Eileen Heddy ALLENTOWN — Two Sandburg Drive residents are contending to finish the remaining year of an unexpired term on the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education .

Eileen Heddy, whom the board appointed to the seat vacated by EdWerner in May 2010, will face her next-door neighbor Ed Tranosky in the April 27 election. Incumbent Gregg Barkley is also running uncontested in the election for another three-year term. He did not respond to the candidate questionnaire sent to him prior to press time on April 18.

Background information

Heddy has lived in town 16 years. She and her husband, Rich, have three children in the school district — Colin, 11, Evan, 9, and Taryn, 6. Heddy has worked as an eighth-grade teacher in Lawrence Township public schools, as a developer for the social studies/history certificate for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She currently works as a consultant for the Educational Testing Service and as an instructor at The College of New Jersey’s School of Education. Her community service includes working with the Upper Freehold Regional Education Foundation as a founding trustee and the PTA as the recording secretary.

Ed Tranosky Tranosky has lived in town 18 years. He also attended Allentown High School and graduated in 1986. He now has a 9-year-old daughter in the school district. Tranosky was a school district employee for over 14 years and ran the district’s community education program for over nine years. His community service includes coaching soccer for third grade girls.

Decision to seek election

Heddy would like to continue to serve on the board to ensure that the district is able to maintain and expand the various initiatives that have been started in the past several years.

“Curricular improvements have had a tremendous impact on the quality of instruction and learning, as evidenced by the rising test scores,” Heddy said. “Budgetary restraints continually force the board to make difficult choices and I hope my experience and input will help the board make the right choices.”

Noting that he is a former school district employee and has a daughter who has been in the district since kindergarten, Tranosky said, “I want to be able to contribute to the enhancement of our children’s education moving forward.”

Important qualities

Heddy believes Board of Education members should have a variety of viewpoints and that one of those viewpoints should come from an educator.

“I think my experience in education, in a variety of positions, is the most important thing I bring to the board,” Heddy said.

Tranosky said he worked in the district for over 14 years and ran the community education program that enhanced students’ lives beyond the classroom.

“I feel I can offer that unique perspective to enhance the board’s diverse background,” Tranosky said. “My profession is in the technology sector, and since Upper Freehold integrates ‘state-of-the-art’ technology, I also feel that I can offer my expertise in this as well.”

Overall view of the district

Heddy thinks the current administrative team is extremely strong.

“The longer I work in education the more I appreciate the importance of strong leadership and vision on both a district-wide and building level,” Heddy said. “As stated above, we are making important improvements in teaching and learning, and our students are clearly benefiting from those changes.”

Tranosky said the district is very technologically savvy and is known throughout the state as such.

“With regards to how the district operates, I feel, given the financial constraints that Upper Freehold and New Jersey schools in general are facing, that the district is doing the best they can.”

Room for improvement

Heddy said the district’s most important concern is maintaining the current quality of education while operating under increasingly difficult fiscal restraints.

“In the future, I would like to see the district focus on reducing class sizes in all grades,” she said.

Tranosky said the district must remain on the cutting edge with technology for the benefit of all grades.

“Our curriculum uses technology integrated in the classroom more than most schools in New Jersey, so this needs to continue to remain a priority,” he said.

On the proposed budget; spending

Heddy said, “This budget is the result of hours of hard work and tough decisions by a team that continually focused on the impact every decision would have on student learning. I am concerned about the increased class sizes, but there were no other areas that could be cut to allow for smaller classes.”

She also noted that the district has been rated “highly efficient” by The Center for American Progress, meaning that it provides a high-quality education for a reasonable cost.

“Even for residents without children in the public schools, ratings such as this are important because a strong school district directly impacts property values,” Heddy said .

Heddy also said that New Jersey needs fundamental change to the way it funds schools.

“The School Funding Reform Act of 2008 was a very positive step in the right direction and I am disappointed that districts have not been funded according to that carefully crafted formula,” she said.

Tranosky said, “I feel that the board is doing the best that they can do given the constraints that the state has put on them with the least amount of impact to the students, residents and staff.”

He said how schools are funded with state aid seems to be changing constantly, and may continue to be an area of uncertainty from year to year.

“Given the cap that the state is now enforcing with regards to property tax, there isn’t much wiggle room for any change to the amount of funding from that as well,” Tranosky said. “Because of this, the district needed to be creative in new funding sources, so the need to charge fees to students for such items as parking, activities, etc., became a necessity in order to balance the school budget.”

Upcoming contract negotiations

Neither candidate answered the question “What, if anything, would you like to see discussed during the upcoming teacher contract negotiations?”

Receiving a quality education

Heddy and Tranosky both believe Upper Freehold Regional School District students receive a quality education.

“In my current position I often visit other schools, so I have a rather clear sense of what happens in other districts,” Heddy said. “I know that Upper Freehold Regional School District consistently and carefully studies best practices when implementing new policies and curricula. My children have had very positive experiences and I think the teaching staff our family has worked with thus far has been exceptional.”

Tranosky said, “I believe that the students are receiving a quality education. As I mentioned before, technology has contributed to a more hands-on approach, for example, to the students especially in the elementary school. Although, given the expectations that are placed upon the students to proceed through the curriculum, even at the lower elementary school grades, we need to be able to provide as much help as we can to the children that require additional time, assistance and explanation irregardless of what our budget constraints are in the district.”