At this year’s EB PTA Presidents’ Council: “Town Hall with the Candidates for EB Board of Education”, candidates vying for seats on the Board of Education were asked a range of questions — but not the same ones. In a departure from past formats, each candidate received four unique prompts, drawn from public submissions. This format allowed for deeper, more tailored answers and revealed the priorities, values, and thinking styles of each participant.
Some candidates were pressed on governance and budgeting. Others addressed curriculum, special education, or student mental health. And for two candidates competing for a one-year seat, the questions grew even sharper, particularly around past resignations and controversial comments.
Current board president Heather Gaus, candidate Neal Shah, and one-year seat candidate Mary Peterson were all absent from the forum.
🟦 Dr. Anna Braun (Incumbent, Three-Year Term)
A retired music teacher, Dr. Braun, ran in 2024 after proposed cuts to the beginning band and orchestra program. Now seeking a full term, she brought candid insight from her time on the board.
Q1: How do your voting restrictions impact your effectiveness?
Braun explained that because her daughter works part-time at Churchill and she is a retired NJEA member, she is restricted from participating in certain votes — including on superintendent evaluations. However, she emphasized that she’s voted over 400 times. “If I have to abstain once in a while, it’s not like nobody else can pick up the slack,” she said.
Q2: How have you addressed issues like budget, anti-bias education, bullying, and communication?
Dr. Braun didn’t mince words. Calling the 2025 budget process a “dumpster fire,” she criticized the administration for presenting a 77-line list of budget cuts with no advance review. “We can’t be rubber-stamping chaos,” she said. She emphasized that leadership requires preparedness, not surprise drops of information. On communication, she voiced clear frustration: “Why am I finding out about issues on Facebook as a board member? That’s not okay.” She said families and staff deserve clarity, not confusion. Regarding bullying, she called for more responsive systems to ensure students feel safe and supported, and parents don’t have to go public to be taken seriously. Dr. Braun also advocated strongly for anti-bias education, stressing that teaching equity and respect is not a political stance — it’s a moral obligation. “We can’t prepare students for the real world if we’re afraid to talk about it,” she said.
Q3: What is the role of parents and the community in school success?
Braun praised the format of the forum and called for more two-way dialogue. She wants parents to be allowed more than three minutes to speak at board meetings and pushed for the release of results from parent/student surveys conducted in May.
Q4: How would you protect arts programs during budget cuts?
“We already cut 25% of elementary art and music time. That’s unacceptable,” she said. Braun warned against spending cuts to high-enrollment programs and criticized the district for paying $20,000 to scare away geese while cutting popular classes.
🟦 Kimberly Conetta (Three-Year Term)
An EBHS graduate, Conetta is a special needs parent and president of the East Brunswick Arts Coalition.
Q1: How do you balance professional, volunteer, and family roles with the BOE commitment?
Conetta, who works in regulatory compliance, credited her supportive workplace, flexible schedule, and a capable team at the arts coalition for allowing her to serve. “My board is amazing — they could probably do the job without me,” she said.
Q2: What’s your view on redistricting and school capacity issues?
She supports evaluating redistricting options. “It’s time. Memorial has 24 kids in some fourth-grade classes,” she said. “This is about fairness and relieving pressure on teachers.”
Q3: What are the district’s strengths and weaknesses regarding special education?
Conetta praised EB’s special ed programs once a student is identified but said many parents struggle at the front end. “The district needs to do more to help families navigate early concerns,” she said. “You shouldn’t have to ask the exact right question to get help.”
Q4: How should the board respond to concerns about low test scores?
She supports testing as a tool but wants teachers to have flexibility. “Right now it’s day 1: teach, day 2: practice, day 3: quiz — and no time to slow down. That doesn’t work for all kids.”
🟦 Marianne Tanious (Incumbent, Three-Year Term)
Tanious is a mother of two and a corporate executive who was appointed to the board in July.
Q1: What impact have you made in your short time on the board?
Marianne said she came in ready to ask tough questions from day one. She pointed to challenging supervisor appointments that she felt were being rushed without enough transparency. “Consensus is great, but we can’t confuse that with silence,” she said, emphasizing that board members have a duty to speak up even when it’s uncomfortable.
She also highlighted her role in pulling a proposed class size policy that could have negatively impacted students and teachers. Marianne explained that board members need to be more than just rubber stamps — they need to actively review policies and advocate for what’s best for the district. “My impact has been holding space for dialogue, demanding clarity, and making sure the community’s voice is heard in every decision,” she added.
Q2: How did your professional background help during the superintendent search?
Tanious applied corporate leadership lessons to the interviews. “I looked for emotional intelligence, not just credentials,” she said, also referencing her notes from community focus groups.
Q3: Would you raise taxes to fix the budget?
“No. Not unless we exhaust every other option,” she said. She cited missed reimbursements, lighting inefficiencies, and the need for shared services as areas for cost savings.
Q4: What is the board’s biggest challenge in the next three years?
