Transparency

As an educator myself, I can attest that the lack of transparency coming from our BOE is atypical. This is NOT the way that the BOE acts in every community. With the exception of those areas protected by law, such as personnel, student privacy, or negotiations, BOE members are typically interested in engaging with the public - after all it's the public who elected them! A more common dynamic is for the BOE to be contentious with school administration or the teachers' association, but they are nearly never combative with the community.

An example of this is the proposed change in policy regarding public comment. I strongly urge all Chesterfield residents to read the proposed BOE policy #1120. The changes that have been enacted to Trenton's and Jersey City's BOE meetings are eerily similar to what is being proposed in Chesterfield. The proposed changes to our policy include: The board president can limit the overall length of time for public comment, reduced the time for each speaker (from 5 mins to 3 mins), no opportunity to ask questions to the BOE. not to mention the general distaste for hearing opinions from the community on issues spanning from budget allocations to internet safety. Should this new policy pass, I am also concerned about how much power over public comment might be centralized in the hands of our board president, who has shown questionable judgment in the past when interacting with constituents during meetings. It needs to be reinforced to our BOE now (and ultimately in November) that they represent Chesterfield and representing us means being a willing ear to the interests of the community, not usurping our voice under the guise of updating policy.

The tone of board meetings is typically antagonistic, and our board typically seems irritated when constituents attend and have questions and concerns. In fact, those in attendance have been told on varying occasions that we are allowed to attend meetings to watch them work. We are not there to comment or ask questions. They are correct that this is the purpose of open meetings, but it isn't best practice in how to lead and engage a community that is passionate and supportive of public education. You'll find me to be a person who understands that we can all do more when we work together and working together means showing a grasp of all the 21st century skills we want to see in our students: treating one another with respect, communicating effectively, solving problems collaboratively, listening more and talking less. These are the skills that we should model for our children, and that starts at the top, with the elected members of the Board of Education.