Kara Alaimo

Montgomery Township/Rocky Hill School Board Candidates 2026

Q: How many years have you lived in Montgomery or Rocky Hill?

A: Seven years.

Q: Where do you work/job title?

A:  Professor of Communication and Director of Academic Programs in Communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and CNN contributor. 

Q: Education

A:  I studied Journalism and Women’s Studies at NYU before earning a master’s degree in Urban Affairs, master’s degree in Political Science and PhD in Political Science at the City University of New York. 

Q: Family/Personal

A:  Both of my daughters attend Montgomery public schools. 

Q: What skills do you have that would make you a good school board member?

A:  As a professor and program director at my university, I have experience creating and leading academic programs, including writing curricula, hiring and managing instructors, analyzing data, assessing educational outcomes and overseeing budgets. My academic research, books and frequent contributions to CNN focus on how screen time affects us all and what we can do about it. I have spoken to parents, educators and students across the country about this topic. I believe this expertise would be useful to the district because one of the most pressing topics we face is how to achieve balanced screen time in schools. 

Q:   What issues do you believe our district needs to address? What changes would you recommend?

A: 

• I believe we need a smart approach to balancing screen time.

• I’d like to invest in panic buttons, which are documented to save lives during school emergencies. 

• I believe the district could do a better job of creating individualized learning plans for all students who could benefit from them to reach their potential, including gifted students and students with learning differences. 

• I also believe the district could improve transparency in its communications. For example, I recently learned from my daughter that Spanish is being eliminated at Orchard Hill. When such difficult decisions are being made, I believe community input should be sought and parents should be informed.

Q: What are your thoughts on school taxes? What should be the MTSD priorities?

A:  I believe people move to Montgomery for our outstanding schools. Maintaining excellence is in everyone’s interests. It serves the students who will go on to lead our society. It also serves homeowners by keeping property values high. That said, we can’t invest in everything we want, and the town has already experienced a significant tax increase. As a board member, I would carefully weigh competing priorities by seeking input from the community and administration.  

Q: What are your thoughts on how to increase trust between board members, educators, and the public?

A:  I believe board members should be models for students of how to be inclusive and treat others with respect. You won’t find me posting cartoons or negative comments about other candidates on social media, and I ask my supporters to refrain from doing so, as well.

As I have written in my past analyses for CNN, I think it helps to come to these conversations assuming that people have good intentions and care about serving students, even if we disagree about the ways to do that. I don’t believe educators get into this line of work for personal gain.

The best way to approach disagreements is by asking questions to understand where people are coming from, what facts and policies are driving their views or actions, and where there are areas of consensus.

I think being transparent and genuinely seeking public comment before making decisions would increase trust. Unfortunately, the board’s current policy of making the public wait many hours to comment late at night at meetings is inappropriate, hurts public trust and prevents many community members from participating. I would seek to move up the public comment time at future board meetings.  

Q: What book would you recommend as being important for all high school students to read, and say why?

A:  As a voracious reader, I love the way books expand our understanding and empathy by helping us see the 

world from other perspectives. This can’t be done with a single book, but one I especially appreciate is “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.