School Board Race Coming Up
In seven weeks, petitions are due for the annual school board election.
Each year, voters get to choose three people for three-year terms on the nine-member Board of Election. Here are the requirements for candidates as explained by the New Jersey School Boards Association:
To become a member of a local board of education in New Jersey, you must—
Be able to read and write · Hold citizenship and one year’s residency in the school district Have no interest in any contract with, or claim against, the board Not hold office as mayor or member of the municipal governing body Be registered to vote in the district and not be disqualified as a voter under N.J.S.A. 19:4-1.
There is a complete school board candidates’ kit online at http://www.njsba.org/
Candidates must submit their petitions by 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 to Board Secretary/School Business Administrator Victor R. Demming at the board office, 504 Madison Ave.
The seats up this year are those won in 2003 by Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Lisa Logan-Leach and Bishop Herbert Bright. Since then, Robinson-Briggs became mayor on Jan. 1 and resigned her seat. The board must now choose an appointee to serve until the April 18, 2006 election. Any city resident interested in applying should complete a Board of Education petition and return it to Demming by 4 p.m. Jan. 13, 2006.
Anyone applying should also submit a one-page letter explaining why he or she wants to become a school board member, and must be available within the following week to be interviewed by the board.
Interviews will be conducted during a public school board meeting.
Bright also resigned and in the April 2005 school board election, Patricia Barksdale won the balance of Bright‘s term. Logan-Leach is still on the board.
Before running, candidates must also consider the fact that they will need to undergo training if they win and will also be responsible for filing campaign contribution and expense reports. Full information is available at the NJSBA web site.
Asked what it is like to serve on the board, current President Martin Cox said bluntly, “It is an absolutely thankless job.”
But he added, “It is certainly an opportunity to build policy which leads to developing the direction of the district.”
The board meets twice a month, once for a work and study session and later for a business meeting to vote on resolutions. The meetings start with a 6:30 p.m. executive session and the public portion is at 8 p.m. Meetings also include public comment, presentations from district officials and remarks by the superintendent, board president and others. To see a typical agenda, go to the district page at http://www.plainfieldnjk12.org/
The board is wrestling with a number of challenges that any new members will have to face as well over the next three years. Cox said they include overcrowding, the need for more bilingual education, monitoring Abbott district funding and facility issues.
The district had pinned its hopes to relieve middle school overcrowding on a plan to build a new middle school complex on South Second Street. The project was also intended to become the linchpin of neighborhood revitalization in a section of the West End. But after the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (NJSCC) ran out of money, the project went into limbo.
Abbott funding, which pays most of the school budgets for the state’s 30 neediest districts, is not guaranteed. Plainfield nearly lost out on its funding a few years ago.
Cox noted with a new administration in Trenton, there could be new views on both NJSCC and Abbott funding.
Within the district, 55 percent of the 2005-06 kindergarten class comes from Latino families, a first for the school system. Overcrowding in the high school this year forced shifting of administrators out of an older building to make way for the overflow of students. The administrators moved to Jefferson School, displacing students there to the West Front Street “swing school” and upsetting parents.
Besides the long school board meetings, Cox said, there are committee meetings and demands on board members’ time to attend various school functions.
Grueling as it may be, some find the chance to serve on the board very gratifying. Former board member Beulah Womack served seven terms before deciding not to run again in 2005.
--Bernice Paglia
Each year, voters get to choose three people for three-year terms on the nine-member Board of Election. Here are the requirements for candidates as explained by the New Jersey School Boards Association:
To become a member of a local board of education in New Jersey, you must—
There is a complete school board candidates’ kit online at http://www.njsba.org/
Candidates must submit their petitions by 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 to Board Secretary/School Business Administrator Victor R. Demming at the board office, 504 Madison Ave.The seats up this year are those won in 2003 by Sharon Robinson-Briggs, Lisa Logan-Leach and Bishop Herbert Bright. Since then, Robinson-Briggs became mayor on Jan. 1 and resigned her seat. The board must now choose an appointee to serve until the April 18, 2006 election. Any city resident interested in applying should complete a Board of Education petition and return it to Demming by 4 p.m. Jan. 13, 2006.
Anyone applying should also submit a one-page letter explaining why he or she wants to become a school board member, and must be available within the following week to be interviewed by the board.
Interviews will be conducted during a public school board meeting.
Bright also resigned and in the April 2005 school board election, Patricia Barksdale won the balance of Bright‘s term. Logan-Leach is still on the board.
Before running, candidates must also consider the fact that they will need to undergo training if they win and will also be responsible for filing campaign contribution and expense reports. Full information is available at the NJSBA web site.
Asked what it is like to serve on the board, current President Martin Cox said bluntly, “It is an absolutely thankless job.”
But he added, “It is certainly an opportunity to build policy which leads to developing the direction of the district.”
The board meets twice a month, once for a work and study session and later for a business meeting to vote on resolutions. The meetings start with a 6:30 p.m. executive session and the public portion is at 8 p.m. Meetings also include public comment, presentations from district officials and remarks by the superintendent, board president and others. To see a typical agenda, go to the district page at http://www.plainfieldnjk12.org/The board is wrestling with a number of challenges that any new members will have to face as well over the next three years. Cox said they include overcrowding, the need for more bilingual education, monitoring Abbott district funding and facility issues.
The district had pinned its hopes to relieve middle school overcrowding on a plan to build a new middle school complex on South Second Street. The project was also intended to become the linchpin of neighborhood revitalization in a section of the West End. But after the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (NJSCC) ran out of money, the project went into limbo.
Abbott funding, which pays most of the school budgets for the state’s 30 neediest districts, is not guaranteed. Plainfield nearly lost out on its funding a few years ago.
Cox noted with a new administration in Trenton, there could be new views on both NJSCC and Abbott funding.
Within the district, 55 percent of the 2005-06 kindergarten class comes from Latino families, a first for the school system. Overcrowding in the high school this year forced shifting of administrators out of an older building to make way for the overflow of students. The administrators moved to Jefferson School, displacing students there to the West Front Street “swing school” and upsetting parents.
Besides the long school board meetings, Cox said, there are committee meetings and demands on board members’ time to attend various school functions.
Grueling as it may be, some find the chance to serve on the board very gratifying. Former board member Beulah Womack served seven terms before deciding not to run again in 2005.
--Bernice Paglia
KEYWORDS: school board
posted by Bernice at 6:32 PM
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