On Oct. 13, the day after a heated Township Council meeting, East Brunswick’s top school board officials met privately with Mayor Brad Cohen and Council President Dana Zimbicki. Until now, the public knew little about what was said.
Eyes on EB has obtained Board of Education President Marianne Tanious’s written account of that meeting through an Open Public Records Act request to East Brunswick Public Schools. In it, Tanious wrote that Cohen “in a forceful tone” demanded that board leaders “stop talking about the PILOTs and stay out of the election.” She also described the mayor’s support for a Board of Education candidate whose statements she wrote she interpreted as threatening, disputes over special education data and high school capacity, council candidates at board meetings and a disagreement over opening a gate at East Brunswick High School.
The description of what was said in the room comes from Tanious’s written account. Eyes on EB has an outstanding OPRA request for additional records related to the Oct. 13 meeting. Where the public record sheds light on what she wrote, we include it below.
Download the OPRA response (PDF): the district’s full response to OPRA request 2027-33, including the cover letter and all four pages of released records.
The document
Tanious e-mailed her summary, labeled “Internal meeting notes,” to Business Administrator Joseph Crotchfelt, with copies to Superintendent Dr. Evelyn Mamman and Board Vice President Wilbur Pan. She asked Pan to “add anything I missed.” No reply from Pan was among the records released. She wrote that she had “verbally shared these details with the board members individually the same day of the meeting.” She listed four people in attendance: herself, Pan, Cohen and Zimbicki.
The district released four pages: her e-mail, a follow-up correcting Zimbicki’s title, and the summary.
‘Stay out of the election’
According to Tanious, the meeting began with board leaders asking about criticism of the board at the Oct. 12 council meeting, “including stating that we budget like ‘drunken sailors.'” Then, she wrote, “In a forceful tone, the Mayor demanded that we ‘stop talking about the PILOTs and stay out of the election.'”
The public record supports the first part. At the Oct. 12 meeting, Cohen said the schools should “really learn to budget appropriately and stop spending like drunken sailors” (video, 1:43:40).
Tanious wrote that she told the mayor the board had not been involved in the election. She wrote that the mayor asked whether board leaders had been communicating with the Township Council challengers, and that they said they had not. Zimbicki, she wrote, said her comments at the Oct. 12 meeting “had not been directed at the BOE, but at the Town Council challengers.” Tanious wrote that she viewed the mayor’s demands as “an inappropriate attempt to interfere with our individual rights and independence,” and that she found his conduct “intimidating.”
Tanious first described the meeting in public at the Oct. 29 Board of Education meeting. “Wilbur and I did have a meeting with town leadership on October 13,” she said (video, 1:26:52). “It was demanded that we remain silent on pilots. And I take issue with that. Not just for pilots but for any topic.” (video, 1:26:58) In public, she did not say who made the demand, and she did not mention the election. Her written account names the mayor.
Three days before that, at the Oct. 26 council meeting, Cohen apologized for his earlier criticism of the board. “I regret that tone and I am sorry for any offensive words… and any damage that I may have caused,” he said (video, 1:37:34). He said he had met with board leadership and had “been assured that there’s no connection or tacit support for council candidates” (video, 1:37:46). He did not describe what was said at the meeting or mention any request that the board stop discussing PILOTs.
A school board candidate
Tanious wrote that she pointed out what she called “the irony” of the mayor’s demand, because he had been hosting meet-and-greets for a Board of Education candidate in the Nov. 3 election. She wrote that the board’s relationship with the mayor had been professional “until he decided to put his full support behind a certain BOE candidate.”
Tanious wrote that she told township leaders about statements by a Board of Education candidate that she interpreted as threatening and about “racist and xenophobic remarks attributed to HJZ.” Her notes, released through OPRA, give only the initials “HJZ,” reproduced here as written. Tanious also wrote that the school board’s attorney contacted Cohen the day after the incident and that Cohen later hosted a meet-and-greet for the candidate at his home.
