Morris Schools Board Of Education Election: Linda Murphy

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ — It won't be long until Morris Township elects candidates to the Morris School District's Board of Education. Patch has asked local candidates in contested races to share their thoughts before the Nov. 2 General Election.

Morristown has an uncontested election for school board this year, with only one candidate filing to run. Morris Plains does not have an election this year for Morris School District representation.

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 get published between now and Election Day.

Here is the response from Morris School Board candidate Linda Murphy.

Name: Linda Murphy
Age (as of Election Day): 9999
Party Affiliation: This is a non-partisan election. I intensely dislike this question because it attempts to inject partisanship, a mental shortcut for some people as to what candidates stand for and what they are likely to do, into this race. My campaign theme is Put Kids First! If we can do that, I believe we will always be led to the 'right' decision as Board of Education members.
Family: My daughter and her family also live in Morris Township. She is a graduate of Morristown High School and my two grandchildren are attending middle school in the District this school year. So you could say, "I have skin in the game."
Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No one in my family works in politics or government. That said, I believe that political involvement is a 'role model' obligation, especially for our children, just as volunteerism is. Currently, I am an elected member of a Morris Township municipal county committee, serving a 2-year term. The role involves encouraging resident volunteerism; helping folks of all political affiliations resolve issues as they arise; registering new voters; supporting qualified candidates for elected office; and encouraging registered voters to make their voice heard by casting their vote in every election. My greatest wish is that my two grandchildren will learn from me, become politically involved themselves, and consistently exercise all their rights and obligations as US citizens, thus keeping our nation the best place to live in the world.

Education: I have attended the following academic institutions:

• Haas School of Business, University of California – Berkeley ; Executive Education Program; Emphasis: International Business and Economics
• Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire; Executive Education Program; Emphasis: Strategic Management
• Boise State University - Business Administration

Occupation: I am currently retired; however, in serving on the Board of Education for nearly three years, my professional experience and skills from the private and public sectors have been applied for the benefit of the District.

• Private sector: Corporate Executive with AT&T and two eBusiness firms, working with clients both domestically and internationally (more than 30 years), plus a Small Business Owner offering advisory services to NJ municipalities (10 years)
• Public sector: Morris County Shared Services (3.5 years) for its 39 municipalities

In addition, I’ve always been active in volunteer roles with a commitment to actively contribute time and talent to the community:

• Member and Vice Chair, Morris Township Planning Board (16 years)
• Member and Secretary, Morris Arts Board of Trustees (6 years)
• MSD K-5 Parent Advisory Council, elevating early grade learning (3 years)
• AARP Tax Counselor, serving low-income/elderly in Morris County (15 years)
• Volunteer in Service, Global Volunteers, teaching conversational English internationally

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office:

Morris School District Board of Education (first term of office 2019 - 2021; elected by BOE peers as Vice President 2021; appointed as Chair of Finance Committee 2020, 2021)

Morris Township municipal county committee (current term expires in 2022)

Morris Township Planning Board (appointed Vice Chair in 2021)

Trustee and Secretary - Morris Arts (resigned in 2019 to spend more time on MSD matters)

Campaign website: None

Why are you seeking elective office?

I got involved with Morris School District initially to work on improvements to the MSD K-5 curriculum when my grandchildren entered the school system a few years ago and to improve the communication among MSD and parents, the broader school community and the public-at-large.

I am happy to say that significant improvements in the K-5 curriculum have been made, especially to English Language Arts (ELA) and, more recently, to the Math curriculum. Our elementary students' test scores indicate that MSD did not experience the same degree of learning loss as some other school districts you may have heard about in the media. Our I-Ready tests that provide fall, winter, and spring benchmarks in reading and math show that the District's K-5 students outperformed national averages this winter in reading; while lagging slightly in math (perhaps due to our new 'go-slow' approach that reinforces math concepts throughout the year). The pandemic numbers actually outpaced national norms from 2018-19, a more normal school winter.

I believe that these results are also because the bulk of our students were actually physically in school here (exceptions: periodic quarantines and the all-virtual option) We were one of the few Districts in the state that had in person classes all year last year, albeit with shortened hours for elementary students and a hybrid schedule for middle and high school students due to the 6' social distancing requirement in place at the time.

On the communications front, MSD created a District-wide Communications Plan, redesigned its website to be more user-friendly, has regularly posted Superintendent presentations with voice-over for those that could not make our BOE meetings, and established the Coronavirus Update Center which proved to be an important asset for everyone during the trying 2020-2021 school year. Our focus on frequent, transparent communication has consistently improved over the last three years and with continued Board guidance will continue to do so.

I seek to serve a second term of office because I am energized by the opportunity to help all of our PreK-12 students get the best possible learning experience that we can provide and I feel like I am making a positive difference as a Board member. Currently I am an active member of five of the six Board Committees - Policy, Finance, Curriculum, Negotiations, and Board Governance; the Chair of the Finance Committee; and was elected by my Board peers as the Vice President of the Board during my first term of office.
The Board is currently evaluating every District policy, goal, and objective through the dual lens of equity and inclusion and consistent student ascension at all grade levels. This means:

• Deal with the 'whole child' = social, emotional, academic.
• Elevate early learning = better foundation for future education success by offering tuition-free PreK to youngsters living in our District and keeping focus on K-5 learning.
• Provide challenging and rigorous PreK-12 curricula that is continuously monitored, reviewed, and improved.
• Ensure equitable access to opportunities for all students, while preparing them for a variety of post-secondary options such as college or a trade, including renewed focus on Career & Technical Education (CTE) offerings.
• Prepare our students for their role as a productive citizen of our nation and in an increasingly global society.
• Supply our teachers with the support they need to deliver high-quality instructional guidance to students.

