UPPER TOWNSHIP — A slate of three newcomers faces off against the current Board of Education president and two other experienced candidates for the township Board of Education this November.
Michele Barbieri has been on the school board for more than 20 years and is running for reelection this year with Christine Lentz, also an incumbent, and Brian Teeney, a former board member, under the slogan “Students First.”
Logan Bird, Kristi Lancaster and Meghan Ludgate Miller are also on the ballot for the three seats on the school board, running under a similar slogan, “Kids First.”
“We’re all new to the school board, but we have kids in the district,” said Bird. He cited budget concerns and called for Upper Township to negotiate with Ocean City on tuition fees charged per student, a significant cost in the K-8 district.
That’s already happening, said Barbieri. She said administration members in the two districts have begun discussing the tuition agreement and how to manage Upper Township’s debt to Ocean City.
This year’s budget shows $11.9 million in tuition costs for Upper Township, a significant portion of a $41.3 million overall budget. As approved in the spring, the budget will cost an average taxpayer about $116 more for the year to fund the district compared to last year.
As part of the budget process, district officials said tuition had increased by $1,000 per student each of the past two years, which has meant establishing a payment plan for the district.
With relatively new superintendents in both Ocean City and Upper Township, there is a new rapport between the professionals in the two districts, Lentz said. She is a retired teacher and vice principal and former athletic director at Ocean City High School, where Upper students attend under a sending-receiving agreement, with the township paying a per-student tuition.
One slate of candidates in Ocean City says politics has no place in school board elections. The other is aligned with Jack Ciattarelli for governor and Moms for Liberty.
Currently, Upper Township students make up more than half of the high school population, and the township has a voice on the Ocean City school board related to high school issues.
Bird cited tax rate increases in support of Upper Township schools as a sign that it’s time for a new approach.
For years, the district finances have been squeezed by reductions in state aid, money Barbieri said is never coming back.
“In Upper Township, we have suffered significantly over the past seven years in reductions in state aid,” she said. “There is not a lot of additional funding coming from the state to districts like Upper Township.”
She called on state legislators to take a new look at the funding formulas for education, saying Cape May County pours large amounts of tax money into Trenton and sees little in return.
But it will cost money to provide a first-rate education, she said.
“Sometimes it does come with a tax increase, because there is no other way for districts like Upper Township to raise funds,” Barbieri said.
Bird argued that even if the district needed to find cuts because of state funding changes, the reductions seemed to hurt programs, students and parents the most.
The Upper Township school district has declined a state waiver that would have allowed taxes to increase above the state cap, but taxes are going up just the same.
“I feel like there was a lot of things from a budget side that could have been done better,” Bird said.
Bird also challenged the current school board on transparency, citing the dismissal of former Superintendent Vincent Palmieri at the end of 2022. He was later replaced by Allison Pessolano.
At that time, little information was made public about why Palmieri was removed, even after records showed his contract would put the district on the hook for more than $300,000 in salary after he was no longer in the job.
“What happened with the superintendent?” Bird said.
Barbieri said she still can’t talk about it.
“Legally, no, we cannot. But I will tell you, we have a superintendent in place now and an administrative team that works cohesively,” she said.
“The decisions that were made, were made in the best interests of our staff and our students, 100%,” Lentz added.
In 2023, Ocean City blocked Lentz from serving as one of Upper Township’s representatives on the school board, citing a conflict of interest, but released little information.
With one member resigning, the Ocean City Board of Education is set to appoint a new member at an upcoming meeting.
In 2017, Lentz was acquitted of official misconduct charges stemming from an accusation that she read the emails of the Ocean City superintendent at the time, Kathleen Taylor. Lentz later filed a lawsuit against the district.
Lentz currently teaches at Stockton University and Atlantic Cape Community College, she said. Teeney is a police officer in Ocean City, and Barbieri works at Glenn Insurance in Atlantic County.
Lancaster is a doctoral candidate at Liberty University, while Miller taught high school math for 20 years before returning to school to work toward a master’s degree in mathematics. Bird said he is a lifelong township resident and father of six who is the current CEO of EV+ Charging. He has a degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“With rising costs, pending negotiations with Ocean City High School and a changing business climate, he is prepared to navigate budgets, differing personalities and opinions, and outside influences to ensure Upper’s kids have the skills and confidence to become productive members of society,” reads a statement from Bird’s submitted biography.
There are close to 1,400 students in the three schools in Upper Township.
Barbieri cited recent results showing most of the district’s children meet proficiency standards in math and English, about which she said the district should be proud.
She said she gets frustrated when people accuse the district of a lack of transparency, citing regular outreach through the website, social media and notifications, as well as parents nights at each school, public board meetings and other efforts.
“They’re poorly attended,” she said. “And we’ve tried every which way to draw parents out.”
Five coaches will make their head coaching debuts this season — Sean Matthews at Ocean City, Elijah Glover at Pleasantville, Pat Lancetta at Hammonton, Warren Smith at Absegami and Billy Damiana at Lower Cape May.
Barbieri is the president of the Cape May County School Boards Association and a former PTA president, and serves on the legislative committee for the New Jersey School Boards Association for District 1, which includes Cape May County.
“Michele keeps Upper Township in the conversation to help bring funding to our district,” Lentz said. “There’s no one that does more work for this township and this school district. No one.”
Barbieri cited her experience but declined to characterize the election as between incumbents and challengers. Lentz added she was happy to see younger community members taking an interest in the school board, but added she would have liked to see them at board meetings before they decided to run.
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
bbarlow@pressofac.com
X @jerseynews_bill
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