Pay attention to the school board

In spite of it being summer, I am writing to ask my fellow Moorestownians to pay some attention to our board of education this month. Even those of us who stay somewhat tuned in to the goings on of our town government can tend to give too little attention to the school board. Perhaps that is because the BOE is not overtly political (and therefore less interesting) right? But it is more political than you may realize and we should not forget that even if you are not currently a user of the school system, with kids in the schools, we all have a stake in the stewardship of this largest public enterprise in our town, even just because it controls over 60% of all of our property taxes.

With that as a backdrop, I want to be sure everyone is tuned into a current dynamic on the board. The board president, Kathy Goldenberg, resigned in June to pursue public school board work at the state level. As a normal course of business, the board vice president, Brandon Pugh, is serving as acting president until the board elects a permanent replacement, which it is set to do at its public meeting on Thursday, July 20th. The role of board president has special authority, mostly in terms of the ability to set agenda, appoint subcommittees for a variety of things including labor negotiations, and to serve as primary spokesperson for the District. To any casual or outside observer, it would seem a ‘no-brainer’ for the board to elevate the member it had already elected vice president, to the permanent role of president in the mid-term absence of its president, unless there were some particular controversy or reason for not doing so. To those who are tuned-in to the particulars of this board and of Brandon’s qualifications, the choice of Brandon is even more of a “no-brainer”. Brandon has been on the board for nearly five years and is the only sitting board member to have completed all three of the certifications offered to New Jersey school board members. He is also now on the state-wide board of the School Boards Association’s as its V.P. for legislation (overseeing state law that impacts on public school districts). Until recently, Brandon also served as the president of the Burlington County School Boards Association. Surely those school board officials representing all 42 school districts in our county must be assuming that Moorestown’s board will see what they saw in Brandon, and will elect him its president now that the position is open. Brandon has demonstrated an amazing dedication and care for the quality and reputation of public education and the Moorestown School District in particular. He has also done an admirable job of balancing trying to meet the (sometimes competing) interests of all three of the constituent groups with a stake in our public schools: The students/families currently using the school district; the property owners/taxpayers; and the employees of the school district. So Brandon for president; no problem, right? But back here in “realville”, it looks unlikely Brandon will get the majority of his Moorestown School Board peers to elect him president on July 20^th. Why? Because Brandon does not hide who he is. Brandon has a conservative point of view! To some, especially in places like New Jersey, a conservative point of view has been labeled about the worst thing imaginable – and seems fair game to discriminate against. Brandon having a conservative viewpoint is particularly annoying to the leaders of the Moorestown Education Association (the primary teachers’ union in town) for some reason. And that is the main issue. Whether you know it or not, or whether you like it or not, that is really and ultimately who is running your local school district (as is the NJEA throughout the state). There was a poignant moment at the recent senior high school commencement as one of the student speakers saw fit to mention the rule of the union over our school district in his commencement address to all gathered. So apparently, and unfortunately, even some of the students see this reality. Because the board members know how the union would feel about a President Pugh, most will cave to that pressure and elect someone with fewer qualifications and less tenure, but whom they can count on to not ‘rock the boat’ with this too-powerful, but still only one of the constituent groups of our school district. Make no mistake, while the school board does not run with party affiliations, there are partisan politics at work there too.

America is a nation that tends to ‘meet in the middle’ when it comes to the range of political views. Think of how often, in the middle of a presidential term, the nation elects a majority of the opposing political party. Americans have demonstrated favoring a balance of views and the movement of controlling perspectives as further ‘checks and balances’ that results in a wider variety of input shaping policy and law. Let’s make sure our school board hears our interest in their balancing viewpoints, instead of shying away from putting the best qualified person in their senior role at this time. Please let the school board know that you support Brandon for president for all the right reasons and because of, or regardless of, his political affiliation! Phone the School Board office at 778-6600, and come out to the meeting on the 20^th at 6 p.m. at the Administration Building.