I was really very disappointed to read George Borek’s letter to the editor where he attacks Carol Herts and Deborah Marinsky so viciously. I remember very well when I spoke to Borek in September of 2014 explaining to him the problem that I had had with my oldest son, who at that time was 3 years old.
He asked me to email him and he would take care of the issue. Needless to say, he sat on that email for six months and he did nothing. On February of 2015, I went to council and I told my story. Brian Maher, who was the president at the time, got me an interview with the recreation department. I met with them, and in less than a week the director of summer camp was fired.
The point that I am trying to make is that Borek for six months did nothing to help my child. As a member of council, he should have taken action, however, he conveniently decided to ignore my email and sweep the problem under the rug. I definitely would not like to have Borek in council again as he never showed to add value while he was there, and very likely he never will in the future.
Regarding Mr. Kaye, I personally question him regarding the MAP testing. Kaye was unaware that a 6 year old has to sit in front of a Chromebook or an iPad and answer 53 questions. Answering those 53 questions takes a 6 year old over an hour. WWP is talking about stress and anxiety that the students have.
Has someone, ever thought how much stress and anxiety this test can cause to a 6 year old? Kaye is absolutely oblivious to these facts. He thinks that more standardized tests are perfectly fine. In my opinion, Kaye does not come across like somebody that believes in a well-rounded education. If not, he would have a better understanding of the MAP test .
Kaye does not believe in open communication, he believes in “my way or the highway,” therefore, it would be a very bad choice to re-elect someone like him as a member of the school board. Let’s not make the same mistake. Let’s try to learn from our mistakes/history and move forward.
Louisa Ho, is a school board candidate that has in 3 years done, in my opinion, nothing to improve education in WW-P. She has not challenged the administration once. I have been attending school board meetings for over a year now and the only thing I hear coming out of her mouth is “yes” all the time. She voted on 50 curricula changes on 9/13 and I would be surprised if she could even name five of those changes that she has voted on.
Carol Herts and Deborah Marinsky understand what a good education is all about. They understand the importance of a well-rounded education, they want to bring grammar back to the schools, they want to bring teachers to the classrooms to be able to teach the curricula to the students, they want to get rid of unnecessary standardized tests such as MAP and they want to keep a tight control on our school budget. They have spent hours talking to teachers and students. They know the problems that the district is facing.
When they BOE says “teachers are retiring”, some teachers are looking to retire early because they just cannot keep putting up with so much nonsense from the administration. These teachers would have loved to work for another 5,6 or 7 years, however, the administration and the BOE have made it impossible. Ms. Herts and Ms. Marinsky understand that and want to revert the trend. I know that my children’s education will be protected and enhanced if these two ladies are members of the BOE. They understand that Common Core is not for schools like WWP, they want to bring back the Blue Ribbon curricula that made WWP so special.
Out of all the candidates, including Mr. Borek, who I hope he never gets elected for council again as he is inefficient and has demonstrated that with my son’s situation; the only two candidates for BOE that I can trust are Carol Herts and Deborah Marinsky. Their track record and their commitment to education speaks for itself. On Nov. 8th, when you go to the polls, vote for these two ladies and you will be voting to protect not only the education for our children, but also to keep a tight control in our taxes.
Veronica Mehno
West Windsor
