Dear Editor:
I first met Rose Marie Markle in the audience at a Board of Education meeting. We’d both been attending for some time. I was there because I had started a program working with our High School students and I wanted to understand how the budget was being spent. Rose it seemed was there to keep the Board honest, to speak for those who felt they needed to remain silent, and to make sure that each and every child was treated fairly. Other than going to BOE meetings we appeared to have little in common. Rose was born and raised, I was a newcomer. Rose had two children in the district; I was a single woman without children. But what soon became apparent from our monthly encounters was that we both wanted the best education for all our children and that we wanted our tax dollars spent wisely and prudently. Rose Marie Markle supported me when I successfully ran for Board of Ed under the Kids first banner. The next year I returned the ‘favor’ supporting her successful effort to seek a demanding unpaid position with no prospect of personal gain. Rose was a crucial ally when I was board president by voting in support of the Anti-Nepotism policy, a process that took months because the board majority kept voting against it.
When Rose became board president, I supported her when she advocated the expansion of the theatre arts department to three productions a year. Together we advocated for decreasing spending and for more accountability. And together we laid the groundwork for a Kids First Majority for change. This year, with Rose as board president and me as chair of the governance and finance committees along with our Kids First allies we worked hard together to absorb a $2.4 million cut in state aid for next year. We decreased spending by $4.1 Million or 7 per cent while keeping the tax levy flat. We accomplished this and still did not cut programs or have to resort to layoffs. We decreased per pupil costs by $4,417 over two years – an 18 per cent decrease! We championed the transition from the floundering IB program, which only graduated five IB diplomas in five years, to the more flexible and widely accepted AP program.
It may seem like forever, but it’s been less than a year since Kids First won the majority, and less than eight months since we replaced the outgoing Superintendent with the experience and capability of Peter Carter. The bottom line is that Kids First is getting “real” results with our reforms: helping kids succeed, eliminating waste, restoring accountability and reducing spending while improving the quality of education. But there is still more to accomplish and we need our team to do it. Vote Kids First and let us continue the progress: Rose Marie Markle, Irene Sobolov, Leon Gold and Jean Marie Mitchell.
Theresa Minutillo