What is this election about?
Try as I might, I just can't get into the upcoming school board election. Sure, I'll go out and cast a vote, but I find my enthusiasm for this year's campaign at a low ebb. This is not because there is any lack of important issues facing the Board of Education at the present time. On the contrary, the district faces numerous challenges, some specific to Teaneck and others common to districts throughout the region. So why have the candidates standing for office done almost nothing to distinguish themselves from the field? Why have few if any truly bold or innovative ideas been presented in this campaign? On what basis are we to choose our representatives to one of the Township's most important bodies? There are two traditional venues in which candidates for local office communicate their visions to the voters: candidate forums and the Suburbanite's letters section. It appears that neither has provided very good insight into why one should choose one candidate over another as there seems to be a broad consensus among the candidates that nothing major needs to be done. Instead of advancing carefully considered policy prescriptions, the candidates and their supporters have spoken platitudes and focused on portraying themselves or their favored candidates as having the right mix of experience or training to serve on the Board of Education (see, for example, former mayor Paul Ostrow's letter in support of Barbara Ostroth in this week's Suburbanite). Incumbents, who presumably have something of a record to run on, make little mention of any substantive accomplishments during their terms. If we don't have personal friends among the field of candidates, how are we supposed to make an intelligent choice?
More importantly, does anybody have any kind of agenda once they are elected? What accountability will any candidate have once the race is over? Can we expect anything to improve after a race devoid of real debate?
posted by Teaneck Blog @ 9:54 AM
20 Comments:
Can we expect anything to improve after a race devoid of real debate?
Nope...it will be par for the course...over spending and no accountability!
Perhaps the lack of meaty content in the campaign has to do with the intractable and nonlocal nature of the problems facing Teaneck's Public Schools, including the achievement gap, the flawed way in which public schools are funded in New Jersey, the abandonment of public schools many families with financial means to do so, pension fund anxieties and the escalating cost of health care benefits.
Swurgle
You sound like someone who knows the issues, why not enter the race yourself?
I think it is time for Barbara Ostroth to go. She has few qualifications going for her other than expereince in the school board and as a realtor, the only thing she can really do is be a cheerleader for our school system (otherwise, she might have a hard time selling houses here)
Well - I guess I'm basing my voting decision on who I'm not voting for.
swurgle said...
Perhaps the lack of meaty content in the campaign has to do with the intractable and nonlocal nature of the problems facing Teaneck's Public Schools, including the achievement gap,
How is the achievement gap not a local Teaneck issue???
the abandonment of public schools many families with financial means to do so,.
Yup...we want better for our kids swurgle...and if someone else is offering something better I as a consumer will go somewhere else for what I feel is a better and safer product! Why should my kids suffer if I can afford to nothave them suffer?? Perhaps vouchers would be a good thing then folks that can not afford private schools would have an option!
Anonymous said...
Swurgle
You sound like someone who knows the issues, why not enter the race yourself?
Totally agree..Swurgle as a person who uses the Teaneck public schools and it would seem that you understand the issues perhaps you should consider running!!!
My question is why hasn't Kate Zatz attended ANY TEANECK Board of Ed meeting? Why does she have someone living in BAYONE writing a letter to the editor supporting her? I agree that change is good, however, change that is present in the town before the election is BETTER!!
So, who's Ferriero backing THIS election??? Rumor has it.... Rodriquez??
I sincerely doubt that Ferriero is backing anyone for whom Loretta Weinberg wrote a public letter of endorsement.
Kate Zatz has been in Teaneck for ten years. I didn't realize knowing someone in Bayonne was so bad.
Some people who work full-time and have children prefer to watch the board meetings on TV instead of making a personal appearance. It's not as though the public comment time is taken seriously or anything, at least not if my own limited viewing is any indication. Realizing it's not the Board of Ed, one visit to the town council told me that there are some institutions where going to meetings is only useful if you want to see how little some people care.
BTW, at least Kate Zatz has finally started to explain why we should vote for her... http://www.drkatezatz.com/faq.html
Frankly I'm still insulted by the current board's attitude last year when the budget was voted down... and I'm still waiting for a good detailed budget to be released. They went weeks just giving us a press release that didn't provide much real information. I realize they don't want us to know enough to provide useful feedback, but I have to wonder if they know enough to make useful decisions, either.
"Perhaps the lack of meaty content in the campaign has to do with the intractable and nonlocal nature of the problems facing Teaneck's Public Schools," ...
