“Our school district has many accomplishments over the years and offers much to our children. At the same time, a review of our district’s strengths and weaknesses reveals many unmet challenges and shortcomings that loom much larger than they should.”

 

“Many people we know are hopeful that the arrival of Dr. John Ramos in August as our new Superintendent will lead to addressing many of the concerns felt by so many of us. Having met him in April, we look forward to his arrival and believe he can help move the district in the right direction. At the same time, he is only one person and needs the active support and engagement of our Board of Education, to help him set priorities and understand our community. And he needs a Board whose members are continuously engaged with all segments of our parent community to give him feedback on what’s working and what’s not. We want to be part of that process and believe that we have the understanding, energy and experience to help make this a district where all parents have confidence that their children will be served well, whatever challenges arise in the K-12 journey of each.”

 

“We share with other parents the vision of a district where all students are active and engaged members of the school community, where excellence is not just an aspiration but a reality for all students, where students’ needs are the first, middle and last things we think about when pondering every issue, where every teacher is enabled to become just like that one special teacher who each of us remembers from our own school days.”

 

“While we intend to talk about vision and necessary long-term change during our campaign, our short-term, number one priority — if elected — will be to get the district back on track in all of its basic operations. The district needs to eliminate some of the conditions that give rise to a never-ending stream of angry parents at the “Public Speaks” portion of Board of Education meetings.”

 

“We need to provide the necessary information to help parents navigate the system, with full transparency for all district decisions that affect students. To enable parents to advocate successfully for their children, we need to ensure that all phone calls and emails to district employees get a meaningful and timely response. We need immediate improvement in our special services evaluation, referral and intervention efforts. We need to ensure that student discipline measures from K-12 are consistent, fair and effective. The Board needs to end its sole reliance on snapshots of standardized test scores and instead review summaries of individual student progress based on multiple measures. That would enable us to tell whether district efforts are successful for each and every student, especially those who enter in the later grades or exit our district before graduation. Finally, the district needs to improve the middle school math placement process that has been the focus of so much controversy for nearly six years.”

 

“We realize that the noblest goals for our school system are a dead letter unless we can fund and sustain them. In light of the ongoing tax stress we face as a community, we will push for heightened Board scrutiny of district finances throughout the year, but especially during the budget process, and more transparency for the entire community on where all the money goes. In the course of our campaign, we will discuss approaches that might produce substantial budget efficiencies and a proposed political strategy that would win our district’s rightful share of state aid under New Jersey’s school funding formula.”

 

“There are many other specific issues that we intend to discuss in the course of our campaign, and we welcome input from all parts of the community. Stay tuned!”

 

Amplifying their joint statement, Sabin added that he is particularly concerned to see the district make more progress on closing the racial achievement gap: “As the parent of three children of color in district schools, I am particularly worried about the pattern of underachievement for too many of their peers. We know all kids are capable of work at the highest levels, given the right engagement, motivation and academic support. Our district must do better. That is part of what motivates my candidacy.”

 

For her part, Maini noted her experience as a pre-school educator for the last eight years, observing that “children arrive at pre-school full of energy, curiosity and limitless potential. We need to make sure we continually engage them, support them and nurture their curiosity into full bloom. I am concerned that in the rush to meet the never-ending stream of state and Federal mandates, we may have lost sight of our intention to become a community of learners where children work to their full potential throughout the entire K-12 experience.” With respect to Columbia High School, Maini expressed her concern that CHS seems to over-emphasize the need for students to take full charge of their own educational planning and coursework. “We certainly need to empower students to be fully independent as part of their preparation for college, but at the same time, we need to model for them what that looks like and establish a better safety net for those who may stumble. We need to see every teacher-student interaction as an opportunity to make a positive connection. For students who are disengaged, we need to explore every avenue for discovering and unleashing their latent enthusiasm.”