Keelan, Reich, DeFonzo seek to keep board seats

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newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0319/Front_Page/009.html

Keelan, Reich, DeFonzo seek to keep board seats
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer


FREEHOLD - Three incumbents will be running unopposed for three three-year seats on the Freehold Borough Board of Education in the April 15 school election.

Jim Keelan, Adam Reich and Andrew DeFonzo will seek to retain the seats they presently hold.

Keelan, 42, is the board's current president. He has served on the board since 2001. Keelan said he would like to continue serving Freehold's residents and their children.

"I want to continue to work with the schools and build on all the accomplishments we have achieved over the last few years," he said. "We have been able tomake significant gains in all of our test scores with our limited resources. We have successfully been awarded millions of dollars in grant money, which has allowed us to offer great programs for our kids."

He said the school board has fostered a "great working relationship" with the Borough Council.

Keelan lives on Brookwood Drive with his wife, Deborah, and their four daughters. Three of his daughters attend Freehold Borough schools and one daughter is a student at Freehold High School.

Reich, 27, has served on the board since 2004. His father, Ron, is also a member of the school board.

Reich said he is enjoying his service on the board and said it has been a wonderful learning experience. He said he is looking forward to serving for another three years. Reich said he is seeking re-election because he would like to see the many projects that have been started over the past three years come to fruition.

Reich, who lives on Zlotkin Circle, said that as the school board's liaison to the Freehold Borough Educational Foundation, he wants to see the projects that were started with grants provided by the foundation implemented in the schools.

"It's a nice feeling to know our test scores are all up across the board," he said. "It really is a good feeling to know you've been a part of helping to better the education of borough children."

DeFonzo, 33, is the son of former board president Peter DeFonzo.

DeFonzo, who lives on Birch Drive, said he thought long and hard about running again for the board.

"In all honesty, I wondered if I could dedicate the time and the hours to the board again with my work schedule," he said.

DeFonzo works for Turner Construction Company, New York, as a superintendent.

"But I decided that I would make the time and find a way to devote the hours necessary for meetings and research because I truly believe it's worth it," he added.

DeFonzo said the school district is not yet back to where it was when he was a student in the borough. He said overcrowding and underfunding were not issues at that time.

"We now have to battle with Trenton and with the taxpayers of the town," De- Fonzo said. "We are trying to show them that we are not raising taxes on a whim.We are doing it to give our kids a better future."

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I have been fortunate enough to have met with, and become familiar with both Jim Keelan and Andrew DeFonzo. I know Jim reads this site, and as we all know, Andrew participates here.

It is good to hear that both of them are going to continue VOLUNTEERING, their time and energy for our town. This town is well worth fighting for and it is the people who step to the plate, as the BOE members do, who make all the difference. Getting involved as the BOE members do as well as the many other capacities in which our residents get involved is never easy. It is time consuming and at times very frustrating,

I thank all three of the BOE members up for re-election for giving us their time. None of us should take then for granted.

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newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0409/Front_page/004.html

Board members excited about continuing service
Keelan, Reich, DeFonzo are running unopposed for school board seats
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer


FREEHOLD - Jim Keelan, Adam Reich and Andrew DeFonzo are running unopposed in the April 15 school election to retain their seats on the Freehold Borough Board of Education.

They are seeking new three-year terms.

Keelan, 42, is the current board president. He has served on the board since 2001 and said he wants to continue serving Freehold residents and their children.

"I am looking to continue to improve the quality of life for our students," he said.

Keelan cited grants received from outside sources as one way of acquiring funds that has helped the district in recent years. He said officials will continue to pursue whatever grants are available in order to provide more opportunities for the children and so as not to "burden the taxpayers."

Keelan noted that Freehold Borough children have made significant gains on standardized tests and said those gains have been made with limited resources.

He touched on the topic of space needs in the district's schools.

"The space issue is not gone and over the next year we will address this serious concern," Keelan said. "We will work with funds provided by the Borough Council and hopefully use those funds toward helping to eliminate some of our space issues."

Keelan and his wife, Debbie, have four daughters, three of whom attend Freehold Borough schools and one who is a student at Freehold High School.

Reich, 27, has served on the board since 2004. His father, Ron, is also a member of the board. His goal for the next three years is to bring the school district up to what the state now calls the adequacy level in regard to school funding.

"We did receive a nice injection of funds with the new state aid we received" for 2008-09, Reich said. "We want to try to give our kids some of the nice things that we haven't been able to give them for years. This is the first time in a long time we can afford some of those things. We are going to concentrate on bringing the school district up to par where we should be and we will be monitoring ourselves to make sure we are wisely progressing in the right way."



Reich is concerned about maintaining what he called proper class size.

"Studies have shown that smaller class sizes produce better students and the teaching is more personal. When you bump up the class size, you lose some of that. It becomes harder to provide that more personal environment. Our administration and superintendent have tried not to push our class size to higher limits."

In looking forward to serving for another three years, DeFonzo, 33, said, "We've had a lot of good luck lately. We have been able to do things we haven't been able to do for the last five or six years for our students and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

He said it is important that the state deliver all of the aid that has been promised to the district. He said Freehold Borough officials have to keep abreast of the situation.

DeFonzo said state Sen. Jennifer Beck was instrumental in helping the district acquire additional school funding.

"She did amazing things for us," he said. "She was able to get school officials and parents and staff in front of the decision makers to talk about our difficulties."

DeFonzo said he intends to "keep plugging away" to make sure the children of Freehold Borough get what they deserve.