Ryan Battershill (left) and Barbara Rigoglioso (center)- #2 and #3 on the ballot are running on the "Children First!" team.  Also pictured is Wilson Alequin (right) who is running independently - #5 on the ballot.

Three parent advocates are running for the Wayne school board on Tuesday. They hope to give voice to parent concerns on the Township's Board of Education. They are: Ryan Battershill and Barbara Rigoglioso running on the "Children First!" team and Wilson Alequin who is running independently.

After closely observing all eight of the candidates over the last eighteen months, Education Harbinger Magazine is endorsing Battershill, Rigogloso, and Alequin. Wayne parents and neighbors can trust these pro-parent candidates. Here's why. . . .

Five other candidates are running this year: Matt Giordano, Cindy Simon, Jacob Van Lunen, Suzanne Pudup and Stacey Scher. Giordano, Simon and Scher ran unsuccessfully last year. All were endorsed by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the statewide teachers union.

According to an October 2021 report filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), the NJEA spent an unheard of $57,749.52 in Wayne to help its candidates. They did so through an "Independent Expenditures" front group called Garden State Forward.

Last year's NJEA candidates are all running again, but only Scher (a current union member teaching in Passaic) has been endorsed this year. Giordano was not endorsed, despite the fact that he is the president of the local union in Bloomfield where he teaches.

Scher teamed up with newcomer gamer Van Lunen and controversial board president Pudup (a retired union member) to put together the 2022 NJEA slate. So far, the NJEA has donated $8,200.00 to each of the three candidates. The NJEA's $24,600.00 was supplemented by a $5,500.00 contribution by the Wayne Education Association through its own front group, the Committee for Academic Excellence. 

This year, Garden State Forward has already sent out at least four full-color mailers in support of UNITED FOR WAYNE BOE. Each mailer is estimated to cost about $8,000.00. If that estimate is accurate, the total amount of money spent directly and indirectly by the NJEA in Wayne to help its endorsed candidates will exceed last year's total. 

A November 2, 2022, report filed with ELEC disclosed that the entire UNITED FOR WAYNE BOE campaign was paid for by the NJEA and the WEA. Even more shocking is the revelation that, other than a contribution (or perhaps loan) by Ms. Pudup, no one from Wayne has contributed to the UNITED campaign -- not even candidate Van Lunen or candidate Scher.

In stark contrast, the three pro-parent candidates -- Battershill, Rigoglioso, and Alequin --  are running low budget, meet-the-voters campaigns. The "Children First!" candidates (Battershill and Rigoglioso) held one fundraiser, a $15.00 Sunday pancake breakfast celebrating Halloween. Even at the breakfast, the children came first, with many children and parents in costume for the event.

Ryan Battershill is an expert in information technology. He was educated at the University of the West of England where he was graduated with a diploma with honors in Electrical and Electron Engineering and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Computing for Real Time Systems.

Early in his career, he played a role in the development of the United Kingdom's national Emergency Services system. He is currently involved in the global financial services sector. He runs a team of more than 60 global software engineers developing products that impact every client every day.

Ryan and his wife, Jennifer, are the proud parents of four children, all of whom are in the Wayne public school system. "During COVID, I became aware of the increasing divide between parents in our community, and between parents and the board/administration," he wrote recently. "I became educated on the issues and developed a resolve to be part of the solution."

Barbara Rigoglioso was educated at the University of South Florida where she received her degree in English Education and a minor in Communications. Her background as an English teacher prepared her for later activism as a parent.

Barbara and her husband, Dr. Charles Rigoglioso, are the proud parents of seven children and two beautiful grandchildren. All of her children went through the Wayne school system -- from kindergarten through high school. For more than 30 years Barbara was a remarkably active parent including serving as high school booster club president for football, basketball, swimming, track, baseball, wrestling, as well as girls' soccer and basketball.

Ms. Rigoglioso recently remarked: "I fully understand the value extracurricular activities add to our children's education."

In 2021, she learned that the Board/Administration intended to cancel high school graduation ceremonies because of COVID. Barb knew that there had to be a way to hold such a rite of passage. Even when faced every explanation in the book, Barb found a way to have a joint graduation and give the children the ceremony they deserved. She gets things done.

Wilson Alequin is an expert in security and policing. He is currently a Supervising Sergeant in the Detective Bureau of the Hudson County Sheriff's Office. He is an "Active Shooter Response" Instructor and a former operator for the SWAT Team.

Wilson and his wife, Dana, are the proud parents of two children, both of whom are in Wayne schools.

Sgt. Alequin is concerned about "the learning gap due to virtual learning." He wants to steer the district in closing that gap. He is also concerned about the role of politics in the Wayne schools. "This must change," he said recently. "I believe ALL members of our community deserve to have a seat at the table when it comes to decisions being made for their children and their tax dollars."

Bottom Line

Whether it involves global technology, or extracurricular life, or school safety and security, it is clear that these well-educated, well-informed parents will bring a lifetime of expertise to the Wayne Board of Education.

Moreover, unlike all five of the other candidates, they have no conflicts of interest and haven't benefited from large sums of money spent by special interests to get them elected.

For these reasons and many more, Education Harbinger Magazine encourages Wayne voters to elect Ryan Battershill (#2 on the ballot), Barbara Rigoglioso (#3 on the ballot) and Wilson Alequin (#5 on the ballot) to the Wayne Township Board of Education.