WEST ORANGE, NJ — The 2016 Board of Education election features six candidates running for two open seats in a year when taxes remain high, teacher morale is cited as being low and communication between the board and its stakeholders continues to frustrate.
Incumbents Sandra Mordecai and Mark Robertson and challengers Steven Christiano, Tanya Atterberry, Sharon Sherman and Chris Diaz believe they have solutions, though. And they were eager to share them in sit-down interviews with the West Orange Chronicle and during the Oct. 27 forum sponsored by West Orange Cares About Schools and the West Orange African Heritage Organization at Liberty Middle School.
Taxes have always been an important issue to Mordecai, who pointed out that she successfully pushed to bring zero-based budgeting to the district; she said this has made everyone take a hard look at expenses to determine what is really needed and what can be cut. In addition, the incumbent said she advocates for sharing more services with the township in her role as a liaison to the Township Council. And as the vice president of the Essex County School Board Association, she said she is always learning about ways other local boards save money.
Robertson said that a key way to prevent tax hikes is to offset costs through grants, partnerships and sponsorships. The marketing consultant said there are more than 50 corporations based in New Jersey alone that support schools, and the BOE could gain millions of dollars if it looked into the fund development opportunities available from them. To better the district’s chances of obtaining grants and sponsorships, he said he would like to establish a fund development committee involving principals, supervisors and teachers that could develop profitable relationships with companies and foundations. Additionally, he said the board should reach out to the district’s 40,000 alumni for both donations and internship opportunities for students.
In addition, Robertson said he is strongly in favor of building up the district’s special education department so that the WOSD can eventually establish a special education center for excellence. By doing so, the incumbent said the WOSD could become a major intake district, greatly increasing revenue. He said it would also partner with universities, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and community-based organizations to conduct research and provide training that could be fund generators and brand builders for West Orange schools.
Robertson also wants to freeze the budget, stop spending to cap and use the increased revenue from his implemented ideas to reduce the tax levy. Simply put, he said, the board needs to approach spending with a different mindset.
“We really have to fundamentally have a paradigm shift in our thinking about funding and finance,” Robertson said in an Oct. 14 interview. “We can’t just tax people to death.”
According to Christiano, the 28 years he spent as the Board of Education’s attorney will serve him well in managing the budget since it allowed him to become well-acquainted with all expenses. If cuts need to be made, he said, one expense he would particularly look at is the elementary school assistant principals positions, which are relatively new. With $100,000 salaries plus benefits, he said those jobs might be an “extravagance we can’t afford.”
As a former accountant, Atterberry feels that she would bring a unique perspective to the board during budget season since she would have the expertise to spot overlooked items that could be cut. But the candidate stressed that she is not in favor of cutting any programs or extracurricular activities. Instead, she said, she wants to obtain grants that could offset some of their costs.
And on a larger scale, Atterberry said she is interested in shopping the district’s health care in order to further reduce spending.
As a “student advocate,” Sherman said she does not want to cut any programming. At the same time, she said the BOE has to make sure that it is spending its funds wisely. On the board, she said she would tighten administrative costs while prioritizing district needs. She said the WOSD has to implement more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math into its schools, but it first must make sure it has the funds to do so.
“There’s a limited amount of money out there — people can’t afford it anymore,” Sherman said in an Oct. 7 interview. “I don’t expect anybody to knock on my door and say ‘Oh, you’re getting lower taxes.’ That’s not going to happen. But we have to make certain that we’re spending the money the right way.”
Diaz said that the board has spend in order to maintain a strong school district. But that does not mean he is opposed to making cuts. In fact, the candidate said he plans to scrutinize every line item, paying close attention to whether there are any redundant administrative costs that could be eliminated. He also wants to look into the WOSD’s vending agreements to see if he could get better deals, pointing out that his negotiating skills as an attorney will definitely come in handy on that front.
West Orange teachers have been working without a contract since 2015, and they have reported at board meetings that morale is at an all-time low. This is clearly an issue that the two elected board members will have to deal with and the six candidates all had ideas on what should be done to resolve the situation.
