Slogan
Keep East Strong
Involvement in Community
12 Years as East Amwell Board Member. 10 Years CCD and VBS Teacher.
I am motivated by a deep commitment to public education and a desire to ensure that every child has access to a safe, supportive and academically challenging learning environment. I have served on the East Amwell Township School Board for 12 years. I have first-hand knowledge of how strong leadership and community involvement can positively impact student outcomes. My passion stems from not only my professional background but also from being the mother of three daughters pursing college degrees in science. Their success proves to me what a solid educational foundation they received from East Amwell Township School which prepared them well for the challenges of Hunterdon Central Regional High School and beyond. I bring years of professional experience as well as my personal dedication and community involvement. With over twenty years with Johnson & Johnson in Human Resources and Consumer Affairs I honed my skills in leadership, communication and problem solving. I am collaborative, compassionate and deeply invested in the well-being of our school.
The board plays a vital role in shaping the quality of the school. Its key responsibilities are; policy setting which guides how the school operates. Budget oversight, to make the best use of taxpayer dollars in supporting student success. Hiring and evaluating the Superintendent who leads the district and implements board decisions. Maintaining school facilities ensuring children have a safe supportive environment conducive to learning. Making sure the district operations are all legally and is ethically compliant. Strategic planning for the future by setting goals and aligning resources to meet them.
My stance on parental rights within the school system is rooted in the belief that parents are essential partners in their children’s education. Families should have a voice in shaping the values and priorities of their local schools, especially when it comes to sensitive topics like health education and curriculum content. Open communication and transparency between educators and families is key to building trust to ensure students receive an age-appropriate education. Parents should have access to curriculum outlines and education materials list to be informed about what their children are learning and to be allowed to opt of topics that do not align with family values.
I want to enhance student achievement as individuals, by ensuring that every student has access to high-quality instruction and support by identifying learning gaps in the curriculum. Based upon findings allocate the resources necessary to effectively fill those gaps and measure progress. Building on my past work in this area, I aim to continue advocating for safe, secure and well-maintained learning environment.
I would advocate for regular review of academic performance data across all grade levels, working closely with the administrators and educators to identify areas for improvement. I support initiatives that promote early intervention and professional development that equips teachers with tools to meet a diverse student population.
I would continue to prioritize capital improvement planning and safety audits ensuring that our facilities are equipped with the best systems in school safety and security.
We currently have an amazing Superintendent who was not only our principal, but also a teacher. That said, I would look for a Superintendent who is forward thinking and has a vision for academic excellence and student success. They should be able to set strategic goals, inspire staff and guide the district through ever changing demands while keeping students at the center of every decision.
It is critical that a Superintendent actively listens, communicates transparently and builds trust with teachers, parents, students and the community.
A great Superintendent is visible, approachable and is committed to the success of every student and is in general passionate about the overall success and well-being of the school.
Slogan
Transparancy and Fiscal Responaibility
Involvement in Community
I was a School Board member for 3 years, including President of the Board. I have also been Chairperson of the Environmental Commission and Zoning Board. I have been a member of the Planning Board, including as Administrator, member of the Stormwater Management Committee, and Affordable Housing Committee. My family has lived in East Amwell for over 40 years. My retirement job was to promote and organize environmental policy for a local environmental organization called The Watershed Institute.
I have extensive experience in financial and policy issues at all levels of government. I have a Bachelor's degree in Economics, a law degree and an MBA with a concentration in Finance. My fellow senior citizens and myself have been attending East Amwell School Board meetings for over 2 years and the Board has not been responsive to our concerns.
The number of students has declined in the last 15 years, but the budget keeps going up. The school has over $4 million in cash and hundreds of thousands in surplus every year. The School Board President, who is running for re-election, stated that he wanted to keep millions in cash so that citizens would not vote on capital projects. This is not acceptable. There should be citizen input on the major projects proposed by the school, especially since the School Superintendent continously says that the school is in great shape! Recently, the school has proposed over $12 million in a wish list for new projects, even though their own Architect did not say that there is any project which is necessary or critical. Taxpayers should not be supporting such irrational decision making.
