School Board Candidate Dr. Richard Lavery: Keep Spending Under Control

Name: Dr. Richard Lavery

Children in district? Four.

Education: Biology bachelor's with minors in chemistry and psychology from Western New England College. Doctor of Chiropractic from Pennslyvania College of Straight Chiropractic.

Occupation: Morris Catholic High School biology teacher.

Community service: Coached Hopatcong Hawks soccer for about a decade. Volunteered with many school organizations and events. Was on Hopatcong's ad hoc budget committee. Active at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Stanhope, teaching Sunday school, confirmations classes and volunteering with vacation bible school.

Why you should vote for me: "The employees of the school system must contribute a reasonable amount to their pensions and health care. On this point I agree with the governor. In these difficult financial times, I believe raises should be kept to near zero as we try to save teacher's jobs instead of increasing pay. The town has lost too many good teachers over the past two years and the students cannot afford to continue this trend as it will adversely affect them. Class size has been growing and this will adversely effect our children's education. Extracurricular programs are also important and are needed for students in order to compete for college admission. These programs are important to the students and for the students. I do not want to see any more eliminated. I would like to see the marching band reinstated to the school district. As a taxpayer in the town myself, I would like to keep our tax increases as low as possible. Many people are suffering in this current financial situation and we need to be considerate of them. But we are also seeing the schools hit with major increases in health care and oil prices just to name a few items. The governor has placed a cap of 2 percent on the schools and a allowance for increases in cost for health insurance. The schools must function within this cap. All audits have shown that the school district is accomplishing a great deal with very little wiggle room. There is next to nothing to cut without hurting the children's education. There is no waste, contrary to what some people believe. People can see the numbers for themselves. Our town budget has hardly ever passed and the Hopatcong school system has had to become lean and trim long before the governor tightened the budget further. Further cuts would be disastrous for the schools. We need to pass a budget for a change. We need to let the children get a good education."

What are the most important issues facing the Hopatcong Board of Education? "We need to keep the current high academic standards and achievements in the school system without eliminating the extracurricular activities. We need to keep spending under control and negotiate reasonable contracts with school employees. We need to get a fair budget passed in the town."