Hillsborough School Board Election 2022: Jane Staats

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough Township Board of Education general election on Nov. 8 has six candidates running for four open seats.

Jane M. Staats is the lone candidate running unopposed for the one, two-year unexpired seat up for grabs.

Additionally, there are five candidates running for one of the three, three-year full-term seats on the school board. Those candidates include Danny Lee, Jean Trujillo, Thomas J. Zobele, Joshua Gamse, and Joel E. Davis.

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

(All of the candidates were given the same questions)

Jane Staats

Age: 64

Town of residence: I have lived in Hillsborough for 36 years.

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: My husband Greg and I have been married for 37 years. We have a son, Wayne, who is a sportswriter and editor in Atlanta, Georgia.

Education: I earned my bachelor’s degree in English and mathematics at La Salle College in 1980, and my master’s degree in mathematics education at Rutgers University in 1990.

Occupation: I am currently retired. I was a public-school math teacher for 32 years, 18 at Hillsborough High School.

Previous or current elected appointed office: I served on the Hillsborough Board of Education for three years, from 2019 through 2022.

Campaign website: My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/staat... “Jane Staats – Hillsborough Board of Education”

Why are you seeking to run for School Board?

I have always felt a sense of obligation to serve others in the community. With my expertise and passion for education in particular, I have contributed as a public-school math teacher, tutor, school volunteer, and school board member. I would like to continue to contribute my services on the school board again. I intend to use my expertise, experience, and knowledge in the field of education to serve all Hillsborough students.

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

Regarding school finances in general, local boards and administration have little control over the total amount of the budget. The tax levy portion of the budget is capped at a 2% increase of the previous year's tax levy. Also, the state determines how much money each district gets in state funds, based on an outdated formula, and it has subsequently resulted in reductions in state funds for Hillsborough. Having said that, the administration, board, HEA, and state legislators commendably collaborated to get an additional million dollars from the state this year.

About the only way that the Board and the administration have control over the budget is how they distribute the less-than-needed amount of money in the budget. In general, their decisions are quite good considering how their hands are tied.

The current investigation has revealed that there have been problems regarding finances. Since it's an ongoing investigation, we don't have enough information to make a final determination about this particular matter yet.

The budget for 2021-2022, which was unanimously approved by the board, included maintaining current staff and hiring four additional teaching positions in order to address large class sizes. However, the administration chose not to follow the budget; they decided that no additional teaching positions would be hired, and that two elementary teaching positions would be eliminated. (The decision was not due to teacher shortages.) I disagreed with those decisions during committee meetings and board meetings, but to no avail.

According to the Code of Ethics for School Board Members, the board is tasked with not running the schools, but to make sure the schools are well run. Using a “trust but verify” approach, the board must increase its vigilance and oversight to make sure that finances are being handled correctly. And I am confident that recent changes in the administration and in administrative practices will improve the handling of finances by the administration, and that it will be done more transparently.

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

I read through the updated health curriculum, including the changes to sex education. I fully support them. The accusations about Hillsborough’s curriculum are unfounded. They are based on conjecture and hearsay. The curriculum is appropriate at each grade level. As written and implemented, the changes are necessary to provide our students with the knowledge and understanding to protect themselves and their health. Of course, parents may opt their child out of portions of the curriculum due to their personal or religious beliefs, and I totally support that option.

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

I am definitely in favor of a later school start time for high school students. I have attended presentations and read books and articles by experts in this field. They emphasize that later school start times for teenagers is better for their health and learning. They need at least eight hours of sleep, but their circadian rhythms prevent them from going to bed at an earlier hour. Yes, the devil is in the details, especially regarding busing and athletics. But it is doable, as evidenced by other districts implementing later school start times for their high school students.

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

The district needs to improve trust in the administration and the board. In addition to suggestions that I mentioned above in relation to finances, communication with parents, staff, and the general community also needs to improve. When possible, communication should be proactive, especially regarding forthcoming changes such as changes to the curriculum. Input from parents and members of the community can be quite valuable. Non-board meetings where there can be respectful, two-way communication between people, including in small groups and/or one-to-one conversations, can lead to effective dialogue.

Perhaps tangentially related to trust (or lack thereof) is the low morale of the staff, and that ties into the current teacher shortage. True collaboration between the administration and staff would lead to a more comfortable environment for the staff and better learning experiences for students. For instance, if a decision that affects students is going to be implemented by teachers, then teachers should be part of the decision-making process. As experts in their fields, along with their current experience with students, the teachers can provide valuable input so that students can be more appropriately served. In general, information about any person, group, or documents should be obtained by communicating directly with the relevant people (for example, NHS advisors) and by consulting actual documents (Hillsborough’s curriculum). Conjectures and manufactured, baseless accusations are never appropriate, and sometimes they malign the character of staff members.

Diversity and equity are issues that have become controversial, unfortunately. A diverse staff is beneficial to our students. Each student gains from learning from staff who are like themselves, and learning from and about those who are unlike themselves broadens their perspective. Equity issues regarding many categories can always improve. We need to address the disproportionate representation in honors course, as well as disproportionate practices and expenditures in extracurricular activities and athletic programs.

Class sizes are much too high. Some elementary class sizes are in the upper 20s. A handful of the classes in grades 5 through 8 are as high as 30, and many in the high school are over 30. Hopefully, a future budget would include additional teaching positions. Lower class sizes directly benefit the students.

What sets you apart from the other challenging candidates?

I am running unopposed, but I will share some of my unique traits.

As stated above, I am involved in a variety of volunteer activities and past experiences that will better inform my experience on the board. I served three years on the board. I learned a lot and evolved from that experience.

I doggedly pursue whatever I feel is a necessary goal, but always in a respectful manner. If there is a contentious issue, I will initially work behind the scenes to resolve it. If that proves unsuccessful, I will resort to more public avenues – but still respectfully so. My mantra is “Be truthful and kind to everyone.” I try to follow that myself, and I encourage others to do so as well. I listen, truly listen to people, especially if I disagree with them on an issue. I always learn from listening to them. I believe I am quite empathetic, and I encourage others to try to empathize. I avoid using a “gotcha” approach with people. It’s not respectful, and it’s usually counterproductive if the goal is to be persuasive and to change minds.

As a math teacher at Hillsborough High School, I have had an inside, unfiltered view of education in Hillsborough. I have stood up for the underdog, and I have pushed for policies and practices that I believed were best for the students, even when encountering resistance when I challenged the status quo.

I volunteer at my church, with the Municipal Alliance, and as an artist for HHS Theatre and Somerset Valley Playhouse. I am an independent thinker, and I listen to many points of view, especially opposing ones. After give-and-take of a respectful, compelling argument, I have changed my mind on issues, and I have changed others’ minds. Well-rounded in personal attributes and contributions to the Hillsborough community, I am a collage of a distinctive combination of experience, expertise, knowledge, open-mindedness, understanding, and empathy. I believe that information should be gleaned from original sources, not from conjectures and rumors.

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

I commend the administration for its dedication to social/emotional learning, as well as mental health and substance abuse issues. Such learning has always existed to some degree in schools, but now the more formalized, concerted efforts ensure its implementation. When children learn how to deal with stress and disappointment and how to interact with others, they became better academic learners and better members of their communities now and in the future.

I have a dry sense of humor! If used appropriately, humor can diffuse tenseness in certain situations.

Be truthful and kind to everyone – including people who are not truthful or kind to you.