The primary responsibilities of a School Board are ensuring accurate policies for operations, and adopting a budget. The Board should not be involved in day-to-day operations or personnel issues.
The current Board is not updating its policies, and there are many policies that do not meet the Board's objectives. For example, the Board agreed to provide an honorarium to a retired Board member. When they realized that it violated their policy, they had to rescind the motion, abolish the policy, adopt a new policy and make a new motion. This lack of attention to policies occurs frequently.
The Board should implement a plan to review each chapter of its policy manual every month. This will allow systematic analysis and revisions, when necessary.
The current Board has very little understanding about how their budget works. It is not acceptable to have $600,000 in surplus every year. They have millions in cash reserves with no concrete plans as to how to spend it. Board members must read the audit and make informed decisions.
Parents should not direct curricular or educational materials. Parent involvement, and community involvement, are necessary to have a successful school system which educates all students. But, parents are not in charge of books or other educational materials. Those decisions should be made by educational experts.
That is not to say that parents' concerns are not legitimate and should not be considered. All parents and residents have concerns about religious, moral, and educational issues. They should be listened to, and responded to. The issues about sex education, religion, morality, and gender identity are very complicated and emotional.
I believe that all individuals, and all groups have a right to be heard and a right to pursue their educational objectives in a non-judgmental setting. No students should be labelled or ostracized. The school should ensure that all students have value and can pursue their individual educational needs.
My educational priorities as a Board member are:
1) fiscal responsibility, so the Board can analyze the line items that are overbudgeted and direct the money to educational purposes. The School has millions in cash, but refuses to buy pencils for pupils. This is unacceptable. The students should come first;
2) updating the Board's Policy Manual, which is the Board's primary job. The Board regularly violates its own policies and then has to spend time correcting their actions; and
3) requiring more transparency in operations and at public meetings, in order to achieve more public participation. The Board has an audio system which is very difficult to hear. They refuse to get a video system, or a real time broadcast so people can listen and see what their public officials are doing. The Board will not provide public information that the meeting agenda says are "attached." It is never attached.
These objectives can be discussed in Committees and recommended to the Board. There should be a robust discussion in public and not behind closed doors.
The 3 most important qualities of a Superintendent are 1) honesty (credibility), 2) fiscal knowledge and implementation, and 3) curriculum leadership. Honesty is the most important quality. Board members must be able to trust the information the Superintendent provides. It is unacceptable to tell the public that the physical plant is in great shape and then present a wish list requiring $12 million in improvements for a $10 million building. If it is in great shape, the school will not need $12 million in upgrades. Honesty is always the best policy.
Fiscal knowledge and responsibility are critical in candidates. Every candidate should be familiar with the budget, how it works, what impacts the school's finances will have on the community, and how to balance financial issues with the community's ability to pay.
A Superintendent must be the educational leader. He/she should be familiar with state curricular requirements, have a plan for meeting them, and be prepared to implement objectives. The Superintendent should also take responsibility for student outcomes, and not blame others.
Slogan
Keep East Strong
Involvement in Community
South County Soccer League Treasurer and Coach
I have two primary motivations. First and foremost, I am a father of six children who is personally invested in the success of the school. Four of them are in East Amwell today (7th grade through Kindergarten) and the youngest one will be there in a few years. I also have nieces in the school. Second, I want to ensure all of our kids have the same opportunity to thrive that I did as an alumni of the same school. I believe my character as a humble, thoughtful listener, as an intelligent problem solving engineer, and as a practiced organizational and budget leader at a large Fortune 500 company make me ideal for this position. I also come from a family of teachers...my grandmother, my aunt, and my mother were all teachers. My mother taught for many years in Flemington-Raritan, so I have been exposed to the responsibility and hard work that goes into executing on the pubic school curriculum. I feel it is my time to give back and support a system that had such an impact on making me who I am today.
The purpose of public education is to provide our children with the tools and traits they need to be successful, productive members of our community in the future. At its core, the local school board is charged with ensuring the school is run according to the community's fiscal needs while facilitating the student's growth as a whole person. This involves ensuring proper application of curriculum in line with the community's values and character. This includes the hard skills of Math, Science, and Grammar interwoven with the soft skills of leadership, listening, and thoughtfulness. We must continue to build our future generations, remain fiscally responsible and manage for the long term, all while tackling new challenges. East Amwell School remains a shining example of a well managed school that produces exceptional student results. My goal in joining the Board is to continue to Keep East Strong!
The heart of every student's education is the meeting of the Parent and the School. I am a firm believer that a parent has every right to voice their opinions and to ultimately guide their children as they see best. No government entity should supersede a parent, except in the most egregious instances of physical and mental harm to the child. We should have open discussions and debate around materials and books used within the application of the curriculum standards assigned by the state. Learning different ideas and perspectives are an important part of growing up as a student. What is important is that we apply these perspectives at age-appropriate levels so that the intended learning takes place. The best student outcomes will come when the Parent and the School can communicate to the Student in a consistent manner that allows the child to learn and grow into their own views and opinions.
If I were to summarize the 3 priorities, it would be Enhance Communication and Engagement, Maintain Fiscal Discipline, and Prioritize Student Growth. With a continuously evolving community, I want to work with our board to proactively engage with, take feedback from, and experiment with our community. Students are helped greatly when the whole community embraces teaching them. We have an extraordinarily diverse community of families, from farmers to teachers to lawyers to scientists and high-technologists. Let's engage and use our collective experiences as our strengths! With the rise of inflation pressuring many aspects of budgets, we need to maintain strict fiscal discipline to ensure our tax dollars and grant dollars are spent toward the students and not low- or no-value budget items that don't benefit them. Last, we need to look for those opportunities to put our students first and introduce them to new ideas and allow them to help in solving new problems. I think a student voice at the board meetings on a regular basis would be a fantastic opportunity for learning...for both the students AND the board.
As one of the primary responsibilities of the board, selecting and interviewing new superintendents is important. While I am hopeful our current superintendent remains in the post, I do have a lot of experience interviewing many different levels and positions from my professional role. I like to look for three main items coming out of an interview...is the candidate Humble, Hungry, and Smart? I like to ask them to describe to me the biggest problem they have faced in their career, how they solved it, and how they learned from it. This helps me judge their character and their problem solving methodology (their smarts). I also ask why they are interested in this job and how they hope to grow from the experiences gleaned from the job? This gives me a sense of their hunger, passion, and desire for the job itself. Last I ask how they would interact with me a manager (or in this case as the board)? What do they expect of the relationship? This helps me judge their character and fitment in the culture we want to build upon. We need leaders who know how to tackle problems, listen to others, and communicate.
As a former teacher and a parent of three children at East Amwell Township School, I understand the importance of creating a safe, caring, and supportive learning environment for every student. I hold a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a certificate in Government Financial Management, which helps me make responsible decisions for our school. I work closely with parents, board members, school leaders, and the community to help our school succeed.
School boards in New Jersey have several principal responsibilities including setting district policies, approving a budget, overseeing the superintendent, and ensuring that district follows state laws. The intent of each of these responsibilities is to help our students succeed.
While educators and school leaders are experts in curriculum, it's important to listen to feedback from parents and the community to ensure that educational materials are age appropriate.
My top three education priorities are continuing to support strong academic achievement, maintaining a budget that supports our students while being mindful of the impact on taxpayers, and fostering transparent and collaborative communication. I will continue to work closely with parents, the superintendent, board members, and the community to ensure our school continues to meet high standards.
Three important qualities for a superintendent to have include are being an expert in education, always putting students first when making decisions, and listening closely to parents, the community, and the board.
