School Board Candiate: Joseph Tonzola

Eight candidates are vying for seats on the Board of Education in the April 27 election. Today, Wall Patch continues its election coverage with the latest in a series of candidate profiles.

All candidates have been invited to participate in a short interview and provide a brief biography and a photograph.  Additionally, Wall Patch has provided a short slide show of the candidates’ closing statements from the April 5 candidates’ night, which can be accessed by clicking on the icon to the right.

Candidate: Joseph Tonzloa

Age: 65

Address: 2400 Lincoln Ave.

Children: Two grown children

Employment: Retired Educator/Part Time Associate Home Depot

Experience: Seeking first term

Joe Tonzola, retired principal of West Belmar School, said he wants to be a steward for the taxpayer, if elected to the Board of Education.

Tonzola cited the selection of the next superintendent, fiscal responsibility and continuing to ensure that the students are the driving factor behind the decisions of the nine-member panel as high priorities in the district.

Tonzola said while finding the right superintendent is paramount in the near term, finding the right superintendent for the right price is imperative.

“We need to find the best candidate for not the biggest bang,’’ Tonzola said. “We’re going to have to be concentrating on looking for someone who’s an educational leader, but also someone who can be a good fiscal monitor.’’

Tonzola said there was a third quality to a new superintendent that the board should consider: communication.

“We need someone who is going to be able to be a communicator or transparent enough for people to get in contact with,’’ he said.

The contract of schools Superintendent James Habel expires next year. Although Habel has not said publicly that he will not seek an extension, the school board at its Jan. 11 meeting cited the search for the district’s next superintendent as one of its top priorities, according to meeting minutes.

Tonzola also said he would leverage his experience as an administrator in the Wall Township school system to watch over the budget line by line.

“I really want to be a steward for the taxpayer -- really watching every line item,’’ Tonzola said. “The next board and here on in has to really look at the budget and decide what programs and what salaries are going to be given out to make sure that we’re getting the best bang for our buck.’’

In tough economic times, Tonzola said, the programs put in place into the schools have to be watched even more carefully than ever. He said in his years with the district, he had seen programs put in place only to be revoked a handful of years later.

Whole language, he said, was an example of a district initiative. The program is a beginning language teaching method that de-emphasizes correct spelling and grammar in favor of meaning and strategy. Tonzola said it failed in the school system and was replaced by another program.

“That whole program was eventually thrown out and a new program was put in,’’ Tonzola said. “The experimentation in education really has to be watched and grounded and so it’s on a solid footing.’’

Block scheduling – which increases the amount of classroom time for each high school period while decreasing the number of periods each day – Tonzola said was a program that was well-thought-out. The program, which is more akin to a college-level schedule, is to be implemented in the fall.

Tonzola said his interest in being on the school board is to better the educational experience for the district’s students.

“It’s why so many other nations of the world send their children here to be educated, which is a tremendous gift,’’ Tonzola said. “But in tough economic times, you have to watch those two components: the gift and the cost of that gift.’’

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other School Board Candidate Profiles: