Yingchao Zhang

---

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.

---

Ballotpedia does not currently cover this office or maintain this page. Please contact us with any updates.

Yingchao Zhang

Prior offices

West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District school board, West Windsor Township

---

Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

University of Science and Technology of China

Graduate

State University of New York, Stony Brook

Ph.D

State University of New York, Stony Brook

Personal

Profession

Sales engineering director

Contact

Personal website

float:right;
border:1px solid #FFB81F;
background-color: white;
width: 250px;
font-size: .9em;
margin-bottom:0px;

} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }

Yingchao Zhang was a West Windsor representative on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education in New Jersey. He won in the general election on November 4, 2014. He did not seek re-election in 2017.

Biography

Email [email protected] to notify us of updates to this biography.

Zhang earned a B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China. He later earned a Ph.D. in high energy nuclear physics from SUNY Stony Brook in 1995. Zhang has served as director of sales engineering at NetScout Systems. Zhang has also served as a board member of the West Windsor Arts Council.

Elections

2014

See also: West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District elections (2014)

Four seats were up for election in 2014, and two races were contested. West Windsor incumbents Richard Kaye and Dana Krug faced each other and Yingchao Zhang in their bids for re-election.

Plainsboro incumbent Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz faced newcomer Isaac Cheng for the three-year Plainsboro term.

Rachel Juliana, also a Plainsboro incumbent, won a one-year unexpired term unopposed. Juliana was appointed to the board in January following the death of board member Yibao Xu in November 2013.

Results

West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District,
West Windsor Township General Election, 3-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Dana Krug Incumbent	37.4%	3,265
	Nonpartisan	Yingchao Zhang	32.9%	2,868
	Nonpartisan	Richard A. Kaye Incumbent	29.7%	2,590
Total Votes				8,723
Source: Mercer County Clerk, "Official General Election Results," accessed December 23, 2014

Funding

Zhang reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of October 17, 2014.

Endorsements

Zhang had not received any official endorsements as of October 17, 2014.

2013

See also: West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District elections (2013)

Incumbent Alapakkam Manikandan lost re-election for the Plainsboro seat to challenger Yu Taylor Zhong. The race for two seats from West Windsor included incumbent Louisa Ho and challengers Zhang, Rakesh Kak and Scott Powell. Powell and Ho won those seats. Incumbent Hemant Marathe ran for Mayor of West Windsor after serving for nine years on the board.

Results

West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School School Board, West Windsor District, 3-year term, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Scott Powell	30.2%	2,977
	Nonpartisan	Louisa Ho Incumbent	29%	2,866
	Nonpartisan	Rakesh Kak	24.8%	2,448
	Nonpartisan	Yingchao Zhang	15.8%	1,560
	Nonpartisan	Personal choice	0.2%	19
Total Votes				9,870
Source: Mercer County Clerk, "Election Results," November 13, 2013

Funding

Zhang reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Campaign themes

2014

Zhang provided the following statement on his campaign website:

