3 Takeaways From Bernards Township's School Board Candidate Debate

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Candidates for three seats on the Bernards Township Board of Education faced off at Ridge High School on Thursday at a debate hosted by The League of Women Voters and members of the Ridge High School Empowerment for Political Participation (REPP).

Incumbent Lawrence Rascio, Deborah Marcus, and Erin Weber (who are all running together under the slogan "Securing Kids' Education"); Incumbent Jennifer White (running under the slogan "Experienced Effective Educator"); and Janice Corrado who is running together with David Shaw (under the slogan "Responsible Informed Leadership") are vying for one of the three, three-year seats on the Board.

Questions generated by members of the public and screened by the League to eliminate duplicates and personal attacks were asked of the candidates.

Each candidate had two minutes for opening statements, 90 seconds for answering questions, 30 seconds for rebuttals and two minutes for closing statements.

Three Main Takeaways From The Debate:

Question 1: What factors do you believe contribute to teacher retention and how do you intent to work on those factors?

White: "The first way to retain teachers is to treat them with value and respect. And to trust that they know what they are doing."

Shaw: "Treating our teacher with respect is so key. Other things that re important to teachers is money but really number one to teachers is respect. When looking at books and not listening to teachers that's a huge factor."

Rascio: "Our teachers are only paid $1,000 over the state median. They are significantly underpaid compared to other schools in our category." Who added that the district is top-heavy in terms of pay with administrators. "How do you retain teachers? You pay them more."

Weber: Noted that Bernards Township Schools are ranked number 1 in Somerset County but 9th out of 18 in pay. "That simply isn’t fair." He added that building maintenance also plays a factor in retention. "No teacher should have to worry about rodents in their classrooms and bathrooms that don't work. We want to make sure we get these kinds of things fixed so teachers can do what they do best, which is teaching."

Corrado: Noted that it is not about money but about making a difference. "We either value our teachers or we don't."

Marcus: Noted that the environment in which teachers work, such as with malfunctioning HVAC systems, plays a factor in retention. "Teachers can't teach and students can't learn if classrooms are uncomfortable."

Question 2: What types of budget cuts if any would you support? What would you specifically want to protect?

Corrado: "Our board should be more concerned with student outcomes. I've enjoyed hearing from the district's new business administrator Mr. Rollo, who has been doing a very good job at looking at things through fresh eyes. He has come up with creative solutions that take into account the complexity of school finance while increasing efficiency. I would like to see more of that."

Rascio: "Streamlining technology is a major focus in order to bring down costs. We implemented a new asset management software and a new accounting software. These will take much of the manual work out of the budget."

Weber: Said that he has requested line items and receipts. "Without access to this information, it is impossible to make meaningful suggestions to the budget."

White: "I don't want to see anything cut. I think all of our programs, our services are what make our district wonderful. … I would like us to increase guidance counselors, look at class sizes, look at electives we can offer."

Shaw: Suggested looking at things such as insurance, negotiating contracts with creative ideas such as rebates, credits or discounts, and reviewing maintenance, bus, and food contracts. "What we can't do is just cut assistant principals without thinking about it, without understanding what they do… we need to put our students first. They are not products they are not widgets."

Marcus: "We have 1,000 fewer students than we did 10 years ago and we still have the same administrative level. Now there is a chance... we definitely can look more deeply to move some of those salaries toward counselors, or higher pay for value teachers, or perhaps even consider tax cuts." She added also protecting the district's special needs program.

Question 3: What are the roles of Board of Education members versus administration and staff in the process of textbook selection?

Rascio: "The role of the Board and textbook selection is pretty clear in New Jersey law. All textbooks need to be reviewed and approved by the Board. The administration suggests textbooks through committees but at the end of the day, it is the Board of Ed's job to review and approve or reject every single textbook. That is not my opinion that is the law."

Corrado: "I strongly support listening to the recommendation of our expert educators regarding curriculum and books. That is not to say I would not ask questions if I had concerns about a particular book for a particular grade level or particular students... Cherrypicking isolated sentences to prove an ideological point shows a lack of objectivity and an unwillingness to learn from our expert educators."

Marcus: "As much as I value the teachers' recommendations, they are a vital part of the process, they are not the end of the process because they are not on the hook if there is any issue with it."

Shaw: Suggested listening to the expert and asking questions "When they come back with answers we should read those answers and not just reject them because it doesn't agree with our ideologies and that's what I have seen with this Board."

White: Noted that the textbook selection process is not flawed. "What is flawed is when a group of uneducated people think that they know more than the very people who have committed their careers to research and we don't respect what they say… it's not our place to say to the experts, 'Sorry, we know better than you'."

Weber: "So respect the teachers or the experts. Don't respect the uneducated people? Got it. It's cute to play politics with the word book ban and things like that, but it doesn’t do something for our school system though."

To view the entire debate see the video below:

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