Bernards Township School Board Election 2023: Janice Corrado

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Bernards Township's general election on Nov. 7 has six candidates running for three open seats for the Board of Education.

Janice Corrado is running for one of the three, three-year seats along with David Shaw.

Opposing candidates include Lawrence Rascio, Deborah Marcus, and Erin Weber (who are running as a team), and Jennifer White.

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Janice Corrado

Age: 64

Town of residence: Basking Ridge

Position sought: Bernards Township Board of Education Member

Family: Husband Dave; daughters Catherine (21) and Kristen (15)

Education: Postgraduate Reading Specialist certification, Montclair State University; M.A. in Teaching, William Paterson University; M.A. in Journalism, New York University; B.A. in English, Rutgers University

Occupation: Retired educator; President of Bernards Special Education Parent Advisory Committee; Board member, Bernards Parents for Exceptional Children

Previous or current elected appointed office: N/A

Campaign website: corradoshaw.com

Why are you seeking election for the Bernards Township Board of Education?

I am passionate about our public schools, and so grateful for the education that our daughters have received in Bernards Township. As a former educator, I know the dedication, expertise, and effort involved in building a consistently highly-ranked school district. People move to Bernards Township specifically so their children can attend our schools. The excellence of our schools is what keeps our property values high. I believe our school board needs a reset to once again focus on the needs of our students and to recognize and appreciate our teachers, administrators, and school staff who contribute so much to keeping our community strong.

Transportation is a statewide issue. Do you feel transportation issues are being handled well by the Board? Why or why not? If not, how do you propose improving it?

I am in complete agreement with the Board and the administration’s decision to consider double-tiered and triple-tiered transportation options for our district. The reality is that there are fewer buses and fewer drivers to service our students, and costs have become exorbitant. Looking at reallocating the available resources in a cost-effective way is a smart thing to do and necessary in order to contain costs.

It’s also a great boost for the health and well-being of our high school students, who may benefit from a later school start time and more hours of sleep. I applaud the district’s reaching out to families and staff who will be affected by changing school times in considering the best option for our schools. As always, these decisions must be made with the students’ best interests in mind. We certainly wouldn’t want to have a kindergartener spending an hour on a bus to get home, or students boarding a bus at 6:00 a.m. These are considerations that will be need to be weighed as well.

Security at schools remains a high priority. Are you happy with the district’s security plan for students and staff? If not, what would be your alternative?

To be honest, I was reluctant to see armed security personnel stationed at our elementary schools. But I respect and value the recommendations of Police Chief Burger, Superintendent Markarian, and the Security Director Werner who felt that our students would benefit from an added level of school security. I will always listen carefully to advice from the experts in our community.

As president of the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee, I know that some of our neurodiverse students may communicate or respond to officers differently, and that may require our officers to have some additional training. But I am confident that our district’s special services and security staff will provide whatever our SLEO III staff will need to be equipped to handle situations that may arise involving our special needs students.

I know that these officers have been warmly welcomed and that they have already become a valued member of each school’s community.

Censorship of books and curriculum has recently risen as a topic of discussion on the Board. How do you feel about how the Board is handling this?

I strongly support the recommendations of our expert educators regarding curriculum and textbooks; they have spent years of study in their content areas as well in the field of educational pedagogy, and the Board should trust them to make the necessary curriculum decisions and necessary accommodations for an individual family’s or student’s needs. They have always done so, and I trust that they will continue to do so.

Board members are partners in a collaborative process of approving curriculum and textbook requests. The Board must and should bring questions to the committee, and they should receive thorough and fact-based responses from teachers and supervisors they work with on curriculum committees.

But there is no place in this process for ideology to influence the education of our public school students. They are entitled to learn different viewpoints that reflect the world we are living in, and if we limit their access to ideas, there will be long-term implications for our students’ ability to work with others and to succeed in life after they graduate from our schools.

I feel that the Board has a lot of work to do to better understand the role of its members in the curriculum and textbook review process.

Trust and transparency are a high priority for voters. Do you feel the Board is transparent or how would you like the Board to improve this?

It’s very easy to tout “trust” and “transparency” as campaign slogans. And the reality becomes quite clear from the very first meeting of a newly-installed Board. Since the current Board’s first meeting in January of this year, we have seen a divided Board that has great difficulty sharing information and coming to consensus when making voting decisions. Committee reports include only certain members’ comments, dismissing the comments of Board members who may disagree. This is not indicative of a well-functioning Board that is transparent with one another or with the public.

Over the past couple of years, there has been a great deal of criticism of previous Boards for not providing committee reports to the community in advance of public Board meetings so residents are well informed and can ask pertinent questions before the Board votes on agenda items. The promise made by the current Board to do so in the spirit of “transparency” has not been fulfilled. We are still waiting to receive those committee reports on a consistent basis before Board meetings.

I honestly have grave concerns about the ease with which some Board members defy their own Board’s policies and the oath of office they have sworn as school board members. Some Board members correspond independently with individuals in the community about Board business, in violation of board policy. Some post on social media without an up-front disclaimer that they are posting as private citizens and not school board members. A recent Open Public Records Act request raised the question of a quorum of Board members meeting in private to discuss the 2023-24 school budget in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act.

I have concerns that the current Board may not be operating in a truthful and transparent way with members of the public, despite what their campaign literature might claim.

What other issues do you feel need to be tackled on the school board?

If a Board cannot listen to and learn from one another, they cannot make thoughtful and knowledgeable decisions on the wide variety of complex educational issues facing our public schools. As we have clearly seen during the sociology textbook approval process, there is a definite personal ideology guiding the decisions of a majority of this Board. They do not listen to or consider the perspectives of more seasoned Board members, or of the teachers and administrators who have decades of educational experience in a content area.

The future of our schools and the education of our students depend on the Board making sound decisions that go deeper than financial and operational considerations. I think it’s time the Board starts having conversations about student needs and outcomes. Ensuring the education of students is the most important responsibility a school board has. That’s why this election is so important. We need to return our focus to our students.

What sets you apart from the challenging candidates?

As president of the Bernards Special Education Parent Advisory Committee, I am one of the only candidates who has current experience working with parents, administrators, teachers, and Board members on issues that affect the education of our students. It’s not always easy to come to consensus on programs and policies, and it requires an open mind and a willingness to listen to all perspectives in order to come up with viable solutions.

I think this quality of consensus-building is lacking on our current Board. We need to stop arguing, stop posturing, and start working towards solutions. We need leadership that knows how to listen and guide the Board to thoughtful, considered consensus on issues of priority. If we are not putting the needs of our students first in all decisions, we have lost our way. Political ideology, ego-driven decisions, and performative soundbites do not belong on a nonpartisan school board.

As a daughter and a sister of school superintendents, I understand what the role of a Board member is. I also can recognize when an issue is beyond the purview of a local school board, and when it is time for Board members to take educational concerns to Trenton. We need to have a stronger voice in influencing educational policy. After all, that’s where state mandates originate.

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

Over the past few months, David Shaw and I have been welcomed by so many people in Bernards Township who truly care about our schools and our students. They want to see a Board that functions in the best interest of students.

We have heard wonderfully positive stories about the impact our teachers and administrators have made on students in our community, and we’ve also heard heartbreaking stories from families whose children are suffering socially and emotionally.

David and I believe one of the Board’s first priorities in January should be to revisit the recommendations of the district’s DEI Report, and to convene roundtable discussions with district parents, students, teachers, and administrators to address these recommendations so that our students and families feel safe, welcomed and valued in school and in our community. The needs are great. It’s past time we addressed them.