Bernards School Board Election 2022: Janice Corrado

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Bernards Township Board of Education general election on Nov. 8 has nine candidates running for four open seats.

Janice Corrado is running under the campaign slogan "Education For All" along with Guddia "Herpreet" Singh, Erica Blackman, and Suzanne Schafer-Skalski.

Another group of candidates running under the campaign slogan "For Bernards Children" includes Csilla Csipak, Nimish Amin, Keith Molinari, and Lawrence Rascio.

Deborah E. Penner Smith is also running on her own under the campaign slogan "Special Education Teacher."

Blackman is vying for one of the three, three-year full-term seats up for grabs.

Are you running for office in Basking Ridge? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Basking Ridge Patch.

(All of the candidates were given the same questions)

Janice Corrado

Age: 63

Town of residence: Basking Ridge

Position sought: Three-year term as Bernards Township Board of Education member.

Family: Husband, Dave; daughters Catherine (20) and Kristen (14).

Education: BA in English, Rutgers University, New Brunswick; MA in Journalism, New York University; MAT in Elementary Education, William Paterson University; Post-graduate certification as reading specialist, Montclair State University.

Occupation: Reading interventionist, literacy coach, and classroom teacher; retired June 2020. Currently Vice President of Bernards Special Education Parent Advisory Committee.

Previous or current elected appointed office: N/A

Campaign website: www.bernardseducationforall.org

Why are you seeking to run for School Board?

The Bernards Township Board of Education has done an exceptional job in maintaining the highest standards for our students, as evidenced by its continued high ranking both statewide and nationally. I believe the Board would benefit from having a member who understands special needs students and families, and how the district might explore funding for the programs these students require. I also believe that having a member with experience as an educator will be helpful in considering ways the district can retain our exceptional teachers and recruit the best teachers as current staff members retire.

School finances have been an issue raised recently. Do you feel the Board and administration are handling this properly? And why?

Our district is fortunate to have both a superintendent and a school business administrator with decades of experience in school finance. The district’s continued high ranking among financial institutions, including having a AAA bond rating by Standard & Poor’s, shows that our district is exceptionally well managed. Fiscal responsibility is an important expectation of any Board member, and I am committed to keeping our district in excellent standing while keeping the cost to the taxpayers of our community in mind. I think it’s important to be open to discussion and to ideas from the community, especially as the needs of the district and of our students change over time. The expenses incurred during the pandemic are a good example of how this can happen, and why strong financial management is essential.

And why? The excellence of Bernards Township Schools is a big reason why property values remain so stable in our community, and why families continue to move into our township. Investing in our schools benefits all of our residents, even if they do not have a student enrolled in the district. If you research any school district in the state of New Jersey, you will find that nearly every district has been underfunded by the state for years and relies significantly on local tax contributions to meet the needs of their students. In Bernards Township, less than 8 percent of our school budget is funded by state aid. I’d like to explore ways we might work with other districts in the region to involve our state legislators in reexamining the School Funding Reform Act so the state provides additional funding to districts like ours.

How do you feel about the current sex-ed curriculum in the district?

Actually, the curriculum is a “health and physical education curriculum” rather than a “sex-ed curriculum,” and is mandated by the state of New Jersey. The focus of the curriculum is on keeping students safe and healthy starting in kindergarten all the way through grade 12. The extent to which students are taught about the prevention of transmissible disease, including but not limited to sexually transmitted infections, is a small but important part of the curriculum. I think the district did a great job of involving parents and others in the community in looking at the changes from the 2014 curriculum, and I think it’s helpful that parents are able to preview the lessons the week before they are presented in class and have their student “opt out” of a lesson if they feel the topic is not an appropriate one for their child.

Would you be in favor of a later school start time for students?

A later school start time would be beneficial from a health and wellness standpoint for the majority of our high-school students, who scientists say need an additional hour of sleep due to the changes in their developing brains and bodies. Many studies have cited improvements in attendance, academic outcomes, and mental health. I would love to see later school times for our district, although I know it would impact after-school sports programs. It would be interesting to see the data from districts who have successfully implemented it.

What other issues do you feel need to be tackled in the school district?

Our district should be promoting, through various media sources, the remarkable work going on in classrooms, the amazing work being done in STEM labs and workshops, the strong achievements of our athletes, the spectacular successes of our performing arts programs, the wonderful relationships students in our transition program have developed with businesses in our community – we have so much to be proud of, and I think we can do a better job of getting that information out to the world.

I also think we might begin exploring partnerships with other schools in the region to see where there might be opportunities for Ridge students to find a wider variety of technical or vocational training. Other schools might be willing to pay partial tuition to participate in some of our STEM and performing arts programs, among others, or we might explore an exchange system with another district offering programs we currently don’t.

The third area I’d like to see us focus on is working with our local and state legislators to determine opportunities for additional school funding. New Jersey is number 2 in the nation for education, thanks to our teachers and administrators; but the number of costly, time-intensive, unfunded state mandates really impacts the annual budget of the district and takes resources away from our students.

What sets you apart from the other challenging candidates?

I believe that the field of education is at a critical moment, facing challenges on many levels. I’ve spent my entire life in the world of education: my father was an assistant superintendent in a large urban school district for decades, my brother is a school superintendent in northern New Jersey, and we’ve always “talked school” around the dinner table and when we get together. I’ve also made lifelong friends of teachers, specialists, supervisors, and principals, and we share our thoughts and ideas about education. There are some innovative programs in our region that might spark cooperation with other districts to benefit our students. Our campaign theme, Education for All, really encapsulates what I see as the promise of education for all in our community, and I would be honored to be a part of the Board working to make that a reality in the coming years.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

Anyone who knows me or who has worked with me in the community knows that I approach every challenge with positivity and determination. Whether it has been working with the school district and special education families as Vice President of Bernards Special Education Parents Advisory Committee, or exploring opportunities in the community for our postgraduate students, I am dedicated to making sure that every student receives the education they are entitled to. I would love the opportunity to serve the community further as a member of the Board of Education.