March 8, 2026, 5:18 p.m. ET
COLTS NECK − Conover Road Primary School could get renamed Donald J. Trump Primary School under a proposal floated by school board member Robert Scales.
During the March 4 board meeting, Scales asked, “Who truly is like an ally of our district?”
He proposed an exploratory committee to rename the district’s primary school.
While other board members agreed with the move, some residents called the move polarizing.
Colts Neck School Board and Trump
The proposal is the latest in a series of decisions by the Colts Neck School Board to court the Trump administration. Other actions have included contacting the White House about trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports and inviting Education Secretary Linda McMahon to visit Cedar Drive Middle School in December. The school district’s father-daughter dance will be held at Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck.
Board President Angelique Volpe said during the March 4 meeting that she and her husband, fellow board member, Kevin Walsh, “have reached out to the president and would love to have him visit our district as well.”
Colts Neck is a wealthy township dotted with custom-build mansions. Its average residential home was assessed at $1.26 million in 2025, according to the township budget. Its school district has a 7:1 ratio of students to teachers in the 2023-2024 school year, according to the latest school performance reports. Only about 4% of students in the primary, elementary and middle schools are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Many of the township’s residents have opposed the construction of affordable housing including the 360-unit Livana Colts Neck apartment complex owned by the family of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
At the March 4 meeting, the school board passed a resolution declaring that the school district was at critical capacity and asked the township to include an analysis of the impact that new development would have on the school district, among other actions.
It was through thinking about affordable housing that Scales determined Trump was an ally. He said during the March 4 meeting that the governor and the county were “not protecting us.”
“I think if we look at who our true ally is and who we’re modeling things after, the birthday of America and someone who has contributed a great deal of time to this great town of Colts Neck, it would be our President Donald J. Trump.”
Board member Jason Orrico said, “I think the branding association behind it is critical because it sets a tone for generations to come. It’s something to consider. I’m all on board for considering the opportunity.”
Resident Matthew Jenkins, who ran for U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2024, disagreed with the move.
“School names are supposed to reflect the virtues we hope to instill in our children: integrity, humility, service, respect for the law and a commitment to community over self,” he said on an Instagram video. “Those are not abstract ideals. They are the foundation of public education and civic life. Donald Trump does not embody those values. He represents division over unity, grievance over growth, personal loyalty over public responsibility. Attaching his name to a school would not be an act of honor. It would be a political gesture that diminishes the seriousness of what our schools stand for.”
He called the move “deeply disappointing.”
Conover Road, which both the primary and elementary school are named after, comes from landowner Joseph Conover. Superintendent MaryJane Garibay said the school district had received funds from the Conover estate a few years ago and purchased playground equipment.
Board member Vincent Rugnetta suggested that if the schools are getting renamed, one of the schools should be named after Joshua Huddy.
“Because he’s a local Revolutionary War hero and definitely symbolizes our town,” he said. “So, we could take in consideration that as well too with exploratory.”
Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.
