Six candidates have filed petitions to run in the Secaucus Board of Education election next month. The six will compete for three seats on the nine-member board that will become vacant this spring. The three winners of the April 20 election will each serve three-year terms on the board. The responsibilities of board members include voting on school policy and drafting the annual school budget, which is then approved or rejected by voters.
The new board members will be coming onto the board at a particularly challenging time for the Secaucus School District.
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The other candidates are Patricia Belenski, Joseph Lewis, Salvatore Manente, Francis O’Keefe, and Mary Ann Weiner.
A seventh candidate, Michele Impreveduto, also filed a petition to run, but dropped out of the race on Tuesday. Trombetta and Gerbasio have decided not to seek another term.
Critical time
The new board members will be coming onto the board at a particularly challenging time for the Secaucus school district. Like all school systems across the state, Secaucus will take a funding hit as a result of education cuts made by Gov. Christopher Christie. Last month Christie issued an executive order to withhold $475 million in state to school districts that have surplus money. (Under New Jersey law, school districts cannot hold more than two percent of their annual budget in reserve.)
Districts with surpluses will have to draw from their reserves to make up for the shortfall. Christie said last month the cuts are needed to close a $2.2 billion deficit in the current state budget. Critics of the governor argue the cuts will lead to municipal tax increases as school districts try to make up for the shortfall.
Secaucus, which has a surplus of $800,000, according to McStowe, is one of the school districts that will be affected.
“The surplus is something we would have used towards next year’s budget,” said McStowe. “Now we have to find other ways to keep the budget down. How that’s going to affect us, I don’t know yet. Of course, we would like to do it without taking away from our educational programs, many of which have been expanded recently.”
In September Middle School and High School teachers began integrating SAT prep skills into the ongoing curriculum. The district’s learning academy program added an internship component and laid the groundwork for the Future Teachers Academy, a learning academy the Board of Education plans to launch in the 2010-2011 school year. Interactive “white board” were installed in every classroom and
“We are the envy of every school district in the state because we’ve been able to offer these programs without significant tax increases,” McStore said. “With the cuts we’re expecting from the governor the trick now will be to maintain these programs and still keep the budget down.”
Christie is expected to announce more cuts later this month when he presents his proposed budget to the legislature.
Strife led to candidacies
In addition to the funding issue, a number of programmatic and personnel changes made in the district in recent months have also created tension, often pitting the school board and Schools Superintendent Cynthia Randina on one side and faculty on the other.
Since September angry parents and teachers have railed against the school board’s spending priorities, class size, online lesson plans, and what they perceive as a lack of communication between Randina, the board members, and the teachers. Many teachers were also critical of some hiring decisions that have been made with the last two years and the reassignment of three of the district’s four principals last summer.
“I attended a [school board] meeting several months ago. I was upset with the tension and frustration each group seemed to be feeling during the public remarks,” said Weiner, a former teacher in North Bergen. “At the meeting I even asked people to try to work together for the common good of our children. Unfortunately, not much seemed to change.”
After she spoke out at the meeting, Weiner said, parents and other residents approached her about running for the board.
“I have no agenda,” she added. “My children are out of the school system and I do not intend to return as a teacher.”
The strife between the faculty and school board also convinced Belenski, a member of the school board’s Climate and culture Committee and the Interlocal Committee, to launch her campaign.
“Last year I saw a significant difference in our school district concerning morale and overcrowded classrooms,” said Belenski, the mother a Secaucus High School student who has long been active in the local system. “We had never had a situation like this in Secaucus…We’re spending a lot of money and I don’t believe we’re putting it where it belongs – in the classroom.”
But even if school resources were reallocated Belenski admitted that Christie’s cuts will have “major impact” on the Secaucus School District and she acknowledges the system will have to think creatively to make up for the state cuts.
New blood
Since only one incumbent is running for reelection, this means two newcomers will be added to the school board, continuing a trend that started two years ago. Since 2008, the school board has almost completely changed its composition and a number of fresh faces have been elected.
Longtime resident Francis O’Keefe, who like most of the candidates in this year’s race is running his first campaign, said it’s time for new energy on the board.
“I always wanted to serve the public in any way I could. And I thought this would be a good way to get involved, make a difference,” said O’Keefe, 26, who works as an aide to Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-32nd Dist.).
“The board needs to make sure that taxpayer money is being spent in the right place,” he said. “There are concerns about the administration, services, changes in programs, state mandated testing.”
Manente did not return calls seeking comment.
No number for Lewis could be found before press time.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.