In a public Facebook post on Oct. 28, Tanious wrote, “I never imagined being subjected to statements I perceived as threatening from a BOE candidate, with my house of worship, my relationships, and my position on the Board invoked in ways that left me deeply unsettled.” Read Tanious’s public post.
Neither the post nor the meeting notes quotes the candidate’s remarks. Eyes on EB hasn’t independently verified what was said or what the board attorney told Cohen.
Special education data and school capacity
At the Oct. 12 council meeting, Cohen said the district was “now up to about 20% special needs” and that he had been asking for a financial breakdown. “For three years, like I mentioned last time, I’ve asked for a P&L. I wrote a letter back in August of 23,” he said (video, 1:41:35). He said he had also spoken to district officials “several times throughout 2025.” “This has been asked now for years,” he said. “The administration knows it, and we still don’t have it.” (video, 1:42:58) Among his questions: “How many kids are extra test time?”
According to Tanious, she told him that she, Pan, the superintendent, and several other board members had never received such a request from him. “He clarified that he made a request three years ago but had not renewed it with the current Superintendent or Board,” she wrote. The board approved Dr. Mamman’s contract as superintendent in January 2026. Eyes on EB has not seen the August 2023 letter.
Tanious wrote that she told the mayor extended test time can be a Section 504 accommodation, which does not by itself make a student eligible for special education, and that the data he wanted is published by the state each year. She wrote that the mayor “said he did not know how to read or disaggregate the published data” and asked for a meeting to walk through it, and that he said he wanted the data “to seek legislative assistance.” That matches what he said publicly on Oct. 12: that he wanted to “work with our legislators” to get district support.
On capacity, Cohen said on Oct. 12 that the board’s claim that the high school is “over capacity by 450 kids” was among “the most ridiculous statistics” (video, 1:37:20). Tanious wrote that she told him rising special education enrollment changes facility and staffing needs even when total enrollment is flat, using autism classrooms with about six students as an example. She wrote that Zimbicki noted that some classrooms serve more students.
Council candidates at board meetings
Tanious wrote that the mayor “appeared to believe council candidates had been invited to a Board meeting,” and that she told him the board had not invited them. “It is a public meeting, and no one needs to be invited,” she wrote.
At the Oct. 12 council meeting, Cohen had complained about “bringing political teams into board of ed meetings,” saying “that’s the first time anybody has ever brought politics into a public board of education meeting” (video, 1:48:18). The public record shows that three Township Council candidates spoke during public comment at the Sept. 24 Board of Education meeting (video, 1:47:58). Board meetings are open to the public, and anyone may speak during public comment.
The high school gate
The last topic in Tanious’s notes is a gate at East Brunswick High School. She wrote that she reminded the mayor that “9 people were in that meeting,” an earlier one, “and we had all agreed to a joint statement from the BOE and township to let the community know the gate would be open in the morning and afternoon.” According to her, the mayor said “he does not recall that and only remembers us mentioning it being open for dismissal.”
She wrote that she was not comfortable discussing the gate further, citing “the gray areas leading up to the gate discussion, including the Town Council President’s dual role.” Cohen said on Oct. 12 that “Dana still works in the schools” (video, 1:34:23). Tanious wrote that the gate is Board of Education property and that any decision about it “will be reached by the school district.”
Much of this is not yet verified: which gate, when the nine-person meeting took place, who attended, whether a joint statement was ever drafted or issued, and when the gate began opening for arrival.
What happened next
She wrote that the township canceled a Nov. 2 follow-up meeting “due to illness” and that it was postponed to Nov. 9. At the Nov. 9 council meeting, Zimbicki reported that council and board leaders had met to set an agenda of topics and decide who from each side should attend, and that a date would be set for the next meeting (video, 21:43).
What we’re asking for next
Eyes on EB will also investigate how the decision was made to open the East Brunswick High School gate for morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. Eyes on EB has filed a separate OPRA request with East Brunswick Public Schools seeking records on how the high school gate decision was made, including emails, meeting notes and any draft joint statement about the gate.
