Are you suffering from election fatigue, a near constant low level anxiety about who will win and what the country will look like if they do (or don’t)? If your answer is “yes,” you are not alone. I too am sickened by our political landscape and the urge is increasingly one in which I just want to flee. But in our world, there is nowhere to run.
At a local community level things seem little better. A few weeks ago, one little detail got my attention related to the WW-P Board of Education election. Our school district teachers are quitting at an alarming rate, 75 in 2016, up over 70 percent since 2013.
Why is this happening? I worry about my daughter’s education and I am concerned about our property value. While digging for answers to this question, I have learned that our BOE members can better serve our community by incorporating feedback from our teachers, parents and seniors who have lived in this community for the majority of their lives before any major decisions are made.
Nothing is better than a child coming home and telling his/her parents, “I love my teacher”, because deep in we all know that it takes a great teacher to lead a child to the “fountain of knowledge.” Love of their teachers, love of their schools and love of learning makes a nice bundle for the rest of their lives.
I wrote an article about a BOE candidate mainly about efficiency in terms of budget management a few years ago. This year I would really like to advocate for our teachers, I want to see more teachers involved in major decision making processes, such as exams/tests/programs. We should create an environment for them to comfortably share their teaching experience as well as pros and coms of any specific programs. By having their voices heard prominently we create positive communication flow between our school district administration teams as well as all parents.
I have read articles from the existing BOE members as well as candidates who are willing to serve. To me, if you are not happy with the results you see, select someone new. Give them a chance to serve. After reviewing the debates, comments and BOE meeting records, I think it’s about time to elect some new faces-people who know the schools, care about the teachers as well as the students.
These are the people we want to serve on our board of education. I believe Carol Herts and Deborah Marinsky are just the kind of passionate advocates that we need.
Julia Miceler
West Windsor
