Franklin Lakes June 12, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 Candidates file for local & regional school boards by Frank J. McMahon The incumbent trustees of the Franklin Lakes K-8 and the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School boards of education have all filed for reelection on Nov. 5. In addition to the three school board incumbents who are seeking reelection to the local K-8 school board, five other candidates filed nominating petitions by the 4 p.m. deadline on June 4. The incumbent candidates for the K-8 board are Christine Christopoul, Richard Koenigsberg, and Jamie Martino. In addition, former school board member and president Kathie Schwartz will seek election as will Victoria Holtz, Susan Miller, Ralph Valvano, and Anthony Zolfo. The candidates for the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School Board of Education are Lynn Budd and Thomas Bunting, both of whom represent Wyckoff, and John Butto, who represents Franklin Lakes. There no open seats for Oakland representatives on the board this year. Biographies have been included for the candidates who responded by last week’s deadline. Christopoul has lived in Franklin Lakes for 14 years with her husband Tom. They have three children, ages 16, 13, and 11. She holds a bachelor’s degree in financial decision systems and an MBA, both from SUNY Albany. Christopoul has been involved in community volunteerism, including serving as a trustee of the Franklin Lakes Board of Education for the past three years. She has served on the Curriculum, Community Relations, Operations, and Legislative committees and served as the board’s vice president. Prior to serving on the school board, Christopoul was president of the Woodside Avenue School Parent Teacher Association and president of the Franklin Lakes Education Foundation. Koenigsberg has lived in the borough for 13 years and has three children, two in high school at Dwight Englewood and one going into the fifth grade at the Colonial Road School. He graduated from Lehigh University with a bachelor’s degree in business and economics majoring in accounting. He has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1979 and a partner in the New York City accounting firm of Spielman Koenigsberg & Parker since 1986. A 10-year member of the school board, he has served as vice president, chairman of the Operations Committee, and a member of the Finance and Personnel committees. He has also served on the board’s negotiations team, and as the board’s representative to the education foundation and to the borough council. In the community, he has been a coach of girls’ basketball and boys’ baseball. Martino has lived in Franklin Lakes since 1999 and has served as a trustee for the Franklin Lakes Board of Education since May of 2011. He has held the positions of vice president of the board, chairman of the Operations Committee, and chairman of the Legislative Committee, which was created by the board at Martino’s urging and has enabled the board to represent the district’s interests in the active legislative process. Schwartz has been a Franklin Lakes resident for 14 years, and has three children who attend Woodside Avenue elementary school. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rutgers College (School of Business) and an MBA in finance from NYU Stern School of Business. She spent 10 years in the banking and finance industry, with her most recent position as a managing director with Deutsche Bank’s private client and asset management group. Having previously served four years on the board, Schwartz was president and vice president of the board, chair of the Finance Committee, and served on all the other board committees. She was the Franklin Lakes Education Foundation representative for the board for two years and the Woodside Avenue School PTA liaison for one year. Miller has been a Franklin Lakes resident for 12 years. She has had children in the school district for the past nine years, with two children currently attending the High Mountain Road School and another attending the Franklin Avenue Middle School. Currently, she is a member of the Franklin Lakes K-8 Curriculum Director Search Committee. She has also been a PTA volunteer for the past nine years, serving on multiple committees and is a former board member of the Franklin Lakes Newcomers & Neighbors Club. A Bergen County native from Glen Rock, Miller graduated from Glen Rock High School in 1987. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Albany in 1991, and a master’s in social work from New York University in 1998. In 2010, Miller founded SKM Artworks, a jewelry design and production firm. Miller says her social work background inspires her business’ philanthropic mission and has helped many local causes, such as Kula for Karma, Oasis, the Franklin Lakes Animal Hospital’s Critter Fund, and the Franklin Lakes Education Foundation. (continued on page 31)