Berkeley Heights voters will need to write a name on their ballots to fill one of two open school board seats in the Nov. 3 election.

David Moore is the only candidate printed on the ballot for the Berkeley Heights Board of Education. Angela Halverson, an attorney and parent of two district students, is running as a write-in candidate, according to a TAPinto Berkeley Heights candidate profile published Sept. 24. Voters who want to support Halverson must write her name on the ballot themselves.

The two seats belong to board members Natasha Joly and Sai Akiri, who are not seeking re-election to another three-year term.

In her TAPinto profile, Halverson said she has lived in Berkeley Heights since 2020 and has a fourth grader at Thomas P. Hughes School and a sixth grader at Columbia Middle School. She described herself as a stay-at-home mom whose legal career included work as a consultant to the New York City Department of Education on special education cases and more than seven years as a New Jersey prosecutor.

"I am running because our schools need someone willing to ask hard questions and follow evidence," Halverson said in her Sept. 24 candidate profile.

Halverson pointed to academic results as a top concern, stating that only 56.3 percent of Berkeley Heights third graders met expectations in English language arts on the 2025 NJSLA. She also questioned the district's spending on the iReady assessment tool, which she said costs more than $63,000 a year.

No public statements or documented positions from Moore were found by TAPinto or by NJ21st, which published an editorial Oct. 11 noting the absence. Moore's response to the TAPinto candidate questionnaire was not available.

Contract talks and referendum spending ahead

The new board members will step into several unresolved issues. Board President Deb Tererro announced at the Aug. 28 BOE meeting that negotiations between the board and the Berkeley Heights Education Association (BHEA) had reached an impasse, according to TAPinto Berkeley Heights. Tererro said a state-assigned mediator would work with both sides. Halverson noted in her candidate profile that teachers wore BHEA shirts at Back to School Night because they still have no contract for the 2026–27 school year.

The board also oversees a $50.4 million school construction referendum that voters approved in March. State aid covers $16.9 million; local taxpayers are responsible for the remaining $33.5 million, with the second bond question raising annual property taxes by about $250 for the average home, according to MyCentralJersey.

Forum moderation draws criticism

In an Oct. 11 NJ21st editorial, Shauna Williams alleged that a Berkeley Heights community forum has selectively removed posts supporting certain BOE candidates. Williams wrote that she was blocked within about 10 minutes of commenting on a post endorsing Halverson's campaign, and that a prior endorsement post she made for a different candidate was removed while a similar post by another resident was allowed to stay. The forum administrator's response to these allegations is not represented in any available source.

Williams wrote that the pattern reflects a broader problem of silencing dissenting views, including views she said may not actually be in the minority but are simply not held by the people who control the forum.

Voters who wish to support Halverson must write "Angela Halverson" on the ballot. Moore's name will be printed.