Choice In Our Education: Livingston BOE Candidate Op-Ed

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The following op-ed comes courtesy of a Patch Livingston community member. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Choice is defined as “the act of choosing”, and choose is defined as “to select freely and after consideration “by Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The power of words is impressionable when we truly look at its definition. Choice or the act of choosing is a liberty ingrained in the idea of the existence of our nation. To select freely and after consideration is our right as citizens in any public concession. Choice is at the core of our push for equality and justice. We constantly battle the “right to choose,” to choose who we love, to choose what is best for our bodies, to choose representatives of our interest and other liberties of choice our rights grant us.

As we enter another school year in Livingston, NJ we do not have any choice on deciding the education of our children. A year ago Livingston Public Schools (LPS) sent all students home to commence the year, although 70% of the family surveys administered by LPS wanted to return to school. This year the families of Livingston did not get a survey to share their desires. This school year we now have a 360-degree reversal from all-remote to an all-in the building policy. Why can’t a compromise of hybrid learning be developed for the physical and mental well-being of our children and community? Is it a lack of forward thinking, a lack of effort or inefficiency in leadership? Livingston is supposed to be a leader in education, but we are in the pack following the herd.

Choice allows us to explore and provide diversity to solving problems and issues that are novel such as the pandemic we are currently living. On September 1, 2021 the Livingston Board of Education will vote on whether to give the community the “choice” to expand the board to include more members. This is a solution to diversity and inclusion offered in our Change for our Future campaign in 2020. LPS has recently added to its set of goals “diversity and inclusion” as a top priority. This is an opportunity for the current board members to show our town’s commitment to these principles of diversity and inclusion by welcoming more neighbors to the table in order to support a system that is vital to our children and community.

The current situation of the Pandemic is difficult and full of uncertainty. Its ramifications are widespread from the obvious physical ailment of those infected, to the deaths and effects on families, as well as the unknown mental toll to so many in particular frontline workers and children. The solution is choice, because it allows each of us to have a sense of power over our own health and well-being. As I talk to parents and children, whom say “I have no choice” when we discuss the new school year; I would hope that those that represent the community can understand that the best way to serve each constituent is by offering them a choice.

I am interested in hearing what choice you would like for your families and our community, please visit our campaign website at www.changeforourfuture.org so together we can create solutions.