The Somerset Hills Board of Education has recently commenced its elections, where board members ran for president and other various seats on the board. The Board of Education Elections took place on November 7th. The Board members are elected for three-year terms.
According to TapInto, five community members of Bernardsville have filed for the same two open seats for the recent elections, and two candidates have filed for the one open Peapack-Gladstone seat. The Bernardsville seats were filled by Kathleen Tober and Samantha Frenda, Board of Education President. Three other contestants ran in the election, including Holly Clark-Emery, Felicia Ballard, and Luca Pizzale. Heather Santoro, Board of Education Vice President, was running for reelection to her previous seat against Robert Weible.
These elections, though, have sparked much controversy throughout the community. There have been smear campaign videos, text blasts, and other media issued to the SHSD community claiming to be for or against various candidates, none of which were issued by the candidates.
We’ve seen countless campaigns from outside parties for and against both Frenda and Clark-Emery, including a specific text sent out from “Jon w/ Districts for Democracy,” stating that there are “extreme MAGA groups who support banning books and are trying to take over school boards in Somerset County.” This text was signed by Samantha Frenda, to which she commented and responded on her public Facebook page:
“At this point, I don’t even know how to start these posts anymore… I do not condone or endorse this message being sent and I apologize to anyone who received it. I am not “fighting against” any groups, am not running on any agenda or with any purpose other than service to my community and to work to improve the educational experience and support for ALL students and families in the Somerset Hills.
I implore all of these organizations to please stop using our community and our candidates to further their narratives. We want no part of this. This is divisive and damaging and this is not who the Somerset Hills is or how we operate. Please leave us out of your campaigns.”
There have also been seemingly AI-generated videos posted slandering candidates which have been sent to many Somerset community members. These videos are from the “Parents EmpowerED of Somerset Hills,” displaying information against candidates and claiming to be supported by Clark-Emery. Emery answers these videos via Sam Frenda’s social media page, saying that though her name was attached to the videos, she had nothing to do with their posting or their creation.
There was also an ad posted for Heather Santoro, to which she responded via her Facebook campaign page. The ad posted against Santoro was similar to those of the other two candidates, just reiterating the amount of these ads that weaponized opinions of certain candidates and used their names non-consensually to portray certain ideas or opinions. This was posted with Santoro’s name attached, while not sponsored by herself.
The campaigns of the running candidates have been civil, though responses by the people have not. The elections for Board of Education members are supposed to be a way for the community to express opinions and have their voices heard. Instead of representation of the people, though, we see various violent attempts to sabotage elections.
In her post, Emery shares: “We all want to run a clean and fair election… we are running for our children. We want to win because of our integrity and hard work…. [this is] not a venue in which to damage or hurt others.”
With no public comment at the latest Board meeting, the SHSD Board of Education elections have finally settled down after a long streak of uproar.