Livingston's two school board candidates both say arts and humanities belong alongside STEM in district classrooms, though they frame the case differently.

Incumbent board member Fang Gong and challenger Neal Ashinsky laid out their positions in the West Essex Tribune's Week 3 election roundup, published Wednesday, Oct. 7. The two are competing for the single open seat on the Livingston Board of Education in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election. The winner will serve a three-year term.

The Tribune asked candidates how they view arts and humanities courses across the district in a world increasingly focused on STEM.

Gong: "Nurture the whole tree"

Gong, who has served on the board since 2023 and holds a master of public administration degree from Rutgers University, cited a 2018 National Academies study that used Albert Einstein's phrase "branches of the same tree" to describe how humanities, arts and sciences connect. She pointed to Livingston's STEAMtank program, launched in 2020, which added the "A" to STEM to recognize the role of imagination in innovation.

She also drew on her family's experience. Her daughter grew up speaking Chinese and English, learned Spanish in elementary school and is studying French as a sixth grader at Mount Pleasant Middle School. The girl joined the school orchestra on viola in fourth grade and later picked up guzheng, an ancient Chinese instrument, at an Asian American and Pacific Islander community picnic.

"Education's job is not to decide which branch matters most, but to nurture the whole tree …" Gong wrote in her statement.

Ashinsky: "I learned that firsthand"

Ashinsky, a licensed CPA in New Jersey and New York and a Livingston parent with children in the district, grounded his answer in personal experience. He recalled standing on the Livingston High School football field on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, with the New Providence High School Marching Band at the state championship.

"We didn't expect to win. But we did," Ashinsky wrote. He said what stayed with him was not the trophy but learning to work with a team, take criticism, trust others, recover from mistakes and keep pushing toward something difficult.

He also described running the sound board for his high school musical, "Into the Woods." Critics reviewing high school musicals across the state singled out the sound as a weakness. That failure, he wrote, taught him to accept criticism, take responsibility and come back stronger.

Ashinsky said he revisited Homer's "Odyssey" over the summer and found himself back in his high school English class, following Odysseus chapter by chapter. He said the class taught perseverance, judgment and leadership. He called on the district to encourage writers, artists and thinkers alongside scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

What's ahead

The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 election is Tuesday, Oct. 13. Early voting runs from Saturday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 1, and polls on Election Day are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Livingston Board of Education meets next on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Administration Building, 11 Foxcroft Drive. The meeting is also available via Facebook livestream.