“	I am a strong believer that education is the foundation of our society upon which the future of our nation and this world is built. If elected, I will work with the entire school board, the district administration, and the public, whom I represent, to improve on top of the great schools that we have in our school district and make them greater. To accomplish this goal, I believe we need a well-balanced budget that focuses on academic advancement and student preparedness. We should better leverage the resources in the local businesses, many of which top pharmaceuticals, and take full advantage of being next to Princeton University, one of the greatest Universities across the country and in the world. 1.) What experience, expertise, or perspective would you bring to the board? Which trait would be most useful? My management experience and good personal skills are gained both from working in the technology sales team, and from years of services in the local communities, including serving as the board chair of Plainsboro Chinese School for two terms, involvement in West Windsor Arts Council (Advisory board) and Cub / Boy Scout. While my professional expertise is in technology, I work with people of different backgrounds and opinions to seek common ground to build consensus and reach agreement. My perspective of our school district is to continue our success in academic excellence and student advancement. My expertise in advanced technologies and my international experiences are my strong traits, as our goal is to equip our students in both areas, so that they are well prepared to face the future challenges and global competitions. 2.) What's your opinion of the district's financial management? If cuts are required to the budget, what one subject/activity/initiative would you cut first? What would you cut last? What would you increase funding for? Given that the public no longer will always vote for or against a budget, how can you ensure that public input is weighed by the board? I believe the district's financial is well managed presently, but incremental improvement is always possible. Cutting the budget is never a simple task. A well-rounded education is an important goal, and it is difficult to weigh one subject or activity against another. It is my belief that budget-cutting recommendations should be made by those who are closest to the action - the campus level leaders, together with the Senior Administrators at the school district. The Board has the final say as the representatives of the public. Any increases in funding should be targeted to better serve our mission. That could be in technology, career and technical courses, or anything else that will inspire life-long learning. Public input is a valuable part of any budget change. Committees of the public should be formed whenever necessary to give advices on meaningful budget changes. Since the Board Members are elected by the public to act as representatives, the final decision making power should remain within the board. As an elected board member, I will interact with and listen to all concerned members of the community, listen to their point of views carefully, understand their agenda clearly, and put them into my consideration and decision. 3.) The school district this year has budgeted about $1 million for increased security measures. What's your view of the district's school safety program? The safety and security of our students and staff are a top priority. While no plan is bullet-proof and no amount of spending will guarantee a bad person with ill intent will not find a way to circumvent our procedures, we should continue to work with the professional law enforcement agencies to fine-tune our safety measures. In a broader sense, we should continue the efforts to protect our students and stuffs from all forms of hazards, such as fire, electricity, severe weathers and natural disasters. 4.) What changes or additions, if any, would you make to the district's foreign language offerings? I personally support the expansion of multi-lingual offerings, as they prepare our students to embrace the international community, and help them become global citizens. The decision to introduce new languages should be made based on public input and future trend. 5.) The district is embarking on a new technology initiative for students. Should the district be more or less aggressive in pursuing this initiative and what would you cut from the budget to continue to fund this initiative, if necessary? As a technologist myself, I strongly believe that we are only at the beginning of the digital and information era. Utilizing technology for learning is the way forward. We cannot keep teaching the same old way and expect a better result. In order for our students to be prepared for the world they will enter, we must support advancements in technology available for them. Teaching will evolve to more of a leading/coaching position rather than being the sole source of imparting knowledge. A systematic and gradual approach to implementing technology is better than an explosive (and thus expensive) change. Some of the traditional expenses, such as text books and certain staff positions can be decreased or even eliminated over time by technology. 6.) The state has mandated a salary cap for superintendents, and also mandates changes to the teacher evaluation and tenure process. What can the district do to ensure that students are not harmed by these changes? The vast majority of the public would agree that administrative costs should be kept as low as possible, so that all available resources are directed towards the classroom. However, schools are not unlike the corporate world in that the employees should be compensated fairly for their expertise and contribution. We have to strike a balance between respecting the changes and reducing the risk of losing talents that would have a long-term negative impact on our students. We need to work with the teachers and district administrators to express our support and ensure that their efforts are rewarded adequately. 7.) Are there any other school district issues you feel should be addressed? I believe it is important to invite public input during major decision making processes. To increase the talent pool in our teaching stuffs, I hope we can recruit and retain higher quality teachers with stronger motivation in education. I suggest the district to better leverage the local businesses and communities, including Princeton University, to obtain more corporate resources and gain stronger community supports. I support continued maintenance and improvement of existing facilities (less expensive to maintain than to fix a bigger problem or to build new buildings).	”
—Yingchao Zhang's campaign website (2014)

2013

In an interview with the League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area, Zhang explained his views on major issues facing the district:

District growth

“	As a former scientist, and currently a technologist in sales, I would recommend a more systemic and quantified approach. We should work closely with the townships and make comprehensive analysis of the historical census records to make an accurate projection of the student enrollment growth several years down the road. With that data, we can then project classroom sizes for the different grades and facility utilization. Whenever possible, we should try to optimize the classroom and facility usage, so that the additional students can be absorbed to the school district without having to increase the number of classrooms and the size of other facilities. At the same time, we should look into the possibility of incremental increase of classrooms in school to prepare for the situation where the growth projection is on the verge of exceeding maximal number of students per classroom.	”
—Yingchao Zhang interview with League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area, (2013)

Financial challenges

“	I believe the district’s finances are well-managed presently, but incremental improvement is always possible. Cutting the budget is never a simple task. A well-rounded education is an important goal, and it is difficult to weigh one subject or activity against another. It is my belief that budget-cutting recommendations should be made by those who are closest to the action — the campus-level leaders together with the senior administrators at the school district. The board has the final say as the representatives of the public. Any increases in funding should be targeted to better serve our mission. That could be in technology, career and technical courses, or anything else that will inspire life-long learning. Public input is a valuable part of any budget change. Committees of the public should be formed whenever necessary to give advice on meaningful budget changes.	”
—Yingchao Zhang interview with League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area, (2013)

School safety

“	The safety and security of our students and staff are a top priority. While no plan is bullet-proof, and no amount of spending will guarantee a bad person with ill intent will not find a way to circumvent our procedures, we should continue to work with the professional law enforcement agencies to fine-tune our safety measures. In a broader sense, we should continue the efforts to protect our students and staff from all forms of hazards, such as fires, severe weather conditions, and natural disasters.	”
—Yingchao Zhang interview with League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area, (2013)

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Yingchao + Zhang + West + Windsor + Plainsboro + Regional + School + District"

Yingchao Zhang News Feed

See also

• West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, New Jersey
• West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District elections (2014)
• West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District elections (2013)

External links

Suggest a link

• West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
• Campaign website
• Facebook campaign page
• LinkedIn page
• Facebook page
• YouTube channel