As a sitting board member, Mordecai could not go into the specifics of the ongoing contract negotiations. But she did say that the BOE simply does not have any “hidden money” in the budget to cover the cost of a raise and employee health care, especially after having to purchase so many computers for PARCC testing to follow state mandate. She said the taxpayers cannot shoulder the burden, either. On top of that, she said she has not heard of any real complaints when talking to teachers, pointing out that low morale claims are usually used as leverage in contract negotiations.
Yet the board can be doing more to show West Orange teachers that they are appreciated, Mordecai said. If re-elected, the paralegal said she would pursue retention measures such as recognizing educators for all the great work they do. Plus, she said the BOE will continue to promote internally — something she stressed it has always done despite the West Orange Education Association’s claims to the contrary. In fact, she said, some of the best administrators in the district are former educators in the town’s schools.
Like Mordecai, Robertson also could not talk about the details of the contract negotiations. But he said there is more that the BOE can do to resolve some of the tension between the WOEA and district leadership, starting with creating an environment in which teachers are empathized with and understood. To do this, he said the board can recognize teacher accomplishments more. He added that it also has to ensure open dialog through means such as anonymous climate surveys one to two times per year, focus groups and town hall-like forums.
Regarding the contract, Robertson said that he would urge both parties to make an effort to find common ground. And he wants them to do so as quickly as possible because he said parents and students are feeling caught in the middle.
In all of his decades working for the district, Christiano said he has never seen teacher morale as low as it has been during the current contract dispute. But this situation goes beyond the terms of a deal, he pointed out. He said West Orange educators do not feel they are appreciated by the board or the administration, which breeds a “poisonous environment.” And as he stated during the debate, the students suffer when tension like this results in important events like Back to School night being boycotted.
The matter has gone on for too long, Christiano said — it is time for an agreement to be reached. To do so, he told the Chronicle that teachers must get the respect they deserve.
“The attitude has to be imposed from the top that we value your service, we value your contributions to this district, we know how important you are to the district,” Christiano said in an Oct. 21 interview before adding that teachers “are the biggest influence on our kids outside of their parents.”
As Redwood Elementary School’s PTA president, Atterberry said she has seen firsthand how the teachers seem to have lost the joy they had for their jobs. And she believes she knows why — teachers are not feeling heard. To correct that, she said she would suggest holding meetings between district leadership and teachers so they can talk about issues. She would also recommend obtaining staff buy-in on any proposed programs, even if it takes a while. Overall, she said she would make the WOSD’s educators feel respected because doing so will benefit the schools in return.
“People will do more if they’re happy,” Atterberry said in an Oct. 28 interview.
As for the contract dispute, Atterberry said during the debate that she would strongly encourage the teachers union and the BOE to reach a “fair settlement that respects both our dedicated teachers and our hardworking citizens while recognizing the economic realities that we all face today.” The candidate explained that she is concerned about the effect this conflict is having on students, pointing out that their parents have already lost out on the chance to foster partnerships with their teachers through Back to School Night. She said reaching an agreement would be in the best interest of the children.
Sherman, who is a teacher in a different district, said she knows firsthand how much teachers are underpaid for the amount of work they do. But she said the WOEA needs to understand that paying for employee health benefits is an unavoidable state mandate. And as much as teachers deserve a raise, she said taxpayers cannot afford one sizeable enough to encompass the rising costs of medical coverage. She said a balance needs to be found, with both sides realizing that neither will be completely satisfied.
But Sherman pointed out that the tension between teachers and the administration goes beyond money. She said West Orange’s educators are not getting the respect they deserve, and she would push to change that if elected. The solution does not have to be anything major either, she said. She suggested that the board could host lunches for the staff just to show they are appreciated.
If elected to the board, Diaz said he would push to serve on its negotiating committee because the ongoing contract dispute needs fresh ideas and legal expertise. He said the BOE also must look into numerous health care options — including the state plan and the possibility of self-insuring — to see if a more affordable option is available. He said he recently explored seven different providers for himself, which is the type of comprehensive search the district should have done. Instead, he said they only looked into two after tensions over the health care costs had already begun to fester.
