Schools

BOE Candidates' Priorities: Permanent Superintendent, Fiscal Responsibility, More Transparency

School board incumbents, challengers answer questions, outline platforms in public forum.

Editor's Note: Not all of the candidates' views and opinions from the event covered are included in this article. Some topics were summarized for space and readability. Closing statements were not included in this article.

Finding a permanent superintendent, practicing fiscal responsibility, and the continued funding of extra-curricular activities. Potential and incumbent school board candidates discussed these and other important issues at the township’s annual Candidates Night Tuesday.

Six residents are running for three, three-year terms: Incumbents Darren Del Sardo, Donald Pavlak Jr., and Joan Walsh; and challengers Gregory Janz, Robyn Kingston, and Laura Stinziano.

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Barbara King, from the League of Women Voters, moderated the question-and-answer style event. Each candidate gave an opening and closing statement. 

Every candidate stressed the need to immediately hire a permanent superintendent. Incumbents spoke of actions they have taken to save taxpayers money, including the hiring of a grant writer and installing solar panels at several schools.

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“It has been a pleasure maintaining our district’s longstanding educational values, while demanding fiscal accountability for each dollar spent,” Del Sardo said. “I do believe that a lot of work needs to be completed.”

Pavlak has lived in Wayne his entire life. He is seeking a third term.

“I’ve seen this community grow from a farm community to what it is today,” said Pavlak, a 25-year veteran of the Wayne Police Department. “I’ve dedicated my life to this community.”

Walsh and Del Sardo have each served one term on the board.

“I made several promises my first term: To be fiscally accountable, find innovative ways to generate and save money, and [to foster] better communication between the board and parents. It has been a priority of mine to keep those promises.”

Janz served in the Marines for 13 years. He spoke of the fact that everyone in the district needs to work together to be successful. He said he chose to run to be a part of the team that improves education in the district.

“That is the best way an educational system can operate. Without the team approach, the system falls apart,” Janz said.

The district can, and should, according to Janz, develop a working relationship with the town council and ensure that core educational principles are maintained. He suggested analyzing the budget to “identify areas where savings can be achieved” and to “ensure financial restraint.”

Del Sardo and Walsh are running together. Kingston and Stinziaon are also running together.  Janz and Palvak are running independently.

Stinziano has lived in Wayne for 30 years. She taught in middle school and high school for 10 years.

“I believe our district needs board members who can provide results,” Stinziano said.

Del Sardo, an attorney, said he wants to give back to the community by ensuring residents’ taxes are spent in a responsible way.

“We must do whatever it takes to keep tax dollars closest to the students and not spend anything on waste,” Del Sardo said. ‘I think taxpayers deserve financial relief and less lip service by members of this board.”

Question and Answer

Moderator King posed several questions submitted by the Wayne Council of Parent Teacher Organizationss, a non-profit organization that works to represent the parents, teachers, and students of Wayne. Stinziano and Kingston were, until they announced their candidacy, co-presidents of the organization.

Question: If elected, what changes would you like to see and how would you plan to achieve these changes?

Walsh: Search for a superintendent. The board has been “very diligent” in its attempt to find a permanent one and that process has been “a challenging one.” The board must also find creative ways to generate more revenue.

Stinziano: Focus on reviewing and evaluating academic programs, especially math. Last year, all three middle schools failed to meet their yearly progress goals. George Washington Middle School has failed two consecutive years. The district also needs to support academic programs in a cost-effective way.

Kingston: We need to properly attract higher-qualified faculty candidates and properly evaluate academic programs. As evidence of this, Kingston said she could not find any data on the “success or failure” of a new middle school academic pilot program that began three years ago.  She said the culture of the board must change. Officials must communicate better with residents in order to share their vision for improvement.

Janz: More collaboration with teachers. The teachers understand what needs to be taught. Too often those decisions are given to them by the board or a central office. If they are allowed to teach those fundamental skills, the district will succeed.

Pavlak: Hire a superintendent who possesses vision. This person needs to be responsive and aware of the changes that need to occur in order for the district to be successful. Academic programs should be reviewed.

“We’ve learned our lesson with our students going into high school having a very difficult time with algebra,” Pavlak said.

Del Sardo: The district needs to hire a superintendent with vision and “vast experience.” He also mentioned his desire to keep the tax burden on residents as low as it can be. He said the district has lowered the district’s tax per pupil amount to below the state average.

Question: How would you better facilitate communication with the public?

Stinziano: She said she would be accessible to all community members and would respond promptly to any and all inquiries.

