10/29/2025
Thank you to the IMPACT Organization that put on the Meet and Greet on Monday night. Below, are my answers to the questions for those that were not able to attend.
1. Please introduce yourself then tell us why you are running for the Board of Education in Shamong, about your platform, and what you see as the top three priorities for the Shamong School District over the next four years.
Answer:
Toby Martin
I am a resident, parent of four children and educator
My slogan “Educator. Advocate. Leader” encompasses what I stand for and what I bring to the BOE.
Educator: Many years of experience in meetings, working with educators, teaching students, and supporting parents in tough parts of their lives.
Advocate:
Students- spend every day with kids with my job knowing how to reach them using
multiple strategies.
Educators– I know what it feels like to do a job in which you have the massive
responsibility to the parents to support and take care of their loved ones.
Resident– in a time where money is super tight, the fiscal choices have to be closely
examined because every dollar matters.
Leader: Spending time in committees that support forward thinking opportunities, I am a proactive person that spends ample time planning, using data research and talking to people to make decisions for the good of all stakeholders.
My priorities are to follow that model: We must make all decisions always based on asking… Are we best serving the students, the educators, and the residents? ALL VERY MUCH MATTER because they all work in unison with one another.
2. Vision & Priorities: As an elected member of the Shamong Board of Education, when tasked with making decisions for the district, how will you work to protect our students’ education and development, especially our most vulnerable populations (special ed, disabled, financially challenged, etc.) while still balancing the needs of staff and taxpayers?
Answer:
Working with the four members of the BOE as a collaborative unit is essential to making well informed decisions. Each individual board member has specific skills that can contribute to the decision making process.
I have a unique experience on vulnerable populations. As said, I have four children…three with attentional issues but one that has Autism. As a young child, he had early intervention with PT and OT. When he entered school, he struggled both academically and socially. He was a runner, has had daily struggles his whole life, has struggled to have friendships and every day rings a new set of struggles. My wife and I have gotten use to speaking with admin throughout his life regularly.
I say all this to say that I understand what it feels like to be a parent that is doing everything possible to help your child and still cannot get answers, still cannot figure out the missing piece to the puzzle, still cannot help your child have friends when kids are ruthless and mean. It’s hard and very emotional. So we need to figure out ways to help these students and parents find success in the lives of their kids by working with the special ed director, superintendent, and other personnel. We need to be sure all federal money allocated to special education and other vulnerable populations is being used to best meet the needs of the students.
3. Budget & Resource Management: How will you ensure transparency and accountability in how tax dollars plan to be and are spent? And along that line, how would you recommend the board better plan for the inevitable facility maintenance and capital improvements without overburdening taxpayers?
Answer:
As of now, we have many people with interest in the BOE meetings and Shamong school district in general, I encourage all residents and parents to continue to come to the meetings, get informed and ask questions. For many years, very few people attended the meetings so now is a good time to keep people informed and aware of the decision making process of the BOE. To better plan for maintenance and improvements, it's important to plan ahead (years out) so that money can be saved along the way. In addition, grants can be found that will support the district's improvements. Also, you can look into state approved vendors which makes it so you don’t have to go out to bid and saves taxpayers money. This takes working closely with the BA and Superintendent so that we have looked into all possibilities before bringing a referendum up for discussion.
4. Reflective question: Can you give an example of a time when you stood up for what was right — even when it was unpopular or came at a personal cost?
Answer:
As a teacher, my job is not to just implement curriculum and disseminate information. My job is also about building relationships and monitoring the academic and social emotional progress of kids. When the school year starts, I naturally start to evaluate through academics and age level appropriate awareness.
Many years ago, one of my students showed signs of academic success but the relationships with peers was concerning. I spoke with my team of educators as well as the guidance counselor, and the special education department. I had other colleagues evaluate in the classroom and no one seemed to think there was any concern.
However, after speaking with the parents and hearing their concerns and what their pediatrician said, I pushed to move to an I&RS (Intervention and Referral Services). Ultimately, it was found that the student needed some extra support in social emotional understanding and attentional issues. I was glad I did my due diligence, reflected, looked deeper, and trusted my gut so that the student could be on the right path towards success and the parents felt supported and heard.
5. Community, Accessibility, & Transparency: How would you approach ensuring improved transparency of and access to the elected board members for district parents, community residents, and school staff?
Answer:
First, I encourage all residents to be informed in the district. This is a public entity in which the role of a BOE member is to serve the students and residents. Asking questions is so important. The worst thing that happens is people don’t have answers and then make up their own.
Second, I would have no problem creating a BOE email address in which the residents have direct access to the BOE.
Third, for example the referendum….I would have started that process in the beginning of the year with stakeholder meetings. We (the BOE) would take that information back and get a feel for the next steps. Create a scope or adjust the scope and proceed. Get a read on public support. Everything would be posted as we go through the process with full transparency. We would go through the process all the way through so that people aren’t being told about it at the very end and being scared into voting. That's not a team approach and it does not create a culture that supports one another. I’m not against a referendum after all avenues have been sought with full transparency throughout the process but due diligence must have been done first.
6. Administration Oversight: In what tangible, specific ways can the board of education improve support of our district’s administrators and teachers as well as improve the collaboration and communication between the BOE members, district administrators, and teachers & staff?
Answer:
I would be having and wanting to be informed about what is happening in the schools from the administrators and teachers…not just the Superintendent. Being informed and seeing the school in real time is very telling on morale front teachers which ultimately can affect students.
I would like to visit the schools and classrooms and see learning in action
I would like to sit with the admin team often and discuss their projects, curriculum and the overall feel of how things are going. This would and could be the full BOE or just a few members if discussed and allowed by the BOE as a whole. The idea is for the Admin to be able to share with the BOE directly what's working and what is not—different from the current highlights that are shared at the BOE meeting.
7. Safety & Policy: How can you, as an individual board member, and the board as a whole, address and safeguard our students, teachers, and administrators against issues such as virtual bullying and online harassment, as well as improve our students’ and staff’s overall digital safety?
Answer:
Digital safety has become a monstrous endeavor in the last many years based on social media being the choice way for students to communicate. The school district does have a responsibility to the students and parents of the district to not allow online bullying and harassment. As a BOE member, I would like to meet with Mr. Vazquez to be sure that we have strong fire walls in place when students are online in the school. I would make sure the school is a safe space.
Home is a little more tricky as students are not on the school browser any longer. However, I would work with the admin team to make sure there were procedures and policies in place for offenses outside of school hours that are affecting students. I would like to meet with a group of stakeholders to gather data and figure out a plan that works for all school personnel as well as parents. This is a big topic and a plan needs to be in place so that we are proactive vs. reactive.
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