Beyond the contract, Diaz said the board needs to address the “palpable” morale issues that are plaguing the WOSD. If elected, he said he would work to end the current top-down management style that is causing the teachers to feel a lack of respect from the district. Confronting the superintendent would not be a problem if needed, he said. Of course, he added that his door is always open to teachers willing to share their concerns.
Communication issues certainly factor into the dispute between teachers and district leadership. Yet parents and students, too, have expressed frustration with their inability to easily find information and share their feelings. The six candidates have plans to fix that.
Mordecai said that improving communication has been a priority for her ever since joining the board, and she has a lot to show for it. She said she brought “board briefs” to the district so that residents can read the highlights of meetings and she successfully advocated for the meetings to be televised. She said the board has also hired a consultant to improve its social media communications and promote district events.
For as much as she has accomplished, though, Mordecai said she still has a lot she wants to get done. For one, she said, she wants to make sure schools are updating their websites frequently so that community members will know what is going on. She is also interested in having teachers record podcasts of their lessons so that students can revisit them online, though she admitted that this dream may only come to fruition down the line.
Especially important to Mordecai is the idea of holding college and career fairs specifically geared toward special needs students. The incumbent recalled that she learned so much at such a fair for her own son, but West Orange currently has nothing like it. If the district held an event like that, she said parents could find out about applying for guardianship over their son or daughter and obtaining their children’s grades in college. And their children will have an easier time transitioning into the next stage of their lives as a result, she said.
“They all want to go to college too,” Mordecai said in an Oct. 20 interview. “They have big dreams. Everybody wants to be successful. So why not show them how to get there?”
Robertson’s solution for improving communication is the same as his idea for easing internal tensions — adding lines of open dialog. Specifically, he said he would pursue conducting climate surveys for students, parents and teachers as well as hosting focus groups and town hall meetings. That way, he said, the BOE can learn about what stakeholders want and look into satisfying them.
In addition, Robertson said he wants to create a better district website that can be used as a “communications hub” for anyone seeking regularly updated school news. Since not every parent speaks English and yet the current website’s translator tool does not always work well, he said he would like for the website to cater to people’s differing language needs.
Christiano views the biggest breakdown in communication as that between the administration and the teachers due to the district’s “top-down management style” creating a “toxic atmosphere.” He wants to bring together Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Rutzky and district teachers for a “significant” conversation about the issues that have soured their relationship and get on the same page going forward.
Atterberry said that board members should be accessible at all times and, to further foster communication, she said she would like to hold informal forums in which parents can gather with board members for coffee. That way, she said, people can express concerns or ask questions in a relaxed environment, which will go a long way toward building community.
Sherman said the BOE must be accessible to parents and teachers alike so that its members can know what is going on around the district. She too recommended too that the board hold open forums to give parents the chance to share their concerns and ask questions. She also said schools can appoint teacher liaisons to the BOE who could speak on behalf of anonymous teachers. Above all, she said parents and teachers simply need to feel comfortable sharing their feelings without fear of repercussion.
The school district’s communication issues are no secret to Diaz. In fact, he has experienced difficulty obtaining needed information firsthand.
“There is an obvious (inability) of those who are in charge to communicate information about curriculum, about activities, about events, about where the district is headed with the average parent,” Diaz said in an Oct. 20 interview. “The mode of communication needs to be improved. The delivery of that communication needs to be improved.”
Diaz said the board first has to improve the district’s website, which he called the “least user-friendly site I’ve ever had to use,” as well as its digital communication. He said he would be in favor of sending more robo-calls out to alert parents of upcoming events. And he said he would make sure that all of West Orange’s special needs children who go to school outside the district are alerted to district programs in which they could participate because they are part of the community, too. He recalled that a friend with a severely autistic son once told him that she never gets any notice about events, and he promised that would change if he is elected.
There is a final Board of Education candidates debate tonight, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. at West Orange High School, sponsored by the West Orange Council of PTAs and the League of Women Voters. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, be sure to cast your vote for two of the six candidates running for the Board of Education.
Debate photos by Sean Quinn
Six try for just 2 open seats on Board of Ed added by Sean Quinn on
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