School bd. incumbents running on their records
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE –– Seven residents are vying for the three available seats on the Board of Education in the April 19 school board elections.

Three of them are incumbents representing the United for Education slate.

Diane Acquisto, 53, of Avenel; Jacquelyn Bianchi, 48, of Woodbridge and John Regep, 54, of Colonia are running as the United for Education slate.

They will face Woodbridge native Jim Griffin, 25, of Fords, and his running mate Victoria Ann Irizarry-Romanienko, 37, a recent Woodbridge transplant, representing Change for Woodbridge.

Lifelong Port Reading residents Brian Molnar, 40, and Brian J. Dziedzic, 33, are running as Candidates for Change.

Acquisto is seeking her third term on the board. Bianchi and Regep are seeking their second terms.

Acquisto is a legal secretary employed by Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith and Davis, Woodbridge.

Acquisto made her first bid for the board in 1999 because she thought she could “give back to the community and make a difference,” she said.

Acquisto chairs the board’s athletics and extracurricular committee and sits on the curriculum, transportation and cafeteria committees.

She is the board’s liaison to the Woodbridge Township Education Association, the district’s teachers’ union.

One of her most recent accomplishments was to advocate for extra teachers at Robert Mascenik School No. 26 and Ross Street School No. 11 last summer, Acquisto said.

Parents with children in those elementary schools urged the board at several public meetings to consider adding extra teachers due to class crowding.

She also pushed for the shared technology services agreement, originally named “Tech 2000” with the township, she said.

“But I’m not someone who needs accolades,” she said.

Many board accomplishments are made through group efforts, she said.

“We throw around so many ideas, it’s hard to say who is responsible for what,” she said.

If re-elected, Acquisto said she would like to see Saturday morning town meetings hosted by a special board committee.

“A committee of the board would meet with citizens,” she said. “It would be informal and nontelevised. I’d like to see that happen.”

Bianchi has been a Woodbridge resident for almost 22 years. She is a store manager for Party City in Woodbridge.

She became involved in the school district as a Ross Street School No. 11 PTO member in 1991, she said.

She was a Ross Street PTO board member and twice served as its president. Bianchi also served on President’s Council.

She was appointed to the board in 2001 to fill board member Bobby Andersen’s seat. He resigned due to a family member’s health problems, Bianchi said.

Bianchi chairs the finance and insurance committee. She also sits on the athletics and extracurricular and technology committees.

Bianchi, whose mother was a South Plainfield Board of Education member, said a focus on education was always in abundance in her home growing up, so she has followed in her mother’s footsteps, she said.

“I wanted to be involved,” she said. “And it hasn’t changed. I want to bring the best I can possibly offer.”

A lack of funding is the biggest problem facing Woodbridge schools, Bianchi said.

But there is “no quick fix” for it, she said.

A lot of positive changes have been accomplished by the board in the past three years, Bianchi said.

“I think this is the most open and honest board that has ever sat,” she said.

“I remember going to meetings just to have the gavel slammed at me,” she said. “The change has been dramatic. The board members, while they aren’t the best of friends, certainly work together for the cause.”

Regep, 54, has lived in Woodbridge 30 years and works as an inspector for PSE&G.

Regep chairs the buildings and grounds committee and sits on the finance and insurance and personnel and grievance committees. He also sits on the bond referendum ad hoc committee.

Regep will make increasing the district’s state funding his major focus if he is re-elected this year, he said.

He also wants to bring the ROTC program to Woodbridge schools.

As a former Cub Scout leader and soccer coach, Regep said he is naturally a “doer.”

“Either people have it or they don’t,” he said. “With volunteering, either you do it or you don’t. It’s inherent in people.”

Becoming a board member was just the next step for him, Regep said.

“By being a board member, I’m doing my part to give back to the community,” he said. “It may be a small part, but I feel I do whatever I can to give back.”

Board members Judy Leidner and Pat Hardiman are not backing the incumbents and are supporting Molnar and Dziedzic.

“They both have a keen insight of what needs to be accomplished to continue to bring our district forward for all the right reasons,” Hardiman said.

Rumors that Leidner and Hardiman want Molnar and Dziedzic on the board so that they along with Lawrence Miloscia, will have a five-vote majority when it comes to board issues is “nonsense,” Leidner said.

“That is just not true,” she said. “They’re just better candidates.”

Acquisto is not bothered by her fellow board members’ lack of support, she said.

“Judy and Pat can support whoever they want,” she said. “I haven’t had any conversation with them about who they’re supporting.”