Board member Ellen Walsh took center stage on two issues at the Tuesday, March 27, school board meeting. On one end she made a motion to put on the agenda the naming of High School North’s baseball field after former pitcher David Bachner. However, no other board member would second the motion.
“We’ve heard much from the community, and a number of people I’ve run into have expressed their thoughts, so why can’t we at least talk about it?” Walsh said. Board President Hemant Marathe told Walsh that at the last board meeting, which she missed, Robert Johnson of the administration and facilities committee updated their progress (WW-P News, March 16).
Marathe said the district must have a facility naming policy in place first and the process involved will not be very fast. “There are other requests that are pending, and not all were made public, but at least one is pending for the past two years. A&F has to deal with that one first,” he said.
Marathe says the administration recently looked into the reason why the district even named facilities such as Thomas Grover Middle School. “We tried going back into all the minutes of the school board and we have no reference or written documentation as to why that decision was made. As a committee we felt that there should be a policy in place before we make a decision,” he said.
Walsh said “I’ll try again,” but she shook her head as the other board members put down the potential discussion topic. Support for naming the Knights’ field after Bachner, who died from a rare medical condition the summer after his graduation in 2009, remains strong. A petition has collected 1,500 signatures.
Meanwhile, as the school board voted to approve the 2012 budget, set at $161 million, the lone dissenting voice on the board also came from Walsh — the wife of Quentin Walsh, a school board candidate from Plainsboro who has been outspoken against the district’s budgeting over the years. The budget was adopted for submission, 6-1, as board members Todd Hochman and Robert Johnson were absent from the meeting.
“I don’t agree with the methodology of this budget. I believed last year that I didn’t have enough information and this year I don’t agree with the methodology, I don’t agree with the projects that are slated to happen and the use of taxpayer money,” said Walsh. But she was quick to clarify that her vote expressed only her view, uninfluenced by her husband’s campaign.
“Some would believe that I’m just listening to someone else, but as Shakespeare said ‘to thine own self be true’ so I’m not supporting this budget,” she said.
Board member and chairman of the finance committee Tony Fleres, who is up for re-election to the school board this year, said he was “stunned and surprised” to hear Ellen Walsh’s comments. “I’m disappointed that we’ve had you sit on the finance committee, and when we discussed this budget last week there were no issues. There were opportunities when we met all year between finance committee meetings and board meetings to discuss any concerns, so I don’t understand your position,” Fleres said.
Walsh quickly countered to tell Fleres that the meeting was not a debate. Fleres then apologized and said if he had known there were items Walsh needed to discuss he would have tried to answer them for her.
Board president Hemant Marathe then asked the public to look into the district’s tax record as evidence of its sound fiscal planning. “I urge every one of you to look at your taxes and see if the school portion is reasonable. Look at our budget and ask whatever questions you have as this is the time for the community to make a decision as to what kind of school district they want to have,” Marathe said,
He outlined the choices as a school district that runs on a sound financial basis or a school district that plays political games and gimmicks for a one-year tax decrease. “I can always suggest a one-year tax decrease when we want to, but is that what the community wants? It’s time for the community to decide what its values are and what are the values the school board should represent,” he said.
Among the few members of the public to weigh in before the vote, Peter Weale of Fisher Place asked where in the budget the proposed wage agreement “that teachers will be looking for” starting July of 2012, in effect for the 2012-’13 school year.
“Four years ago I stood here and asked how you could come up with outrageous four and five-year agreements, and I was told that it was difficult and you had to stay up until 5 a.m. Our teachers are people out there in the classroom and they deserve the consideration of our administrators to stay up late and get it done,” Weale said.
