BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The six people running for the Bloomfield Board of Education participated in a debate on Oct. 19, hosted virtually by the Bloomfield Information Project. Three seats are open on the nine-member board. Michael Heller and Shane Berger are incumbent members running for reelection. Others running for seats on the board are Satenik Margaryan, Monica Charris Tabares, Pedro “Tony” Gongora and Yomara Knott.
When the new board members are sworn in, the COVID-19 pandemic will be close to entering its third year. The candidates spoke during the forum about safety protocols in the schools to keep students and staff from contracting the virus.
“I think following the CDC guidelines is important, I think following mandates is important, but I think we can do more and we can be more innovative,” Knott said at the event. “The way lunch is being addressed, are we doing it correctly? How are the kids feeling about it? Are they feeling safe? Are we addressing those concerns? I think we started off the right way, but I think we can be doing more.”
Margaryan suggested an online COVID-19 database to inform parents about cases of the virus that circulate among the community. The district does currently have a dashboard, but she wants to see it updated more frequently.
“I would like to see it updated more often and have cumulative statistics, as well as more information about transmission in the schools and outside of the school,” Margaryan said at the debate. “I would like to see random testing of students and staff, as well as mandating vaccinations for kindergarten through 12th-grade students when the vaccines are fully approved by the FDA.”
Heller said that, while it would be nice if the district could be more active and go above and beyond what the state and federal mandates and best practices are around COVID-19 safety, the guidelines often change. They have never been set in stone.
“We as a district invested in air-purification systems for our classrooms,” Heller said, highlighting some of the efforts that have already been made in the schools. “We can attempt to filter for the particles that cause COVID-19. What I do hope will happen and that we’ll be able to do in district, is that, when children who are under 12 are able to be vaccinated, is run vaccination clinics directly in the districts where the children are present so that you don’t have the additional complication of having to go get your children vaccinated wherever the vaccines may become available.”
Each candidate also talked about diversity, equity and inclusion priorities at the debate. Gongora said the board needs to make a bigger effort to hire staff that reflects the diversity of the community.
“We need to make sure that our staff looks like the community we are trying to serve,” he said. “Especially in this time right now, where people are leaving the workforce early and retiring and saying this is too hard and they just don’t want to do this job anymore, if we want to keep good people, we might have to pay them a little bit more. As the contract negotiation comes up in a year or two, that’s something we can address with the union.”
Berger wants to add teachers to the district.
“Right now, there are 12 new sustainable positions in the elementary schools to remedy this situation to get the student that needs it a little extra help,” he said. “It’s built now for remediation, but in the future, it will slide over to enrichment.”
To address the needs of different types of students, Charris Tabares said professional development for teachers should be prioritized.
“Children learn differently, and instead of being reactive we need to be proactive,” she said. “We need to start teaching our children with different methods. Not everyone can learn by hearing the teacher speak giving lectures. Teachers deserve to get training that will help them learn to change their teaching to help children who need to learn in a different manner. It’s our educators who need to learn how to reach those children.”
The full panel can be viewed at www.facebook.com/bloomfieldinfo.
Bloomfield BOE candidates participate in debate added by Amanda Valentovic on
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