A high school student is looking to become one of the youngest elected officials in state history by running for his local school board this fall.
Zack Metzger, a senior at a school in the Freehold Regional High School District, turns 18 next month. Metzger is competing with Joan Butcher-Farkas for a seat to represent Howell on the Freehold Regional High School District Board.
Metzger said he supports the district’s ban on cell phone use during instructional periods, and also wants to implement a more academically rigorous curriculum.
“I’m running because our schools deserve leadership that’s forward-thinking, fiscally responsible, and unafraid to act,” said Metzger.
He is running under the slogan “Our Students First.”
Eighteen-year-old Robert Fisher took office in the Park Ridge Board of Education in 2024. In 2019, 18-year-old Nick Pawylzyn Jr. was a high school senior when he won a seat on the New Hanover Board of Education. The first 18-year-old to win public office in New Jersey was Walter Nealy, who was appointed to fill a short-term vacancy on the Englewood City Council in 1973.
