Montclair School Vote
Montclair School Board Voting Guide
Meet the Candidates
An independent overview of the candidates running for the Montclair Board of Education.
Save Montclair Schools (SMS) Candidates
Rich Reynics & Corey Pierson
Group Background & Governance Connections
Rich Reynics has previously served on the board of Save Montclair Schools (SMS). While Corey Pierson was not explicitly listed as a board member, his wife was formally documented as a board member, and Corey has actively commented and advocated on the group’s behalf.
Unexplained Law Firm Expenses
Campaign filings show SMS chose to spend $2,611.09 with the law firm Weissman & Mintz regarding ballots on January 22 (Source). Questions remain regarding why SMS chose to incur this legal expense, whether anyone from the school district was involved in requesting or driving it, and whether any public taxpayer money was utilized in connection with the effort.
Digital Tactics
Internal chat screenshots demonstrate that SMS engaged in title-stuffing and SEO manipulation, specifically altering the title tag of the SMS site to mirror "Montclair School Vote" (the name of the competing effort). Mimicking a rival group's name to misdirect voters raises ethical concerns.
Corey Pierson
Corey invited Superintendent Ruth Turner and sitting board members to his private residence to discuss "Yes/Yes" campaign strategy. Hosting district leadership and board members privately to coordinate a political campaign crosses ethical lines. The Board and Superintendent should have allowed the public to decide the election on its merits without backroom campaign coordination.
Online, Corey failed to acknowledge the obvious financial benefits of an interest-free loan and appeared genuinely perplexed when basic economic principles like the time value of money were explained to him. During public comment, he routinely over-emphasized possible cuts and claimed students wouldn't have the same schools as before, without providing supporting data.
Rich Reynics
Rich has repeatedly misrepresented facts regarding state oversight. On the Public Comment podcast, he claimed a state monitor guarantees a loss of local control for a mandatory 10 years, omitting the fact that state regulations allow a monitor to be removed as soon as funds are raised to repay the debt.
Rich told Montclair Local that special election costs should be thought of as a monthly payment paid out over a full year, ignoring other school-related tax increases and the Business Administrator's explicit presentation showing payments owed over just two quarters.
Rich remains singularly focused on preserving Edgemont, even when doing so may conflict with broader district interests. Additionally, while Rich publicly criticized an opposing group for sending text messages, election filings show SMS purchased phone records specifically to run mass text campaigns.
David Moon
Flawed Logic
David drastically overstated potential cuts based on the financials in his op-eds, failing to consider items like health care waivers or increases in state funding. His strategy was to overstate cuts without providing numbers to back them up, which indicates either financial incompetence or fear-mongering to get his desired outcome.
Andrew Gideon
Blank Check Mindset
Andrew is always in favor of spending without asking tough questions. He can never articulate what the district actually needs, defaults to believing the schools always need more money, and functions as a rubber stamp for administrative requests. He treats our public schools like a private academy with zero regard for the financial impact on local taxpayers. Andrew even made public comment that the school take the entirety of its health care waiver, costing taxpayers more, with no explanation of why it was needed or how it should be used. In addition, Andrew was a strong supporter of a Jonathan Ponds contract extension.
Ayalet Haron
Independent Candidate
She is mom to two kids in the district. She is independent from all groups. She believes school board members should be judicious, fiscally responsible, and fiercely independent.
George Simpson
We don’t have any information about him. We will update this section when we get some information.
Brandie Bookhart
We don’t have any information about her. We will update this section when we get some information.
Why You Should Trust Us
We are a group of parents all with elementary age children in the school district. We believe in properly funding our schools, and want the best for our kids and our community. We also believe in spending judiciously. We want to get value out of our taxpayer money. We believe in transparency. We understand finance and trust data and numbers.
We are not backing any candidates for this election. We have no association with any school board members (present or past). We have never invited school board members or the Superintendent to our homes for private meetings. We are very independent.
During the Montclair Special Election for our schools we provided the most accurate numbers. We accurately predicted total costs based on health care waiver increases and bond repayment. We accurately showed Montclair’s cost per pupil and where it ranks in comparison to similar districts. We also provided accurate information about state monitors. We never told anybody how to vote. We will never and never did anything unethical like seo title stuffing. We will never ask anybody for contributions. During the Montclair Special election, we spent a approximately $200 in an effort to educate the public showing we were very judicious with our spending.
Candidate Inquiries & Corrections
Any candidate is free to reach out to [email protected] if they want to add information or feel any information is wrong.
Contact Us