Hardly intractable. We're in a wealthy district and we have tons of money going into the schools. What's needed is someone with some discipline to clean up shop. The helpless attitude is half the problem. As long as they can use those excuses, they can get away with murder.
A big problem is that capable people who might get involved would be blackballed by the public school community if their own kids never attended the Teaneck schools.
While the candidates at least have floated some ideas on how to improve the quality of education, the silence on fiscal issues has been amazing. "Fiscal restraint" is the one topic which all of the candidates either
(1) ignore;
(2) pledge commitment to without further detail of how they will restrain spending;
(3) cannot even define the term (See campaign ad of Margot Fischer whose definition of "fiscal restraint" actually is the definition "effective spending");
(4) boast that they practice restraint while having passed a budget that does not cut a single program or position.
As a result, I believe that keeping this issue on the BoE agenda requires rejection of the Budget. With minimal digging it is clear that the "3%" budget increase was politically engineered and does not reflect fiscal restraint.
Contrary to those that will scream that the sky is falling, rejection of the budget will not result in draconian cuts or harm the education our students receive (just see last year). This year, however, it would subject the budget to some real outside scrutiny (which might eliminate $50K per year messengers) and, more importantly, send a clearer message to future candidates that BoE cannot be ignored.
We're a wealthy district? Yes, and no. According to NJ Dept. of Ed stats, in 2004-2005, 21% of Teaneck's public school students qualified for free or reduced price lunches. Let's use the reduced price guidelines from the current school year for argument's sake. To qualify for reduced-price lunches, a family of four would need to make less than 37,000 per year (US poverty rate times 1.85). For a family of three, the annual income drops to $30,710.
Of course school budgets and municipal budgets need good stewardship and close monitoring. But let's not forget that not ALL of Teaneck is as wealthy as those who have posted here might believe.
Very sobering statistics.
Fed Up,
I think what was meant by "wealthy district" is that our schools are extremely well funded, not that the students attending the schools are wealthy. The numbers speak for themselves that Teaneck ranks near the top for $s spent per student in the public schools.
Anonymous said...
My question is why hasn't Kate Zatz attended ANY TEANECK Board of Ed meeting?
The question was a day late as Dr. Katz appears to have attended Wednesday's Board Workshop meeting. The agenda included the “2007-08 Budget/Mini-Curriculum Fair” described as, “The proposed 2007-2008 school year budget, and the programs it supports, will be presented to the residents of Teaneck at a Mini-Curriculum Fair this evening …”
I have been told that it was well attended and well received. Dr. Zatz and incumbent board member Barbara Ostroth were the only candidates in attendance. Board members Pruitt and Walser were absent. This was one of many opportunities for candidates and board members to show that the need for more “communication with the public” is more than just an empty campaign slogan.
For those who are interested there are a number of videos available on the Teaneck Schools web site specifically related to the Budget and Curriculum.
Can I point out that the "3%" budget hike was actually 5% if you simply do the math? They were "assuming" the Town Council, in its infinite wisdom, would not raise taxes by a penny.
As for Kate Zatz, all I can say is that she has presided over three departments that increased student services on constant (not increasing) budgets at THREE DIFFERENT COLLEGES - during massive enrollment hikes.
One key is simply to measure what you're doing, do things that work, and stop doing things that don't work.
Another is to put the kids and taxpayers first.
Another is not to blame "salaries" (gee, who sets those? and who decides tenure policies? and who decides hiring policies?) and the charter school (budget increasing because it's expanding - so the "regular" schools have fewer kids to educate - not that you'd know that from the budget), but to take responsibility.
Another is to avoid being co-opted by the corrupt Council/BOE culture.
Frankly, I think Kate Zatz is a lousy candidate. However I think she would also be exactly what the Board of Ed needs most.
If you want an insider, go ahead, elect someone who's already on the Board, with its sleazy claims of "2.92% increases" on a budget that's going up by 5% and its big advertising budget, ready to give us slick, glossy, color advertisements but never giving us the FULL budget or any real information, and dodging issues like Teaneck kids' performance on state tests, or the behavior of the high school kids on the streets. Or elect someone who's already been co-opted by the superintendent's advisory committees.
Or you can elect someone who hasn't already been co-opted and might just finally break this awful culture the town seems to have developed in its various elected officials.
If I may summarize, vote for the newcomer and hope for the best.
Not exactly compelling, but then neither is the alternative...
At least the newcomer is well qualified and has a good track record.
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