Del Sardo: He said the board re-established the community relations committee and implemented a “Q&A” section on the board’s Web site where residents can submit their questions.

Pavlak: Teachers must utilize School Fusion, an online data management system and information tool. Pavlak said not every teacher uses the system, however.

“I want you to be able to go online and see how your child did in the classroom, to see what grade he or she got on a quiz right after they take it, not a week later.”

He also said the board is looking into recording and broadcasting its public work sessions.

Kingston: The district must build a culture of trust. The board and superintendent must possess a common vision and work together to communicate that common vision.

Walsh: She is the chairperson of the board’s communication committee and promises that answers have, and will continue to be, given to residents “in a timely manner.” She said that a survey was given to parents about communication. She said the parents were “very satisfied with what we’re doing so far.”

Janz: He said communication starts within the school buildings. Communication between the parents and teachers, principal, and assistant principals is necessary. He said teachers must make continuous use of the School Fusion system.

Question: What do you see as the major issues facing our school district, as well as public education?

Kingston: They are the same challenges families are facing at home and in our businesses: Expenses are increasing and our funding is decreasing.

Janz: Funding is paramount. He said he believes that the board needs to develop relationships with the associations that represents district employees. “When times were good, public employees had great contracts, we got good raises. Additionally, the private sector was doing well. The private sector is not doing well. As a result, public employees also have to share that burden, without affecting classrooms.”

Del Sardo: He said that the state is providing the district more and more mandates while taking away more and more finances. In order to maintain academic and extra-curricular activities, a “balancing act” is required. He said taxpayers deserve relief, but that the district is dependent on tax dollars to fund those programs.

Walsh: The district must not only maintain the level of educational excellence the district has created, it must be improved upon.

Stinziano: Finding a way to hire a superintendent within the $175,000 salary cap imposed by Governor Chris Christie. However, there are districts who have hired a superintendent under the cap.

Pavlak: “What’s coming out of Trenton is binding everyone’s hands,” he said. “Charter schools are taking money out of our budget.” According to Pavlak, it costs taxpayers $15,000 of county tax dollars to send a child to Passaic County Technical Institute.

Question: In the past five years, how many board of education elections have you voted in and what you have done to educate yourself in matters of the board?

Del Sardo: Has voted in “three or four” of the last elections. He reads legislation, attends seminars. A lawyer, Del Sardo has also represented parents and district officials during litigation.

Kingston and Stinziano: Have voted in the last five elections. They developed a presentation on how graduates of the Wayne School District are performing after they leave the district.

Pavlak: Has voted in the last 10 or more elections. As a Wayne police officer, he sees people on a daily basis and finds out what they think of the community and the school district, on a regular basis.  “It is important to hear from the other side of the dais.” He said getting a different perspective on issues from residents has changed his opinions on things.

Janz: Has voted in “three or four” of the previous five elections. A longtime educator in the Bergen County school system he has been involved in what the state’s education mandates are and how to integrate them into the district’s long-term plan. He also visits the New Jersey School Board Association’s Web site regularly.

Walsh: She is a 10-year voter. She attends classes and seminars offered by the New Jersey School Board Association.

Question: How would you propose that the Wayne School District do more with less?

Pavlak: He said the district is doing more with less. The district lost more than $8 million last year. The district has become more efficient, noting that the board has gone to a paperless agenda.

Walsh: “Do you realize that we cut the budget, between our cuts and the state cuts, by $10 million. There seems to be a misconception out there that we’ve cut $400,000,” she said. “In two years we’ve cut our budget 10 percent.”

Janz: The district must consider implementing the health care plan offered by the state and sharing services with the township. Janz also mentioned the possibility of consolidating managerial positions between the township and the school district.

Del Sardo: “Doing more with less, you’re seeing it in action,” he said. Del Sardo said that fixed costs can’t be controlled, but that officials are looking for “initiatives” to save the district more money.

Kingston and Stinziano: The pair said the board needs to ensure that there is no wasteful spending and explore the possibility of sharing services with the township.

The candidates said that charter schools drain money from public school budgets. They are not a viable, long-term solution to providing students with a higher level of education in New Jersey.

The incumbents and challengers agreed that fewer special needs students should be sent out of district. Sending students out of district can often cost thousands or millions of dollars a year.

After-school and extra-curricular activities are essential to students’ social development and should not be cut. They also said that asking teachers and staff to pay 1.5 of their salaries for their health benefits is not unreasonable.

“I do think 1.5 percent is a reasonable amount,” Stinziano said.


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