Election 2022: Moorestown School Board Candidate Billie Danielle Thomas

MOORESTOWN, NJ — In the 2022 general election, residents of South Jersey will be voting for state and local officials. Patch has asked candidates in contested races to answer profiles about their campaigns.

Here is the candidate profile for Billie Danielle Thomas, running for the Moorestown Board of Education.

Editor's Note: Patch sent out emails to all candidates to the email addresses listed for their campaign provided to the office of the clerk. The responses received will be published between now and the Nov. 8 general election. Local candidates who would like to participate but did not receive one (for whatever reason) can contact Michelle.Rotuno-Johnson@patch.com.

Name: Billie Danielle Thomas

Age: 54

Town of residence: Moorestown

Position sought: Moorestown Board of Education

Family: Married to Edgar ‘Rudy’ Thomas and proud mother of five children. Daughter of two career long educators.

Education: B.S. Psychology-Elizabeth City State University
M.Ed. Early Education (PK4)-Chestnut Hill College

Occupation Educator/Advocate

What previous or current elected/appointed offices have you held?

None

Why are you seeking to run for the school board?

I’m seeking a seat on the Moorestown Board of Education because I believe that my voice is one that needs to be heard and that I can make a difference. My 30 plus years in education has been devoted to ensuring that students achieve their full potential. I believe that the Moorestown Township Public Schools has a responsibility to provide a diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning environment where every student has the opportunity to maximize their potential; and I want to be part of helping fulfill that responsibility. Three of my five children attended the district K-12, and I have seen how their time as students in Moorestown has prepared them to be successful at the next level, and I want to provide that support to all students and their families.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

I believe that my three decades of experience in P-12 settings as a P-4 practitioner, supervisor, administrator, policymaker, policy advisor, and tireless advocate sets me apart from the other candidates. Of the three decades, just under twenty years were spent at the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE), where I was a state coordinator responsible for the statewide oversight of over 675 school districts' implementations of two multi-million-dollar federal programs, which extended educational protections to New Jersey's appproxiately 1.3 million students.

What is your stance on the sexual education curriculum that Gov. Murphy put forth earlier this year?

I agree with the articulated spirit and intent of the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards - Comprehensive Health and Physical Education (NJSLS-CHPE) whose purpose the New Jersey School Boards Association states, “is the need for all individuals to feel welcome and included, regardless of their gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation” and outlines “when … students should learn about topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity and anatomy.” While the research supports that sex education in schools is a helpful attribute in preventing and reducing the risks of teen pregnancy, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections for adolescents, along with providing information related to gender identity, intimacy, values about consent, human relationships, and body image positivity for children and youth in addition to acting as a “springboard” for family conversations based on their own personal values. Despite all of the researched benefits, without judgement we must honor the comfort level of our families, and support parents and guardians who wish to opt out and retain the decisions around what, when and how they educate their children about sex.

What would have been some of your important considerations if you had been on the board during the recent negotiations with the Moorestown Education Association?

Had I been on the board during the recent negotiations, important considerations for me would have been how to retain our ongoing status of being a well-regarded, high performing school district with the reality of school taxes making up a substantial portion of our tax bills. I believe that this management the budget and district resources begins long before contract negotiations with the district prioritizing advocacy for equitable state aid, exploring opportunities to save funding through shared service agreements, participating in educational consortiums which offer free or low-cost services, the outsourcing of non-educational functions, and ensuring the regular maintenance and upkeep of buildings and equipment to alleviate the need for more costly repairs and replacements down the road. In sum, along with the previously mentioned cost-saving mechanisms, I would have carefully assumed, as I believe our current board did, the responsibility of financial stewardship that does not overburden all of those who support our schools while being keenly mindful of ensuring that those charged with teaching and caring for our students are equitably considered and compensated.

What is the most important issue in your district and how do you intend to address it?

I believe recovering from the pandemic is the greatest challenge we are facing. While there must certainly be attention paid to the academic learning loss that we may see because of the lost time, the pandemic also exposed some challenges that have likely been present all along, but that have been masked by the fact that we are a high performing school district. Specifically, there must be focus on addressing the social and emotional health of our students, which has also been compromised during the pandemic. As in addressing this and similar issues, I believe that the district’s responses and remediations should be rooted in research and evidence-based practices.

What other issues do you feel must be tackled in your school district that have not been discussed already and how would you tackle these?

In alignment with providing social and emotional learing opportunities for students, it is my belief that additional attention should be devoted to addressing student mental health and substance abuse and would support the administration prioritizing ongoing professional development opportunities for school psychologists, counselors, teachers, and nurses on issues pertaining to identifying atypical behaviors associated with both. In addition to professional development, I believe that the district is in the position of being able to benefit from the wealth of information and resources available from many of the word class institutions of higher education and trusted community agencies and organizations in our region in establishing the most current scientifically and evidence-based practices and approaches to providing students with needed supports.

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

It would be my great honor and privilege to work alongside the extraordinary individuals on the Moorestown Board of Education in serving our students, district employees and citizens. I would also like to thank my family, friends, and fellow community members for their tremendous support of my campaign. I am eternally grateful. In closing, the slogan WE WIN TOGETHER! was a very deliberate and intentional choice. I firmly believe that when we work together and function as a unit, the fruits of our labor will be bountiful and yield the desired results…the success of ALL students.