Meet Your New Board Members

By: Olivia Liang

All across the country on November 4th, voters cast their ballots in critical gubernatorial races, propositions, and mayoral elections. Millburn voters also make their final decisions regarding the new Board of Education members. The Board of Education sets policy and provides governance for a school district, from long-term district goals to daily operations. The board members approve budgets, establish the curriculum, hire and evaluate superintendents, and act as a link and representation between the community and the schools. The Board of Education for Millburn Township is composed of residents, each serving a three-year term. With three open seats and five contestants in the 2025 election, the race was extremely tight and heated. 

The turbulent and uncertain state of the Board of Education at Millburn is a big issue on residents’ minds going into the November 4th election. In recent years, Millburn Township Schools underwent drastic changes: a new test corrections policy, a new superintendent, and a new principal for the high school and some of the elementary schools. There have been many fierce debates amongst the Board members over the course of the Millburn School District, with many Board members holding strong and coinciding views. This year, there were five candidates: Jeffrey Cassin, Abigail Speltz, Gisela Puala Torgovnick, and WeiWei Huang. The fifth candidate, Christian Germa, backed out of the race in early September, leaving four remaining contestants on November 4th. Speltz, Cassin, and Huang were chosen to fill the three open spots. The three newly elected members will join Jennifer Bhathena (term limited), Noel Bigman, Andrew Finkelestein, Asaf Farashuddin, Brian Lawrence, Cynthia Longley Richards, and Priya Shivani. 

Abigail Speltz

Abigail Speltz is an active member of the Millburn community. She held many leadership roles over the years, such as PTO Co-president, Treasurer, Millburn Rec Volleyball and Softball Coach, and South Mountain Neighborhood Watch. She is also a dedicated mother to a sophomore at Millburn High School and a junior at American University. Speltz was recently appointed by the Board of Education to fill a temporary vacancy through the end of the year. Speltz has focused on many nonprofits, such as the Millburn Education Foundation (MEF), and has worked closely with faculty and staff across every school in the district. Before her nonprofit work, she was Director of Traditional Construction at GSl Management Corporation. Speltz stated that her background taught her to “question assumptions, analyze data, and constantly look for ways to improve outcomes.” She also worked in communications at a Fortune 500 company. 

In terms of policy, Speltz is focused on giving every student the opportunities they need to grow as individuals, through appropriately level courses, fair grading systems, and a focus on social-emotional growth. She wants Millburn grads to leave feeling prepared, resilient, and confident. Speltz hopes to keep up with the changing educational landscape and will strive to constantly review and adjust the educational policies as needed. She is also focused on promoting a positive culture focused on collaboration.  Speltz believes community engagement is crucial and can be fostered by listening to and valuing both professional expertise and lived experiences. 

Jeff Cassin

Jeff Cassin moved to Millburn with his son and wife for its outstanding schools. He is an active volunteer with the PTO and other district events. Cassin has served as a member of the Millburn Education Foundation, where he co-chaired STEAMfest for two years. He has coached eight seasons of Millburn Recreation youth baseball as well. Cassin served on the Millburn Recreation Commission and has coached the Odyssey of the Mind team that made it to the World Finals in Michigan. Cassin’s background is in law, and he is a partner at Norris McLaughlin. Cassin emphasized that his background and expertise as a lawyer taught him crucial negotiation skills, through which he was able to emerge with multiple win-win deals. He hopes to apply his negotiation skills when it comes to decision-making and bridging the gap between the differing perspectives in the community. 

Cassin believes that the community should continue to focus on its shared commitment to making the schools excellent, despite the different viewpoints regarding how to achieve that goal. He hopes to bridge divides and continue to strengthen the schools. He will focus on detail-oriented policy work and long-term planning, with a focus on including the many diverse perspectives of the community. Cassin hopes to provide all students with a wide range of opportunities and personalized learning paths.   

Weiwei Huang

Like Cassin, Weiwei Huang moved to Millburn for the exceptional schools. She currently has a son enrolled at Millburn High School. Huang is a Director at Bank of America. She has 20 years of experience in the financial industry and has worked at major institutions such as The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Huang holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Miami and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University’s top-ranked computational finance program. 

Huang emphasized the recent changes to the Millburn School District and wants to address the community's issues by implementing new approaches through thoughtful planning. Her focus is on maintaining the high academic quality of the Millburn schools. Huang believes in fostering good habits, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning. She wants to identify solutions through rigorous and sound professional research, create an environment for every type of student to thrive, and encourage open communication from every perspective. Huang has developed a diverse skill set through her professional career, such as strategic and systematic thinking, leadership and management, and operational excellence- all of which will help in her next endeavor as a Board of Education member. 

The Millburn community is watching closely at how the Board of Education will continue to navigate through the many changes and challenges presented to the community. With the three new Board members and their fresh insights, the people are anticipating and waiting to see what new policies and goals will be implemented for the school districts. The Board of Education serves a crucial role in guiding and setting the standard for the exceptional schools in the Millburn community.