Five candidates for school board, three for committee
UPPER TOWNSHIP — Five candidates are seeking three seats on the Upper Township Board of Education and three people are vying for two spots on Township Committee in the general election Nov. 5.
School board incumbent Brian Teeney is seeking re-election but two others — longtime members Fran Newman and William Holmes — decided against doing so, meaning there will be at least two new members starting next year.
Teeney, an officer with the Ocean City Police Department Traffic Safety Unit, won a seat in 2021 and is seeking a second term on the board.
The married father of two grew up in the township and has lived there for 25 years. Like himself and his wife, his children are students in the township and at Ocean City School High School.
Teeney is in the 23rd year of his law enforcement career.
Three candidates — Donald J. Polo, Andrew Shawl and Thomas Tyrrell — are running as a ticket under the slogan “All About Kids,” while Earl “Bud” Smith is running under the banner “All Students Succeed.”
Shawl is a state-licensed engineer and planner who worked for Atlantic City Electric at the defunct B.L. England Generating Station, as well as a business owner. He served on the township’s Economic Development Committee and Bike Path Advisory Board and is a volunteer and past president with Habitat for Humanity.
Shawl, who ran unsuccessfully for Township Committee in 2021, has deep roots in the community. His parents moved to Upper Township in 1973 and his mother still lives in the house they built. He and his wife live in Marmora and have a daughter who attends township schools.
Tyrrell is a real estate agent with Goldcoast Sotheby’s International Realty in Ocean City.
“I sell the dream of living here to newcomers and people returning back to their roots,” he said.
Tyrrell and his wife, Kathleen, have three children, two students in the township primary school and the third in preschool.
The 39-year-old is a product of township schools and graduate of Ocean City High School. He was on the track and field team, competing in pole vault, for OCHS, Rider University and TCNJ. He currently volunteers with the Red Raiders pole vaulters.
Tyrrell, one of five siblings born and raised in the township, earned a law and justice degree from The College of New Jersey in 2008.
His mother worked in the front office at township schools until her retirement, and his father owned and operated Seaville Furniture. Three of his four siblings are in teachers in New Jersey.
Polo, 47, who has been a math teacher at Lower Cape May Regional High School for 22 years, earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mathematics from Rowan University. He is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox & Roach Realtors in Ocean City.
Polo and his wife have two daughters. They attend St. Maximillian Kolbe Parish.
Polo is coach of the township’s eighth-grade travel basketball team.
Smith, 65, is a retired high school teacher and administrator. He and his wife, Chris, a former NICU nurse at Shore Medical Center, raised five children. They all are graduates of Upper Township Middle School and Ocean City High School.
Smith was raised in Buffalo, N.Y., but has lived in New Jersey for most of his life, including more than 35 years in the township. He was a pastor at Abundant Life Church in Seaville for almost 10 years before a career change to education.
Smith taught in the Cape May County Special Services District for a year before being hired by the Egg Harbor Township School District. There he taught in the district’s alternative high school program before becoming director of alternative education in 2010. He retired in 2023 after 25 years of service.
Three vying for
two seats on
Township Committee
None of the candidates running for Township Committee is an incumbent.
Republicans Zachary Palombo and Samuel Palombo defeated Mayor Jay Newman and Deputy Mayor Kim Hayes in the primary and are running in their first general election in November.
Former committeeman Anthony Inserra is running as an independent, while the Democrats are posing no challenge.
Zachary “Zach” Palombo, superintendent of the Cape May City School District, is the son and Sam Palombo, a pharmaceutical sales representative, the nephew of former longtime mayor Rich Palombo. Their grandfather, Aldo Palombo, was mayor from 1994 to 2005 in North Wildwood, where he operated Palombo’s Pharmacy.
The Palombos earned the endorsement of the Upper Township members of the Republican County Committee during the local candidate endorsement process.
Zach Palombo is an educational administration professional and former classroom teacher who now serves as superintendent of Cape May City and West Cape May school districts.
The 43-year-old and his wife, Lori, are parents to three children: Lucia, Rocco and Livia.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from The College of New Jersey in 2003, with teacher certifications in elementary and secondary history and special education.
Palombo later earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from University of South Dakota in 2008 and an educational specialist degree in curriculum and instruction – focus on instructional technology in 2015. He currently is a doctoral student at the University of Idaho in educational leadership.
He also served 20 years on the North Wildwood Beach Patrol, retiring in 2017 as lieutenant.
Sam Palombo, 27, is a husband and father who grew up in the township, where he played soccer, basketball and baseball while attending local schools.
He joined the Upper Township Beach Patrol in 2012. The 2014 Ocean City High School graduate participated in travel and recreational clubs and sports such as soccer, French club and Class Council. He was a member of the French Immersion Program at Upper Township Primary School and remains fluent in the language to this day.
After graduating from OCHS, he attended the University of the Sciences seeking a degree in pharmacy. He then transferred to Stockton University, “knowing that my skill set and interests would be better suited in the field of business.”
In 2019, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business management with a minor in French. He took a job after graduation in outside sales for a national construction supply company.
Through his work, he attended many leadership conferences that provided specific training for both how to lead in the field of sales and in personal life.
A former deputy mayor, Inserra served as director of revenue and finance, director of public works, on the township Planning Board, the Upper Township Green Team and as a liaison to the Upper Township Board of Education. He was elected in 2012 and lost to Republican Jeffrey Pierson in 2015 while running as an independent for a second term.
He has lived in Upper Township for nearly 40 years. He immigrated to the United States from Italy at the age of 18.
Upon arrival to the township, he opened a small HVAC/plumbing business with his brother, A&V Plumbing and HV/AC.
His education and licenses include master plumber, combustion theory, universal DEP certification in cooling and refrigeration.
He ran with Jack Griffin and Andy Shawl in 2021, calling themselves “independent Republicans,” and lost to Hayes, Newman and Committeeman Mark Pancoast.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff