Search All of the Math Forum:
Views expressed in these public forums are not endorsed by
Drexel University or The Math Forum.
|
|
|
|
Board of Ed # 7 (final exam)
Posted:
Apr 24, 1999 11:02 PM
|
|
=====( To Win a Board of Education Election, Part 7 )=====
April 24
Scanned from, The Metuchen-Edison Review, Friday April 23,
1999; by Gary Govelitz.
METUCHEN (April 20)- The board of education will have three
new members for the 1999-2000 term.
Newcomers Alfred Barron, Ron Grayzel and Timothy Bronson,
who ran together on the same ticket, were elected to the board
replacing incumbents Frederick Kutner, James Gerner and
John Povacz.
Of the imcumbents, only Povacz ran for re-election. Kutner
and Gerner chose only to serve one term on the board. The
vote tally was 1,080, Bronson; 1,048, Grayzel; 1,046, Barron;
and 448 for Povacz.
"The outcome of this election will (be) remembered by the
next generation because it will mark the beginning of the
rebuilding of our education community," said newly elected
board member Barron, adding "I ran because of my concern
that the quality of education is not as high as it should be.
We were missing many opportunities in the last years by not
developing technology in our schools."
The school budget of $15,244,247 was passed by a vote of
977 to 494. "I am very happy that this budget passed," (board
vice-president) Lombardi said, "This budget represents a
modest increase. This is the third year in a row with a
relatively flat budget and that is a complement to our
administration. They keep the cost down."
===========================================
So there you have it folks, the good news. Our neighboring
communities had much to celebrate as well. Both passed
school budgets by almost 2:1 margins. Edison, a larger
surrounding neighbor with 7 times our school population,
passed its first budget since 1992. These were good times
indeed.
What readers may not know about is the vicous campaign
waged by the three former board members in 1996. Of the
three, Fred Kutner sparked particular controversy when he
announced his support for teaching "scientific" creationism
along with evolutionary theory in science classes. Though
challenged by many during open forums, his routine response
was that "neither were provable". While these radical ideas
were not supported by his two running mates, they did share
common anti-tax and anti-public education principles. None
will be missed.
============================================
The writer was a candidate for Board of Education of Metuchen,
a district of approximately 1,350 in New Jersey. Aside for
concerns about effective and accountable district management,
an affordable budget, and increased communication with the
community, he's be advocating for strong upgrading of all K-12
math & science education.
Currently, our math & science core curriculum will become
closely aligned with those recommended by the state:
http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/~magarell/njmc
By sharing these thought with you, I'm inviting all to consider
to do as I have. Public education needs the input of scientists,
math and science teachers, not simply businessmen and
politicians. Please consider running for Board of Education in
your hometown.
This has been the first stage of an experiment to see if we
have the power to change things, and not simply interpret
them. Now we must learn to work with other board members,
administrators, parents and teachers to see if we can
implement our ideas into the practice of board policy.
This is the final installment of this project. Due to its length, I
have not attached my campaigh literature to these files. If any
readers are interested in the material, I would be glad to send
either as WORD documents or paper. At some point, I hope to
create a website. I'll post the files there.
In the meantime, I'll keep all posted on what happens from
time to time, though with more of a focus on issues related to
math & science policy. This is, after all, a math education list.
At Tuesday's meeting, I'll be sworn in and receive my name
plate. Meetings are broadcast live. Most of the week has been
rather upbeat. A few people I have never met greeted me on
the street. I guess they saw me on tv during candidates night !
Al Barron
Metuchen, NJ
|
|
|
|
