Andrew Moore, a father of three and a real estate agent, is running for a seat on the Middletown District school board to be the voice of parents and students, he said.
Born and raised in a high-crime neighborhood in Brooklyn, Moore managed to walk on the right path—he thanks his parents and mentors for their guidance and support.
Seeing basketball as a potential career, Moore met a coach in middle school who took him under his wing and surrounded him with like-minded young men.
“That gave me a system that was driven for success and pulled me from East New York to central Brooklyn to attend high school,” he said. “It was probably one of the best decisions I made.”
He went on to attend the private Dowling College on Long Island with an athletic scholarship.
There, he coached basketball and worked as an assistant admissions director, a post where he helped several high schoolers become first-generation college-goers.
After traveling with the National Basketball Association for a few years as a production crew member, Moore returned to Brooklyn to work as a school business manager at Technology Early College High School for 11 years.
“I felt it was a calling to come back to help the youth,” he told The Epoch Times.
Simultaneously, Moore worked as a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty.
In 2021, Moore moved to Middletown with his family, and his three children attended Presidential Park Elementary School within the Middletown District.
Platform
Launching a second run, Moore told The Epoch Times that he would advocate for more career-oriented programs in the district to prepare students for real-life success.“We could no longer just look to get accolades because someone did great on a math exam—that is great, but what are we doing to help them move forward into their next career path?
“These programs should reach students in middle schools and navigate them onto pathways of different interests, such as artificial intelligence, trades, or coding.
“Then you will automatically see the behaviors change and all that fights not get transferred into the high school, because now the kids have a purpose and they know what they are going for,” he said.
The district currently sends students to Orange and Ulster County Boards of Cooperative Educational Services campus for career-oriented classes. Still, Moore said he wanted to see more in the district.
He also plans to advocate for more inclusive hiring practices.
The student body at the district mainly comprises Hispanics and African Americans, many of whom are first-generation students living with families they didn’t grow up with or new transplants that just moved up from various New York City neighborhoods, he said.
However, most district administrators and teachers don’t share the same experiences, Moore said.
“If you are unable to relate to the struggles the students have, then you cannot have a connection, and you are going to always have issues, such as fights,” he said.
If elected, Moore also hopes to get more parents involved in district policies and affairs.
He cited the new cellphone policy in the district, which is that high schoolers must put their phones in a sealed pouch throughout the school day, except for emergency reasons.
District Superintendent Amy Creeden proposed the policy to the school board to minimize social media distractions and promote engaged learning and in-person communications on campus, according to previous interviews with The Epoch Times.
Since the policy went into effect, quite a few parents and students voiced opposition at school board meetings, citing safety concerns, personal freedom, long lines at the building entrance, anxiety over losing access, and losing the ability to record evidence of inappropriate behaviors at the district.
Although not opposing the idea of minimizing distraction, Moore said the policy should be revisited with more input from parents and students, primarily on how it has been implemented.
Moore also wants to look at ways to cut school taxes.
One idea he has is to lower health insurance costs through preventive care and wellness initiatives with employees.
Another is to reduce the cost per student through resource reshuffling or other cost-saving initiatives, such as less spending on capital projects.
He isn’t against capital projects but is against those that don’t expand educational capacity.
“Adding new flooring, an elevator, or redoing the playgrounds—that is not what is needed,” he said. “What we need is a new high school. We are in dire need to build another high school.”
Moore said of his campaign: “The school board is a job that you are not compensated for and provides an increased level of stress. My sole purpose is to help my kids and my neighbors in the entire district get the most out of the educational experience.”
Five candidates are running for three school board seats in Middletown District this year: incumbent Freddie Williams, incumbent Kevin Gomez, Edwin Estrada, Curtis Rhett, and Moore.
May 16 is election day for the school board and budget vote.