Tanious focused on rebuilding culture. “Our teachers, students, and superintendent need to work in sync,” she said. “That starts at the top — and it’s been broken.”
🟦 Liwu Hong (Incumbent, Three-Year Term)
Dr. Hong, an attorney with degrees in chemistry and law, is seeking his fourth term on the board.
Q1: How do you respond to dissatisfaction with board decisions?
“I’m not surprised. Even my wife and I have disagreed with board decisions,” he said. “Our job is to make decisions for all of East Brunswick — not individuals.”
Q2: As curriculum chair, how do you view early literacy and ELA pilot concerns?
Hong strongly supports the new pilot. “Language is the foundation for every subject,” he said. “If students need one-on-one, let’s do it. We cannot let anyone fall behind.”
Q3: What creative solutions have you pursued to solve the budget crisis?
He emphasized lobbying for state formula changes and highlighted personal donations to EB schools. “I’ve donated to robotics labs and proposed a greenhouse,” he said. “We all need to help.”
Q4: How do you plan to support the new superintendent?
Hong said he’d help develop an actionable plan and propose public posting of progress. “I will do my best to help her understand the district and set realistic goals,” he said.
🟦 Maria Mueller (Three-Year Term)
At 18, Mueller is a recent EBHS graduate and seeks to be the first voting member of the board with a student’s perspective.
Q1: Are you prepared for the role, and how would your youth be an asset?
“Yes, because EB prepared me,” she said. “I took 8 AP classes, learned time management, and I’m still connected to current students.”
Q2: What are the challenges for special ed families, and how would you improve IEP/504 processes?
She called for reducing stigma and integrating students into more community-based programs. “Workshops, job training, and social inclusion matter,” she said. She also called for routine feedback and more superintendent accountability.
Q3: Do you support building a new high school, and how would you fund it?
“Yes,” Mueller said, citing overcrowding and facility concerns. She proposed bonds and grants but also raised ideas like alumni donations and stadium sponsorships.
Q4: Would you raise taxes to preserve programs?
“Only as a last resort,” she said. “It’s regressive and unfair to low-income families. Raise parking permits before club fees.”
🟨 Antoinette Evola (One-Year Term)
Evola is the current Hammarskjold PTA president and artist.
Q1: Why run for a one-year seat instead of three?
“I want to see if I can be effective on the inside,” she said. “I’m tired of advocating from the outside and want to influence decisions before they’re finalized.”
Q2: Do you support book banning?
Evola gave one of the most direct answers of the night. “I’m not banning books — I’m drawing lines around sexually explicit material,” she said. She cited passages involving sexual acts, masturbation, oral sex, and doggie style, calling such content “inappropriate for minors and unacceptable for classroom reading.” Evola said the issue wasn’t representation or diversity in literature, but “age appropriateness.”
She criticized what she described as “porn literacy” being introduced under the guise of sexual health education.
Q3: Would you raise taxes to solve the budget?
“No,” she said. “We need to review the budget line by line and look at revenue creation. If you let them raise taxes once, it’ll keep happening.”
Q4: What’s the biggest challenge facing EB schools in the next five years?
“The budget,” she said. “We’re going to lose more state aid. We need to preserve classrooms, teachers, and programs without relying on tax hikes.”
🟨 Jeff Winston (One-Year Term)
A former board member and financial advisor, Winston resigned in 2023 after clashes with other board members. He’s now seeking to return — briefly — to “reset the culture.”
Q1: Why did you resign before a major budget crisis?
“I didn’t quit. I raised awareness,” he said. “If I stayed quiet, none of you would be here. I created Take Back EB Schools. That’s what woke people up.”
Q2: What’s your plan for addressing special education needs?
Winston said the district is consistently failing its most vulnerable students — those with special needs. “We keep sending kids out of district because we don’t invest here,” he said. “Let’s start by reallocating funding from seventh-grade sports and get serious.”
He emphasized that students with IEPs and 504 plans deserve meaningful support within their home district, not red tape or delays. “Parents shouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail for basic services. We need to stop treating special education as a checkbox and start treating it like a commitment.”
Winston argued that the BOE must advocate for more training, more aides, and a culture shift toward inclusion. “If we can fund new sports programs, we can absolutely invest in kids who need speech, OT, or behavioral support. The fact that we don’t says everything about our priorities.”
Q3: Would you reverse the decision to move fifth grade to Hammarskjold?
“Yes,” he said. “It was predicated on a lie — that a high school would be built by 2025. Sell the Route 18 admin building. Put the money into students.”
Q4: How would you work with board members you’ve criticized?
“They’re gone,” he said bluntly. “My plan is to return for one year, establish a five-priority goal system, hold the superintendent accountable, and then I’m out.”
🔚 Final Thoughts
This PTA forum gave the community more than campaign slogans — it gave context. With each candidate answering different questions, voters got to see who is prepared, who is passionate, and who has a plan.
