COLTS NECK - The local school board waded into national politics three months ago when it hosted an assembly with Linda McMahon, the federal secretary of education.

That prompted protests outside the school and a condemnation from the local state senator, Democrat Vin Gopal.

Gopal obviously struck a nerve. At the board meeting that followed, President Angelique Volpe called him a "weasel."

That may be just the warm-up act.

How about naming a school after Donald J. Trump? How would that fly?

Board Member Robert Scales proposed at last week's meeting that one of the township's three schools be renamed after the president.

The schools are now named after the roads they are on. There is a Conover Road Primary School,  a Conover Road Elementary School and a Cedar Drive Middle School. The district does not oversee a high school.

Scales said he was thinking about, "Who truly is ... an ally of our district?  What person is doing things that protects our school?"

His answer was Donald Trump.

In getting there, Scales dismissed the governor and also Monmouth County Leadership. Gov. Mikie Sherrill, of course, is a Democrat, but the county is run by Republicans.

Some might say this is not the most propitious time to name a school after the president, whose approval nationwide has been underwater for some time.

But things are different here. Colts Neck is a very red dot in a red county.

Trump won the town in 2024 by more than 2-1  Last year, Jack Ciattarelli won by a similar margin despite being soundly beaten statewide.

So, such a move would probably be popular locally.

No one on the board said anything negative about it and there was talk of a committee to look into the idea.

Volpe, the board president, was instrumental in getting McMahon to visit in December as part of the nation's 250th birthday celebration. Now she has bigger plans.

She said she has extended an invite to Trump to visit the district. Watching Trump in action for 10 years now, you have to figure putting his name on a school would get him to come.