Administration Thoughts

Before the election, someone posed this question to me -

"Is it a Bd. member’s job to do what the community wants?

OR

Is it a Bd. member’s job to do what’s the best thing for community?



They may not be the same thing for many reasons.

The community may not know all the pertinent details; costs, repercussions, laws etc.

The community may only be thinking of their family, not the entire community.

Many parents/residents elect Bd. members expecting them to do “the right thing” and don’t expect to have to get petitions together, go to meetings en mass etc. The fact that this group is not heard from doesn’t mean that they don’t care. They’re just leading their living doing their job expecting their elected offocials to do the job they were elected to do."

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this - and have also discussed it with people in various areas of the Board of Education - both local and on a state level.

In my opinion, the answer, although there is no absolute one, is that a Board member should do what is best for the community - thinking of the students first and the community as a side to them. We are a Board of EDUCATION - which means our main function is to provide a good education to the children of the community.

One of those functions involves the employment of Administrative positions. There has been so much controversy over the positions and those that hold them. As anyone who has read my prior post will see, I had bought into that controversy - until I was more informed. I ask you all to do the same - become informed.

Prior to the vote this past Monday, I spent an enormous amount of time looking for the contracts of Superintendents in surrounding districts. I found some - and ALL that I found showed that our Superintendent was receiving a lower salary and lower benefits. I was not able to find one in Morris County where our Superintendent was receiving a higher salary. That played a huge part in my decision to vote YES for the administrative raises. Not giving them a raise would probably mean a turnover in the position next year - which means the cost of getting a new person in the position (not only the search firm if needed but just the cost of a new employee). It also means a step backwards. We have advanced this past year. We got off to a rocky start - but I think all have learned from past mistakes and our Administrative team is doing a fantastic job of keeping people informed of anything that is being considered. I hope to see our test scores being pushed up this year. I hope the next time the rankings are released we are higher than our previous 98. I hope the students coming out of our High School over the next few years are getting into even better colleges and careers than they ever have. And I believe all of these things will come to fruition if we let our team continue on their vision for the future of our children.

For those that read the editorial in Saturday's paper, I hope you looked to the next page - where Randolph hired a new Superintendent for $189,000. The next time you think we are paying our Administrators too high of a salary - take a look at the districts around us and you may find that you are mistaken. Our children are competing for the same jobs and college placements as the children in our neighboring districts - they deserve the best opportunity we can give them to be competitive. Don't buy into the media. Believe that most on the Board of Education are there to do what they believe is best for the students - not for any personal gain or recognition.

Annette