My name is Bob Morrison and I am running for reelection to a fourth term serving on the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education.
My family and I have lived in Warren Township since February 2002. My wife is a teacher in a nearby school district. Both of our children have attended Warren Township Schools. My oldest graduated Watchung Hills Regional High School in 2013 and graduated from Ithaca College in 2017. My son graduated in 2017 and is in his senior year attending Montclair State University.
I am currently the CEO of a company I started 20 years ago, Quadrant Research – a national educational data management and analytics company. I recently retired as the Director/CEO for Arts Ed NJ – the statewide arts education advocacy organization.
What I Have Done
For the past nine years, I have had the privilege of representing Warren Township on the WHRHS Board of Education where I have served on the Education (including several years as chair), Strategic Planning, Operations and Personnel Committees, chaired the Policy Committee and most recently served as Vice President and am currently serving as President of the Board for the second time. During my tenure, we have brought forward several important improvements to the district. These include: the development of the district’s first-ever strategic plan, creation of Expected Schoolwide Learning Results, completion of the referendum-funded projects for replacing the aging heating system and roofing (on schedule and on budget), upgrades in technology including 1 to 1 Chromebooks, expansion and diversification of elective offerings to allow students to find their passion, replacement of the turf field through the acquisition of significant state funding, and supported returning funds to taxpayers from increased state education aid. I have been chosen by my peers as the President of the Somerset County Schools Boards Association and have been appointed to the board of directors for the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA). Most recently, I was recognized by the NJSBA with their highest honor… Certified Board Leader one of only a handful of the more than 5,000 New Jersey school board members to achieve this distinction.
In addition to my service on the WHRHS Board of Education, I have been active in our community for nearly twenty years, including many years as a volunteer coach with Warren Baseball Softball, Inc. for both the recreational and travel baseball teams. During Hurricane Sandy, I helped organize and serve as an administrator of the Warren Township Community Forum on Facebook. As a result of our work with the forum after Superstorm Sandy, I volunteered to serve as co-chair of the Warren Township Utility Advisory Committee, where I led a community-wide review of the town’s electrical infrastructure, a project that earned the Sustainable New Jersey Creativity and Innovation Award. I currently serve as a business liaison to the Warren Township Office of Emergency Management, which is responsible for the community response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
During COVID-19, we were one of the few districts in New Jersey to open our school to students in September 2020. Since that date, the school has remained open for students except for one 2-week period because of a COVID outbreak. We were committed to keeping the school open because we knew the importance of in-person learning and social engagement for our students. I am very proud of the work of our faculty and staff, administration, and fellow board members for their incredible work during the last two and half years to keep our school open and our learning community together.
Additionally, I served on COVID-19 Response Task Forces for the New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey School Boards Association, and the coalition of state education associations. I led state and national efforts to protect the visual and performing arts for our students, including funding the International Coalition of Performing Arts Organizations Aerosol Study that identified the proper mitigation strategies to allow the performing arts to continue in our schools.
I have also been an outspoken advocate about the need to do a Regionalization Feasibility Study. We need to complete and present to the community the Regionalization Feasibility Study to provide the community with information and allow the community the chance to weigh in on any potential benefits consideration of regionalization may have for the benefit of our students and the taxpayers.
Professional Background
I have a long and successful history in business, philanthropy and education.
Visit my LinkedIn profile for my complete professional background regarding the businesses I have successfully created, built and led as well as the significant recognition and honors my work has received.
I have served on many non-profit, for-profit, and higher education boards. I have personally started several successful non-profits dedicated to education, music, and the arts. These experiences have provided me with direct experience with the proper role and function of board governance overseeing complex organizations.
For more than 35 years, my professional career has required my direct involvement with educational policy issues. This has included working with education officials in the administrations of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Much of my work has centered on issues related to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as America 2000, Goals 2000, No Child Left Behind and now the Every Student Succeeds Act known as ESSA). I have also worked with the Departments of Education in more than thirty states, including New Jersey, and have provided policy guidance to several Governors and a presidential campaign. I served on the New Jersey Department of Education’s ESSA stakeholder taskforce to develop implementation plans for the new federal education legislation and have worked with every New Jersey education commissioner since 2005. In 2022, I was recognized by Governor Murphy with the Governor’s Award in Arts Education for Lifetime Contribution in Arts Education, the highest state honor, for my service to the state of New Jersey.
Issues involving accountability, evaluations, student achievement, funding, and the tension between a culture of testing versus the need for a well-rounded education are not just buzzwords to me. These are areas where I have spent a great deal of time and energy learning the issues to make informed decisions. I have called on this experience for my service to the community.
All of these experiences, combined with my dedication to our community, allowed me to become an effective advocate on the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education for the citizens of our township. This demonstrates my keeping my promise to represent the interests of our community and our students.
I believe my record of service and accomplishment on behalf of the citizens of Warren speaks for itself.
Please Vote Bob Morrison on November 8th!
Bob Morrison