After eight years serving on the West Windsor-Plainsboro school board (six of them as either president or vice president) Stephen Smith will not run for reelection this year. ##M:[more]##“I just passed my 65th birthday and I have a family and grandchildren and I want to allocate my time,” says Smith.
Smith, a three-term board member from West Windsor, made his announcement at the board’s meeting on February 7. Linda Geevers of West Windsor is not yet certain whether she will run again while Pat Bocarsely of Plainsboro announced that she will run. With the deadline for filing Monday, February 28, at 4 p.m., no new candidates have yet come forward, and several former candidates say they are not interested in running again.
Smith says he feels this is the right time to step down because his chief talents (primarily focusing on the financial and analytical aspects of the district’s operations) have already been put to good use. “In the time I’ve served on the board we have had three schools built, hired principals and administrators and experienced pretty much all the growth that we are likely to have,” he says.
Smith will continue his day job in the Princeton University physics department as the manager of instructional laboratories.
Along with his wife of over 40 years, Roberta, Smith has been a resident of West Windsor since 1979. They have two grown daughters: Pamela, a 1988 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, and Katherine, who graduated in 1990.
Smith earned a PhD in high energy nuclear physics from MIT in 1962. He joined the physics department at Princeton University and taught elementary physics at Bryn Mawr College. After leaving Bryn Mawr, Smith worked as director of research and engineering at the EMR division of Schlumberger. He then worked at senior research scientist with a small technology business in Monmouth Junction.
With meetings that sometimes extend well into the night, serving on the school board can sometimes be a grueling experience. Smith estimates that his board duties add about 15 extra hours to the workweek. During the budget season it is even more, especially this year as chairman of the board’s finance committee. “You always have to make decisions,” he says. “But I have told others many times that it is easier for me because I don’t have children at home. So my after hours schedule is much freer than some of my colleagues.”
After three terms and eight years — he was elected in 1997 to fill an unexpired term from a board member who left after one year — Smith says that his serving on the board has been a rewarding experience. Still the experience has not been without its challenges. “The board has had difficulty in approaching and making decisions regarding reconfiguration and redistricting,” he says. Smith also sees the problems of maintaining the district’s older buildings and facilities as a challenge ahead. “During my time we opened and staffed three schools and the related expenses have caused the district to defer investments that our older buildings need,” he says.
WW-P’s reputation for scholastic excellence will also add its own challenges in the future. “Maintaining and increasing the quality of offerings and continuing academic strengths without causing our students to feel excessive pressure,” he says, is another hurdle that must be faced.
Smith offers this egalitarian advice for any West Windsor residents contemplating to run for the board. “I would advise any new board member to keep their eye on the broad view,” he says. “What makes a district great is when things work well between the board and administration to ensure that we have great teachers and administrators.”
Past candidates who have indicated they won’t run this year include Dee Dee Dodson of Plainsboro, and Peter Weale of West Windsor. “I’d rather go to the dentist three times a day, every day, that be on that board,” says Weale. Michael Newman, another former candidate, has moved to Texas.
The school board election will be held on Tuesday, April 19.
Strategic Planning
After over two years of discussions and formulations extending back to the John Fitzsimons era as West Windsor-Plainsboro superintendent of schools, strategic planning is a reality at WW-P. Following a pre-meeting gathering in gratitude for the service provided by 151 members of the core, action, and measurement teams, the board unanimously voted to accept the plan at its meeting on February 8.
“It took awhile to get to this point, but we are very pleased,” says Linda Geevers, who has been a strong supporter of the initiative.
Strategic planning is designed to be a goal setting process which allows a school district’s stakeholders — board, administration, staff, parents, community-at-large, and students — to conceive of future goals and identify and implement the necessary steps to achieve those goals. The district previously utilized it from 1992-’97.
The current strategic plan defines its mission as developing “passionate, confident, lifelong learners who have competence and strength of character to realize their aspirations”, the plan is a long-term vision of what the district would like to achieve this mission during the next five years by offering broad strategies and objectives.
Robert Loretan, who took over as superintendent in 2003, was hired by the district partly because of his experience with strategic planning. As a superintendent in upstate New York, Loretan developed a reputation as an administrator who brings stakeholders together. Strategies in the plan include:
A collaboration between the district and stakeholders to derive an expanded definition of excellence and implement appropriate assessments. The stated results would include a systematic refinement of the definition of excellence, a variety of assessment methods, and a common understanding of that definition by stakeholders.
Staff will be defined as integral contributors to the process, resulting in district-wide communication systems “to ensure a united effort” and an equal opportunity for recognition of “commitment and support.” Also, parents and students will be engaged as active contributing partners resulting in a better utilization of these resources.
Partnerships will be built with community resources with the hopeful result being a mentoring system for students, volunteers solicited and trained to an established district-wide protocol, a system for community partnerships, and a regular celebration of efforts and contributions of the collaboration of students and volunteers.
The plan promises to “align, modify, and when necessary, develop an integrated K-12 curricula,” resulting in “ dynamic, well-articulated curriculum,” a sound professional development system, instructional practices that include the implementation of strategies that “empower students to take risks,” and an assessment system flexible enough to understand individual student strengths.
Next on tap, say district officials, is to spread the word to the community concerning the opportunities for strategic planning.
Capital Projects
While the West Windsor-Plainsboro school board already has $1.5 million budgeted for capital projects (including $684,”000 for a badly needed new roof for Community Middle School), about $300,”000 more than last year’s outlay, still more is likely to be on the way.
“Our first priority is to get the budget passed and then look at a whether we need a referendum for some capital projects,” says Linda Geevers, chair of the administration and facilities committee.
This year’s $136 million budget, represents a 4.8 percent increase over last year’s. Larry Shanok, the district’s assistant superintendent, said that he expects the budget to be lowered before it is finalized later this month. Within the budget are provisions to hire three additional high school teachers and four special education teachers.
Other capital projects being funded by the budget as it stands now include $143,”000 for district-wide technology updating, and $365,”000 for renovation and replacement projects at High School South. But with older facilities such as Maurice Hawk Elementary, Dutch Neck Elementary, and still more projects at High School South, all badly in need of repair, not enough money can be budgeted to complete the work.
This is why a referendum is being considered. “There are projects in all the schools, not just the older ones,” explains Geevers. “But we are focusing on getting this budget passed before going full-steam” ahead on the referendum idea.
But board member Henry Wieck of Plainsboro says the time is now to look at whether a referendum will be needed. “I feel a certain discomfort with the idea of not addressing these things until after the budget is passed,” he says. “Time goes quickly and it seems we go from one budget season to the next. We need some long term master plan. If it is going to take five years, then let people understand that and form their expectations now.”
