There are three seats open on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education this year, and one board member whose term expires this year has announced she will not be seeking another term.##M:[more]##
Plainsboro member since 2002 Patricia Bocarsly says she will not be seeking her third term because of other commitments. “I’m finding that my professional commitments and travel schedules have been increasing.”
Meanwhile, the other two incumbents on the board, West Windsor representatives Randall Tucker and Richard Kaye, will seek another term. Tucker, looking for re-election to his second term, notes his experience in the corporate world as a director of facilities at Johnson & Johnson.
“I believe that some of my experiences in the corporate world translate well into the processes we use to manage our district,” Tucker says. “That’s a perspective that not every board member brings, and I’d like to continue that.” In addition, he says, “I want to make sure the referendum is completed as we originally defined it and the voters approved it.”
Kaye, a former high school principal, says his experience as an educator will allow him to bring an important first-hand perspective. He says he would “like the opportunity to continue and complete what’s not yet completed, and that is seeing the full implementation of the referendum program and the strategic plan because I was part of that planning from the beginning.”
Kaye says he’s had experience knowing exactly what things cost and what can be looked at when it comes to cutting costs. At the same time, he says, since he’s retired, he has a clear understanding of “how critical it is that we be very, very careful in our use of every resource” and that the board has to get the most for the money. “I think I bring a careful perspective about the reality of resource allocation.”
Another of his goals is to help educate the public about legislation affecting school boards, especially as it relates to taxes. And he hopes to continue his involvement in the curriculum and instruction component of the board’s work. “I have a lot of knowledge in theory and practice,” Kaye says. “I believe I can really bring an important voice to those issues. That’s the world I understand — I spent my life in it.”
Those wishing to seek election on the board must file by Monday, February 25 at 4 p.m.
