Bordentown City voters have been casting their ballots for one, three-year term to represent them on the Bordentown Regional School District’s Board of Education.
With Election Day on Nov. 3, the race for the three-year term features incumbent Melinda Zola, who is running under the slogan “Advocacy, Equity, Unity”, and Brendan Meyers.
Meyers is seeking his first three-year term on the school board. He works as a contract administrator for the New Jersey Department of Labor.
Zola is seeking a second term on the Board of Education. She is a prekindergarten teacher at Lakeview Child Center and serves on several board committees.
Her assignments include the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Ad Hoc Communications Committee, which she chairs, Curriculum and Co-Curricular Committee, and Negotiations Committee.
The Bordentown Current sent questions to both candidates. Responses are below:
Meyers could not be reached by press time.
Why are you running?
Zola: I am running for a second term because I believe strongly in the future of the Bordentown Regional School District and in the importance of having a board that represents the entire community. During my first term, I gained an incredible amount of experience and perspective.
I served during a particularly challenging period for our district, including significant financial pressures that required difficult staffing decisions and a change in district leadership. Those experiences taught me that being a school board member is not about making easy decisions; it is about listening, asking difficult questions, understanding the facts, and making thoughtful decisions with our students and community in mind.Â
I was fortunate to work with our interim superintendent, who provided valuable guidance during a very difficult transition, and I was then able to participate in the process of selecting our new superintendent, Dr. James Altobello. Dr. Altobello was unanimously selected by the Board in October 2025 and began serving as superintendent in January 2026. I am running because I believe we are moving into an important new chapter.
I want to continue advocating for equity, opportunity and unity while keeping our focus where it belongs: on meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of every student. I believe our community has the ability to work through the growing pains that come with change and continue building a welcoming, positive environment for all of our students.
What separates you from the other candidate in the race?
Zola: I don’t know my opponent personally or enough about his background or reasons for running to speak for him, and I think it’s important to be fair and respectful of every candidate in this race. What I can speak to is my own experience and why I believe that experience is valuable to the voters.
I am a candidate who has spent the last three years serving on the Bordentown Regional Board of Education. During that time, I have gained firsthand experience with the responsibilities and challenges that come with serving on a school board. I have been involved in difficult financial decisions, including staffing reductions, worked through an unexpected superintendent transition, supported our interim superintendent, and participated in the process of selecting our current superintendent, Dr. James Altobello.Â
Those experiences have given me a much deeper understanding of the district—both its challenges and its opportunities. I have learned that being a board member requires listening carefully, looking at the facts, asking difficult questions, understanding different perspectives and sometimes making very difficult decisions.Â
I also believe one of my strengths is my commitment to representing the entire community. Our Board includes people with different backgrounds and perspectives, and I value that diversity because our students and families are not all the same. I believe good governance requires us to listen to all of our stakeholders and work toward solutions that serve the district as a whole. My campaign is centered on advocacy, equity and unity.
I am running for another term because I believe the experience I have gained, combined with my commitment to collaboration and to our students, gives me an opportunity to continue contributing to the progress our district is making.
Where do you stand on your vote regarding the bond referendum in this general election, and why?
Zola: The referendum is an important decision for our entire community, and I believe every voter should take the time to educate themselves before casting their ballot.
As a sitting board member, I have a responsibility to provide information and encourage community members to look carefully at the facts rather than tell them how they should vote. I encourage everyone to review the proposed projects, understand the financial information, consider the potential tax impact, and pay particular attention to the state aid that would offset a portion of the project costs.
According to the district’s referendum information, the proposed improvements total approximately $86.1 million, with approximately $29.3 million in state aid—34% of the project cost—if the referendum is approved. The district has also published estimated tax impacts for each of the three communities it serves.
I encourage every eligible voter to learn as much as possible, ask questions, attend the district’s informational opportunities, review the available financial information and ultimately vote according to their own conscience and understanding of the facts. This is a decision that belongs to the voters.
What do you see as the most pressing issue facing the school board and why?
Zola: I think one of our biggest challenges is finding the right balance between what our students need and what our district can realistically afford. We have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars while also making sure we aren’t losing sight of what matters most—our students.
I want our students to have opportunities to succeed academically, but I also believe education is about so much more than test scores. Our students need support socially and emotionally, they need to feel connected to their schools, and they need opportunities to discover their interests and talents.
That includes continuing to support our creative arts programs, athletics, clubs and the many activities that help make our schools a place where students want to be.
After everything our district has been through over the past few years, I also think communication and trust are extremely important. Change can be difficult, and I want our families, staff and community to feel that they are being heard and that their voices matter.
At the end of the day, we are all part of the same community, and we all want to see our children succeed. I believe keeping that shared goal at the center of our conversations is extremely important.
How would you go about solving that issue?
Zola: I would continue doing what I have tried to do throughout my first term: listen, ask questions, look at the information, and work with the other Board members to find the best path forward for our students and our community.
I don’t believe there is one simple answer to the challenges facing a school district. We have to continually look at where our resources are going, what is working, where our students need additional support, and where we can find additional funding or resources.
I also want to continue advocating for the whole student. That means supporting academics, but also making sure we don’t overlook social-emotional needs, creative arts, athletics, extracurricular activities and the other experiences that help students feel connected and successful.
Most importantly, I want to continue being accessible and listening to our community. I may not always have the answer, but I will always be willing to listen, learn and work toward one. I am committed to supporting our students in every way I can and to making decisions that I believe will move our district forward.
For me, a second term is about continuing the work we’ve started and helping our community move forward together—with advocacy, equity and unity at the heart of what we do.
