Moorestown BOE Candidate Promises to Listen, Lead

Everyone has opinions about where their tax dollars should be spent and how their children should be taught. But Moorestown Board of Education candidate Joe Ruccolo truly wants to be part of the decision-making process.

“I want to be involved. I want to give back to the community,” he said.

Ruccolo, who works in sales for a medical equipment company, has lived in Moorestown for five years and, like so many, what brought him here were the schools, he said.

He has two children at the Upper Elementary School—one in fourth grade, another in sixth—and wants to see they get the best education possible, “and not just our children, all the children,” he added.

“What I want to do is support the programs, listen to the teachers, understand what their needs are,” said Ruccolo, an Army veteran, who unsuccessfully ran for school board last fall.

He suggested that the district could benefit from greater transparency.

“Part of my concern is we don’t know why decisions are being made,” he said, “because everything’s closed. We need more openness … I want to make sure we’re thinking long-term.”

Ruccolo said the school district does a great job of helping special needs students and nurturing advanced ones, but worries it may be losing sight of the students in the middle of the pack. He said he’d like to see more programs geared toward helping those students reach their full potential.

“I promise to have the ear of all the taxpayers, of the parents,” he said. “I like to listen to what everybody’s thoughts are.”

Ruccolo is seeking one of three open school board seats, alongside candidates Al Panzarella and Kimberly Kersey and incumbents Kathy Goldenberg and Matt Simeone.

For more information on Ruccolo, visit his Facebook page.

Polls open at 6 a.m. Nov. 5. Don’t where to vote? Check our handy election primer to find out (check the bottom of the article for voting districts and corresponding polling places).