreation league and other civic organizations. He also cited longevity as a factor that worked in his favor.

"I've lived here 22 years. People know my family, they know my last name. I went through the school system and graduated from Parsippany High School. That helped as well," he said. "A lot of my classmates still live in town."

Shamsudin admits the change on the board will be a challenge.

"The biggest challenge I see is trying to get new leadership on the board and trying to do what the voters asked in terms of bringing change. I also want to see if we can do something with Seitz's contract. I don't know what can be done, but I will try," Shamsudin said. "Making change is not as easy as it sounds. Trying to make it happen will be a tough process."

Orme and Orthwein both congratulated the newcomers and said they looked forward to getting to know them.