Watchung Hills Regional High School serves both Somerset and Morris counties in New Jersey. Students come from Warren Township, Watchung, and Green Brook in Somerset county; and Long Hill Township in Morris county.Watchung Hills Regional High School Is a comprehensive secondary school that strives for educational excellence. The focal point of the educational program is the student. Students are taught to think logically and critically and to achieve their fullest academic potential. The school encourages individual self-realization along with social and civic responsibility. The educational program strives to create an awareness of and a tolerance for other cultures and an understanding of moral and aesthetic values.Of the nine elected seats, four are allocated to Warren Township, three to Long Hill Township and two to Watchung; One seat is appointed by Green Brook Township.This election is for representation from Warren Township.
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Qualifications/Experience
WHRHS BOE member and vice-president, WHRHS representative for Somerset County Educational Services Commission
Involvement in Community
CURRENTLY: Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey - Gold Award committee chair; Patriots' Path Boy Scout Troop 228 - Eagle Advisor; PREVIOUSLY: Warren Girl Scouts troop leader, co-service unit manager, registrar, delegate; Troop 228 committee chair; The Hills Lacrosse girls league founder, coordinator, president;
Having spent the last 3 years on the WHRHS BOE, I would like to continue these endeavors and use the experience and knowledge I gained to serve the students. I have served on multiple standing committees, participated in the Regionalization and Shared Services Committee, contributed to the Strategic Plan Core Group, and represented WHRHS on Warren’s K–8 “Planning for Growth” committee. I also represent the WHRHS BOE on the Somerset County Educational Services Commission and serve on its executive board.
In addition, for the past 20 years I have been an active community volunteer supporting youth through Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, both at the local and council levels. I continue to serve as an Eagle Advisor for our Boy Scout troop, coaching scouts through their Eagle proposals and project execution. For GSHNJ I lead a committee that interviews scouts on their Gold Award proposals and final projects.
This work has helped me develop the ability to step back and look at things from afar and from others’ perspectives, to determine what is the best course to move forward to benefit the students.
With the rapid growth of AI, teaching how to responsibly and ethically use it in the classroom in various forms will become an ongoing curriculum integration and issue the board will need to continue addressing. During my participation in our latest strategic plan process, students in my group brought up that they wanted to have clear guidance around AI and to learn the correct ways to use it. The board will also need to look at what the school facility requirements are to support ever changing educational and student needs and incorporate that in upcoming referendum projects and long-range planning.
Using this as a model for future technology challenges, the district should continue to look at how to teach students how to responsible and ethically use it within the confines of the classroom so when they graduate they are equipped with the necessary skills.
When looking at budgeting I think we also need to look at how educational/athletic programs can evolve. We need to ask if existing programs and facilities are meeting the needs of our students and how we can adjust current offerings to meet these needs. Some of that will require expanding budget items or utilizing referendum projects to make that change. The creation of the Design Lab and how it is used in multiple disciplines is a good example of how educational programming was expanded both by evolving the existing programs, expanding offerings, and using the budget responsibly.
In addition, each year we need to look at the participation in programs, do existing programs meet the needs of students, and do programs need to evolve or expand. Phasing out programs that do not meet our students’ needs or have enough student interest needs to be done responsibly. Some programs can switch to an every other year or every other semester cycle to open up spots in more popular programs or to introduce new programs to our student offerings.
