Dear Editor:
The voters in last week’s school board election rejected the proposed school budget by a scant two votes. As required by state law, the budget now goes before the mayor and council for review. Even though the budget nearly passed, as opposed to last year’s overwhelming defeat by the voters, your mayor and council will give the budget the same attention to detail as we did last year. Our town financial team, led by Councilman Rob Costantino and Chief Financial Officer Nick Goldsack, will again scrutinize each line item for saving without sacrificing our children’s education.
My involvement in last week’s election was in response to board member Thomas Troyer’s insistence on presenting untrue, misleading and contradictory information. Mr. Troyer still doesn’t get it. His statement last week that, “When the machine comes out against you, you are not going to beat them,” is insulting to over 2,000 people who voted. His poor showing, the worst defeat by a school board candidate in our town’s history, is a result of him being completely out of touch with our residents’ thinking.
Just as I did not anticipate getting so involved in this past election, I do not anticipate doing the same in the future. But I will not shirk my responsibility to the people of Secaucus by allowing anyone to mislead them with untrue information or allegations.
Good luck to new board members Kelli D’Addetta and Bob Anderson and the rest of the board.
The mayor and council continue to be available to help you meet the needs of our students.
Mayor Mike Gonnelli