To the Editor:
The Bayonne school system is at a crossroads. If we are to provide a quality education to our city’s students, we need a new Board of Education consisting of people with experience in educational matters, who are committed to academic excellence.
The new school board trustees must also be independent, and not beholden to City Hall or any other political machine. Unless we seize the opportunity that this election presents us with, and elect individuals with new ideas and an independent mindset, our community as a whole will suffer, and the students currently enrolled in our schools will be deprived of a first-class education.
This would not only be a disaster for the students, but it would be a catastrophe for our entire city. It would result in a lower quality of life for all, an even worse economy, and an even higher crime rate.
We need to act now. I am running for the one-year term, 18D on the ballot. As a product of the Bayonne public school system who went on to receive several degrees and graduate from college Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, I am fully aware of the impact good teachers can make in the lives of their students.
Throughout my public-service career in Washington, DC, where I was assigned to the Education Committees in both the U.S. Senate and Congress, I always advocated for more programs for special-needs students, and better learning opportunities for all students.
As someone who served as the Director of Grants for several different agencies, I know how to seek out and successfully secure more needed funding for our school system from sources that are currently being overlooked. And we can do this without overburdening the taxpayer with unnecessary tax increases.
It’s also time our school system showed respect to teachers, rather than bureaucratic standards. We need to implement Common Sense in our classrooms, not Common Core. We need to let teachers, teach.
On Tuesday, please elect John Butchko to a one-year term on the school board. Vote 18D for proven leadership, independence, and competence.
JOHN BUTCHKO
School board candidate, one-year term