Dear Editor:
On Tuesday April 20th voters will go to the polls to elect four school board members. I am proud to support the “Real Results” team that includes Kathleen Tucker (5A), Perry Lin (7A), Liz Markevitch (10A) and John Forsman (2B). Their professional management experience will serve Hoboken’s children, parents, and taxpayers well.
Education is the most important investment Hoboken makes. First and foremost education empowers our children and is their gateway to a better tomorrow. In addition, a well run school system will increase property values in our city and put an end to the days where families must consider moving somewhere else when their children start school because our Board of Education is not addressing the needs of children and parents first.
The “Real Results” team has promised to cut the budget by freezing overtime pay, re-registering students to identify and removing the roughly 200 out-of-town students from our schools, and reducing healthcare costs by re-negotiating contracts with new vendors for better rates without cutting benefits. In addition, they promise to better manage the athletic budget which is $857,000 a year for only 17 teams, none of which include middle school sports programs. This differs vastly from Madison New Jersey’s School District which is larger than Hoboken’s but spends $805,000 on 57 teams, including many middle school teams.
Every candidate in the race cares tremendously for Hoboken’s children and has the best intentions. However, if we are to overcome the challenges our schools face we need to elect the candidates with the best management experience. This Tuesday please join me in voting for Kathleen Tucker (5A), Perry Lin (7A), Liz Markevitch (10A) and John Forsman (2B).
Ricky Mason