For those of you who did not see the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for BHSD Board of Education Trustees on October 2, I encourage you to watch the televised rebroadcast. Many said the forum was among the best, most informative, most civilized seen in recent years.
It was, coincidentally, a display of remarkable agreements seasoned with widely divergent views about many important issues. In short, it was the type of discussion that should be the hallmark of Board of Education Meetings – not just reserved for campaign seasons. It was the slate of challengers that brought the diversity of opinion. They brought it with respect and good humor.
One of the challengers stressed his involvement in the Community Partnership Meetings as he tries to instill more accountability in the District. He highlighted his decades of experience in corporate finance tempered by his leadership of non-profit organizations. Another challenger stressed the need to bring the new high school to fruition within budget and on time while stressing the importance of focusing on those students (juniors and seniors) who will be disrupted but not enjoy the benefits of the new building. She also stressed the imperative that we move on beyond the one vs. two high school debate and begin the process of healing. The third challenger, with international experience, offered up the idea that the state mandated core curriculum should be the minimum standard for the District – not the maximum. He said we should build on it and strive to have all our students exceed it. He warned about chasing fads in education. It was a “back to basics” call.
These are the people with the fresh ideas. This is the atmosphere of open discussion that has been lacking. If you agree, open discussion of alternatives is an important part of arriving at a consensus, perhaps this discussion should be our model.
Unfortunately, the incumbents have not shown the desire to include open discussion before decisions are made. They have, instead, tended to make decisions and then spend time and money trying to convince the public the decisions are well thought out and virtuous. They have attempted to bury minority opinions.
I suggest you consider voting for the challengers, Baron, Greenwell, and Moigis, for BHSD Board of Education Trustees if you are tired of consistent 7 to 0 votes on important issues.
The viewpoints in this letter are those of the writer, and Patch is not responsible for any ideas portrayed as facts. For questions and clarifications, please leave a comment below or contact editor Art Aisner at Art.Aisner@patch.com.
The introduction of the presentation begins at the 01:06:15 point in the board meeting. If you watch the presentation, you will see that the projected number of students is going down. So an addition of 100 (+/-) students over the K-12 grades really doesn't affect the general trend. Watch the presentation, it is quite enlightening.
http://bhstv.bloomfield.org/category/bd-of-ed/page/3
For the two 6-year terms: Ingrid Day: http://ingridday.com Howard Baron: http://howardbaron.com For the single 2-year term: Joan Berndt: http://berndt4bloomfield.com/ Rob Herner: http://herner4board.com/ You can learn more about all 4 candidates at the above links.
The BHSD is planning for the documented, likely numbers. They also have to maintain enough land in a land-locked area to expand later if necessary. In that case, as the funding model stands now, additional students would bring additional revenue, so there would be financial space for that growth. None of us with two kids would build a house for 12, "just in case". At some point, you have to move forward with well-analyzed data, and leave room for contingencies.
The new funding model may change that, but currently, it is an unintended consequence of Prop A.
A consensus by the time the meeting takes place tells you nothing about the decision making process; only that the Board acted with a certain level of decorum and placed a low value on drama.
The website has changed recently and I am not sure where you would find last year's presentation other than going to the link for the January 19, 2012 board meeting I noted in my other comments above. I prefer posting links so others can see the information for themselves and draw their own conclusions. If you go to that link and to the point in the video I noted where the presentaion begins, you can watch it for yourself and pause at the points where the numbers are presented. I really don't want to transpose the information from that presentation because it would take a lot of time and I might copy a number wrong. Hopefully you can get to that presentation and draw your own conclusion. Clearly 'Mom' and I have viewed the presentation and have different opinions as to what it means. I would be curious to hear yours.
Frankly I'd like to hear more passionate debate about positions and issues .....The community shouldn't be excluded from hearing that and expects that. Nothing is gained with 7-0 superficial votes except superficial appearances. This isn't the UN.
You are being unkind and inaccurate. Mrs. Berndt has been involved with this district for years first as a parent and as a community member. Her experience as an educator makes her qualified and definitely "clued in."
Historically (and before the time when cynicism ruled the land), it was an honor for candidates for the Board of Education to receive the endorsement of and a campaign contribution from the teachers’ union. Five years ago, Mrs. Day accepted a contribution from our district's teachers’ union that, until this election, no one would have raised an objection to. After all, it is hard to believe that any board trustee would be unduly influenced in favor of the teachers’ union in exchange for a campaign contribution of a few hundred dollars. Thus, it is easy to understand why she would have accepted the donation. Since that time – and sadly -- some public sentiment about this issue has turned, making it a negative to some people for the teachers’ union to inform the public about and financially support those candidates they believe best support the mission of our school district. As a result, Mrs. Day publicly vowed not to accept campaign contributions from the BHEA or any other group that might give the appearance of impropriety.