ABOUT ME
I am currently an elected Board Member on the Mountain Lakes School District Board of Education. In this role, I serve as the Chair of the Special Education and Student Services Committee. For my service on the Board of Education, I was awarded New Board Member Boardsmanship Certification (NBM) from the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA).
Moreover, I am the former Chairman of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee in the Borough of Mountain Lakes. In this role, I identified and prioritized realistic opportunities for affordable housing, suggested possible funding sources to accomplish these opportunities, and represented the committee at the New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM) and other internal/external stakeholder meetings.
​
I served one term with the Environmental Commission as an Environmental Commissioner in the Borough of Mountain Lakes where I contacted experts from the NJ State Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on behalf of the Commission to gather pertinent information to advise the Borough Council on the Polystyrene recycling ordinance/initiative, which cumulated into drafting a memorandum on behalf of the Commission for the Borough Council outlining experts’ recommendations, advantages, disadvantages, and current & pending relevant legislation. I also led the effort to pass a resolution to support a neighboring town’s environmental action group's conservation efforts. The resolution and supporting resolutions from other commissions/towns resulted in a landmark preliminary agreement to preserve The Drew Forest Preserve, which was valued at more than $65 million.
Before my public service career, I pursued an M.A. in Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and an MLS in Public Law and Policy from the Northeastern School of Law. I am also an author, presenter, college instructor, and law school student. My scholarship has appeared in journals such as Perspectives on Urban Education and Educational Policy and other outlets, such as Elgar's Encyclopedia (Forthcoming), Social Science Research Network, and The Star-Ledger. Coverage of my publication with Caitlin Killian [Drew University] on children's education rights in Educational Policy can be found in the Fall 2023 newsletter from the Human Rights Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the news section from Drew University. I have guest lectured at my alma mater, Columbia University, Teachers College. Moreover, I serve as a peer reviewer for academic journals and book publishers. ​