When it comes to spending money, protest in some communities often comes first from senior citizen groups. But as the date for the $27.5 million referendum nears, Richard A. Kaye, a new West Windsor-Plainsboro school board member and himself a senior citizen, is confident it will pass.##M:[more]## Residents go to the polls on Tuesday, January 24, to vote on bonds for repairing and renovating five of the district’s ten schools.
“People need to understand that continuing to be excellent is hard work,” says Kaye, who joined the board last April. “It is not something that comes casually.”
No matter which hat he wears — as a former high school principal, a senior citizen, or a board member — Kaye enthusiastically supports the referendum.
Concerned about the statewide referendum in December, when voters rejected almost two-thirds of the construction funding requests, the pro-referendum Citizens Referendum Team continues to lobby for passage of both measures on the ballot — the first and largest will fund the capital improvements in the schools; the second would finance the installation of the all-weather synthetic fields at the two high schools. The team has scheduled another open house to discuss the referendum on Tuesday, January 17, at 7:30 p.m. at High School South. See page 17 for the views of High School South principal Charles Rudnick.
The district has also created an in-house video illustrating the needs at the schools, which can be viewed in cable channel 3 in Plainsboro and Channel 27 in West Windsor). It will air Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at noon and 4 p.m.; and Tuesday at 7 and 10 p.m.
Kaye says that he has not heard any resistance from the senior community and suggests that parents of college-age children might be even more budget conscious than retirees. “Certainly everyone is concerned that money is spent carefully and that we get the most for our dollars. But that is not a question that concerns only senior citizens. Funding public education is a major question in New Jersey.”
As a school board member, Kaye points out that this referendum is most unusual: “We are not asking the public to go into their pockets for much more money.” That’s because the bonds for the Community Middle and Millstone River schools are just about paid off. Homeowners are paying an estimated $64 to $111 per year on the old debt, according to the district’s website. If the referendum is approved, they can expect to continue paying about the same amount.
The referendum has two parts. The first, worth $25.2 million, would allot $18.9 million for High School South, to expand both the auditorium (which now seats just one grade at a time) and the stage (which currently does not have room for the complete orchestra). Assemblies must be presented four times to reach the entire school, and the orchestra has to practice at North to be a complete ensemble. An additional gymnasium would allow both the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams to practice at the same time. What is now South’s auxiliary gymnasium has no elevator to the main floor; one will be added, and it will be carved up for four enclosed classrooms. A permanent bubble will replace the temporary one over the swimming pool. Dividers will be replaced by a more modern version, higher and more soundproof.
Nevertheless, Kaye emphasizes that renovations will not change the open space concept that characterizes the school. “South has a culture particular to itself, a very adult atmosphere, very much like a college campus inside the large space. The young people feel very special about that building, and the staff that are there have come to the facility with the understanding that they can work in it.”
If South has done so well, the question might be, why bother changing? “That’s why I said that continuing to be good, and working to be good, is important work. They have learned to use the facility well, to their credit, but this community has the ability — without hurting financially — to give them an opportunity.”
The board did not adopt a “something for everyone” pork-barrel mentality, Kaye says, because it focused on what was really needed, which includes $4.1 million in improvements for the aged Dutch Neck School, $1.04 million for Maurice Hawk, $663,”761 for Wicoff, and $394,”1999 for High School North.
The second part of the referendum would authorize an additional $2.3 million in bonds to install artificial turf on the sports fields at both high schools.
Kaye grew up in the Astoria section of Queens, where his grandfather was a baker, his father an efficiency expert, and his mother was a bookkeeper who ended up running a maintenance company. He passed the test for the prestigious Stuyvesant High School but realizes that, because of his music and arts interests, he probably would have been happier in his neighborhood school.
After graduating from Queens College in 1960, his first teaching job was at that neighborhood school. He earned a master’s degree from New York University, taught high school social studies in Manhattan and what is now called Old Bridge, and then was principal of a junior high school in Scotch Plains/Fanwood. Coming to South Brunswick in 1974, he spent 25 years as a middle school and high school principal.
He relishes his years in South Brunswick, which he says is “an innovative, wonderful place to be an educator.” In both South Brunswick and West Windsor, Kaye says, “principals are very connected to students and the staff — a capable, talented group of educators. They know their fields well, they interact with people beautifully, and they come together as a community of learners.”
When he retired in 1999, Kaye and his wife moved to the senior community, Village Grande. Serving on the school board was “a way of giving back to the community — and it is everything that I hoped it would be. This district has a history of having board members who care very much about the issues, put a lot of time and energy into this public service — learning, talking openly and honestly, and working to build consensus. It is a highly educated group, and we have the extraordinary gift of a fabulous superintendent with an astounding resume. Robert Loretan is a very knowledgeable gentleman who brings people together, asks good questions, really listens, and builds trust — so people want to work with him.”
(Of the previous superintendent, who left in 2003, Kaye says only, “the gentleman before him was not of the same talent.”
An accomplished pianist, Kaye passionately supports the arts, and though he currently limits his own music-making to playing Broadway favorites on his Baldwin piano, he fondly remembers co-teaching a Metropolitan Opera program on the elementary level. At the finale, the students produced their own opera.
Kaye was also known for supporting special education in South Brunswick, where he made the tough decision to increase the size of the calculus class rather than dilute the special education program. “I had some people yell and scream, but my philosophy is, some children will make it in spite of us, and some need our help to make it.”
Kaye praises WW-P’s focus on special education. “Coming here, I can say, ‘How wonderful — this is the core of what people believe, that we all learn differently.’ In the past couple of years we brought programs back into the district because we could provide better here — that is to the credit of this district.”
Kaye’s strong moral and ethical base was reinforced by his grandfather’s advice: “Go to a place open-minded, and make that place better because you are contributing to it. But when you take the job, write your letter of resignation and put it into your pocket.”
For his current job, Kaye isn’t taking that letter out of his pocket.
—Barbara Fox
