Candidate Profile: 'Respectful Dialogue' Needed on Regional BOE, Challenger Says

After nearly three years serving Mendham Township as a committeeman, and currently as Deputy Mayor, Rob Strobel is looking to represent the township on the West Morris Regional High School District Board of Education.

Strobel, 53, graduated Mendham High School in 1979 and has lived in the area for 39 years.

The married father of two spends his days as an attorney with a large technology company, working on multi-million dollar contract negotiations and compliance issues.

Prior to his term on the Mendham Township Committee, Strobel spent a decade on the municipality’s Environmental Commission and coached intramural soccer.

Strobel is challenging two-term incumbent James Button in the Nov. 4 Election.

Patch asked both candidates to answer a variety of questions for this profile piece heading into Election Day. Below are Strobel’s answers unedited.

Patch: Why are you running for the board of education?
Rob Strobel: For me the reasons are simple: I will have children in the high school for 7 of the next 8 years. I want to make sure they and every Mendham Township student have the same tremendous experience at Mendham High that I had. I am very concerned that the current Board is gridlocked by a lack of respectful dialogue. Mendham Township has only one vote on the 9 member Board. Even though the Mendhams and Chesters now have a 5-4 majority, that advantage is being squandered by a lack of respectful dialogue and consensus building on issues that are important to Mendham Township.

Patch: What changes, if any, would you hope to implement over the next three years as a member of the board?
RS: My efforts will be focused on leading the Board towards respectful dialogue and consensus building on the following issues: (1) a Board sponsored tax formula change; (2) continued focus on an excellent education meeting the needs and abilities of every student; (3) making Mendham High a leader in STEM education; (4) reducing student stress, and (5) improved career and college guidance.

Patch: In 2016 the board of education will have the ability to change the district’s vote for members and budget back to April after it was switched in 2012. How would you vote, and why?
RS: I have the utmost faith in the voters of Mendham Township and would return a vote on the budget to them. The only downside is the low voter turn-out in the April elections, which are focused solely on electing school board members and voting on budgets. These can occur “under the radar”. However, I do not see this as enough of a reason to deny our community a vote on the budget.

Patch: What is the biggest misstep the board has made in the last one to two years? What vote did it make – or not make – that negatively impacted the district?
RS: The biggest misstep the board has made is its failure to allow a vote on a change in the funding formula. The measure failed again at the Board’s September meeting, when it was introduced by the Mendham Township representative without advance notice and very late in a long meeting. Good boardsmanship and consensus-building require advance work and preparation. With a 5-4 Mendham/Chester Board majority, this misstep can be remedied through respectful dialogue and consensus building among, at a minimum, the 5 Mendham/Chester representatives. Frankly, there is a strong case to be made that the 4 Washington Township representatives should also agree, if for no other reason than to get the issue out of the Board meetings and into the hands of the voters.

Patch: Over the next half decade, enrollment is projected to decline at a consistent rate. What should the district do, if anything, to accommodate this situation by not leaving classrooms or school buses empty?
RS: There is a demographic component to the feasibility study of reconfiguring the district that is due to be completed in late January. I worked hard to get all 4 governing bodies in the Mendhams and Chesters to join in this study and the results should be quite informative, including on the demographics issue. If the results of a 2 year old Board sponsored study continue to be accurate, it likely will show declining enrollment. If so, variable costs (teachers, food, transportation, etc.) must drop. Fixed costs such as classrooms obviously can’t be eliminated; in the short run that is not a particular problem for Mendham High, which is currently over-crowded. In the long run, we will need to look to ways to re-purpose those classrooms such as for expanded STEM facilities.

Patch: Faced with the 2-percent tax cap in the state of New Jersey, what ways will you, as a board member, be sure to keep taxpayers’ funds used properly, especially in the light of declining enrollment.
RS: Beyond taking out variable costs, the Superintendent has promised that continued improvement at Mendham High does not require more money. I will work hard to hold him to that commitment. Again, costs, including for teachers, must come down as enrollment declines. We already have low student teacher ratios of 10.9 to 1 in Mendham High and 11.3 to 1 at Central. My opponent’s proposal to further improve the ratios at Mendham by moving teachers from Central to Mendham is remarkable for a sitting Mendham Township Board member, who should know that at until enrollment declines, classrooms will remain in short supply at Mendham. When enrollment does decline, we should not see open classrooms as a reason to bear unnecessary salary costs.