When I ran for office nine years ago I was very clear about what I hoped to contribute through my service to the community. These were my goals:
High Quality, Well Rounded Education for EVERY Student
Open Communication and Transparency
Fiscal Responsibility, Accountability, and Integrity
I will address these in reverse order:
Fiscal Responsibility, Accountability, and Integrity
In the area of Fiscal Responsibility, Accountability, and Integrity, my main point was we were operating a $38 million institution that did not have in place a strategic plan, and no one could recall the last time the district had one. As a businessman, I know that it is ill-advised to have this large of an operation without some sort of plan to be the guiding document for the organization’s direction. A plan is how you hold an organization accountable for the decisions being made. Without a plan, there is no lens through which to determine priorities. I made the execution of a valid process that would lead to the development and implementation of a multi-year strategic plan the major thrust for my first term. The WHRHS Board of Education adopted the strategic plans’ main goals and action plans to support each area in June 2016. The WHRHS Board of Education has made the implementation of the plan a top priority ever since, including the most recent revision of the plan that was adopted in 2020. In other fiscal areas, we passed a referendum that was at no cost to the taxpayers to allow the district to access up to 40% of the cost of the new turf field from the state and, most recently, funding to create a new learning center and upgrades to our electrical systems. Our referendum projects were completed on time and on budget. We have brought down the administrative overhead costs (another concern of mine when I first ran for office) through attrition, and I have successfully advocated for returning some of our increases in state funding back to the taxpayers.
Open Communication and Transparency
High Quality, Well Rounded Education for All
In the area of a High Quality, Well Rounded Education for EVERY Student, my focus has been on increasing educational opportunities for our students, protecting our students from the educational industrial complex as we face more intrusive testing of questionable validity and little value in providing feedback to our faculty (which had been the big promise of the new state assessments). The educational expectations for our students should not be driven by state testing requirements. We certainly need to comply with what the state requires but in a way that minimizes disruption to the important instructional work of our faculty members in preparing our students to be successful in life. Recognizing this tension, I championed the creation of the first set of Expected School-Wide Learning Results adopted by any school in the state. This document outlines the characteristics of a successful Watchung Hills graduate and allows us to focus more on the whole student. I have worked hard with my fellow board members and the administration to increase educational choices for students and to have areas of student interest drive course offerings and selection. This has led to more elective courses in a wide variety of interest areas in business, technology, engineering, and the visual and performing arts, among others. Our students must have the opportunity to find and develop their passions, whether in academics, co-curricular, or athletics. Making sure we have the broadest possible course offerings for a district of our size is critical to allowing our students to find their potential pathways for the future. “Well Rounded” education is not just a set of buzzwords to me. This is my personal commitment to our students and our community.
Additional Accomplishments include:
COVID-19 Response
During COVID-19, Watchung Hills was one of the few districts in New Jersey to open our school to students in September 2020 following the state mandated closures in the spring of 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. As we are now learning, getting and keeping schools open for students was critical to how they navigated the pandemic. 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 opportunities flourishing for our students. It is the accomplishment for which I am the proudest.
During COVID-19, I served on response task forces for he New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey School Boards Associaiton, 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.
Regionalization Feasibility Study
I have been leading efforts across the Watchung Hills communities to initiate a Regionalization Feasibility Study to explore primarily the educational benefits of a regionalized K-12 district as well as the potential for financial benefits for our taxpayers. For decades the idea and discussions about regionalization have come and gone with no real study to determine what, if any, benefits may be created through formal shared services up to, and including, a fully regionalized school district. I have personally been working with the state to secure a $140,000 grant to pay for the study, which will provide all stakeholders with the information needed to determine if regionalization has any educational and/or fiscal benefit to our communities. This is a determination that will ultimately be made by the voters of our communities.
Many residents have commented to me about the number of school districts in such a small area. The state is now providing us with an opportunity to find out if there are any real fiscal and educational benefits to consolidation… or not. Getting the answer to this question costs us nothing and ensures we are doing our “due diligence” on behalf of the residents.