if reelected by the voters on November 2, I would be honored to serve another 3-year term.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

A critical issue for the Morris School District (MSD) is to keep our students in school, in person, full days, every school day AND we want our students and school personnel to be safe. To that end, MSD has put together our 'Safe Return Plan' which aligns with the guidance provided by Governor Murphy and the 'Road Forward' from the NJ Departments of Health and Education. The latest information associated with our 'Safe Return Plan' is posted online at www.morrisschooldistrict.org under the District tab, then click on Safe Return: 2021 School Opening and Coronavirus Update Center for details. If there is a change in local, state or national COVID-19 conditions, aspects of our 'Safe Return Plan' may change. Currently, it appears that the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are trending downward in New Jersey and, particularly, in Morris County. This is good news indeed. The Board and the District are committed to revising our guidance to the school community as soon as it is feasible to do so.

MSD is doing its part by doing rigorous cleaning, placing air filtration systems in every classroom, spacing children 3’ feet apart per current guidance, staggering lunch periods, providing for mask breaks for younger kids, encouraging vaccinations among our school personnel and eligible students, doing regular testing of the unvaccinated, and so forth. However, despite our many precautions, it is almost inevitable that some may catch the virus or have to quarantine from time-to-time. Since school opened in September, we have identified 7 positive cases in total and had to quarantine dozens of unvaccinated middle school kids who were exposed to the virus during athletic practice. By contrast, more than 500 students (many of them vaccinated) are engaged in athletics at the high school and we have had no quarantines and just 2 positive cases. As with last school year, we are not seeing transmission of the virus in school.

Personally, I would like to see us get to ‘mask optional’ status as quickly as possible. However, we are not there yet and it should be noted that quarantine requirements are tied to whether everyone is masked or not. So for now, in order to meet our primary goal of keeping students physically in school on a regular academic schedule, masking must continue. To do otherwise would be irresponsible. I would ask parents on both sides of the masking question to be flexible, stay positive, and work with the District. We are all role models for our children... let’s try not to add more angst to the situation as we work to put this pandemic behind us.

Unfortunately, The Board of Education does not have a single pressing issue, we have several issues that need concurrent attention. Right up there with keeping our students in school is hiring a new Superintendent for MSD. Superintendent Pendergrast submitted his resignation, effective November 1, and indicated his intent to retire. We named our Interim Superintendent, Dr. Thomas Ficarra, at the BOE meeting held September 20. He will join us on November 1 to allow for continuity of support and sufficient time for the Board to do a search for a new permanent Superintendent. The selection of a new Superintendent Is an important responsibility of the Board as this is our only direct reporting employee and our choice will impact everyone in the District. We will seek input from the Board members, District personnel, and the public on what they would like to see in a new Superintendent and advertise for a candidate that meets that criteria.

Also, the contract with our teacher's union, also known as TEAM, expires June 2022. As a member of the Negotiations Committee, I have begun preparations for the deliberations that will ultimately lead to a new 4-year agreement.

If reelected to the Board of Education in November, you can be assured that I will be involved in all the above and more. I thank everyone in advance for your support and your vote!

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I do not know the other two candidates well, so instead I will share what I consider to be my strengths and let the voters decide who they would prefer to be their voice on the MSD Board of Education.

In my professional career, I have had the following experiences with clients: strategic planning, business transformation, customer operations, service line management, sales, and professional consulting services. While doing that work both domestically and internationally, I have developed these skills: building collaborative teams, focusing on desired results, and dealing with evolving & often ambiguous work environments. I can and have brought these experiences and skills to bear on my work as a member of the Board of Education. Some of my BOE peers have described me as "a knower and a doer". Simply that means I am willing to put the time in to research and understand an issue before reaching a conclusion. When a decision is to be made, I want it to be well grounded and evidence-based (supported by data). When things need to be done, I'm willing to step up, contributing my time and talent to reach the desired end result...whatever it may be. You can always count on me to work hard on behalf of the students in the Morris School District and the entire school community.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

It should be no surprise that I believe in prudent fiscal management which means taking great care with taxpayer dollars. This has meant navigating the fiscal challenges due to unplanned student growth (2019) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-21) and any future financial issues that may come our way.

For example, there was a period of time in the 2020-21 school year when the District had spent more than $5 million on unexpected COVID-related expenditures - everything from PPE to maintaining a roster of long-term/daily substitutes - and had only acquired grant funding of about $1.8 million to off-set those costs. The District is not allowed to exceed its budget, so, for a while, we were truly concerned about operational continuity. Luckily, the District received additional grant monies or was able to reallocate selected line item expenditures from other places prior to the end of the school year which allowed us to mitigate that concern.

The Board of Education approved this year’s school budget of $132 million that funds the diverse needs of our students and prepares them to be successful in the future. The District came in at the state tax levy cap of 2% despite emergency costs of the pandemic and is about in the middle of per student spending state-wide. The tax impact to Morristown is ($40) annually or ($3.39) per month and to Morris Township $108 annually or $9.01 per month). Morris Plains contributes on a tuition per high school student basis.

The Finance Committee which I chair assures that our budgeting process is used to drive positive changes in the District and that the Board is purposeful about using resources in the most efficient and productive way. The 2021-2022 budget sustains long-standing successful programs; maintains small class sizes; ensures continual maintenance and improvement of our school facilities, technical infrastructure, and security initiatives; strengthens technology integration for in-person classroom instruction; sustains and enhances our focus on educating the 'whole child'; significantly expands our PreK program now serving up to 630 youngsters; and enhances our robust co-curricular program so students can participate in meaningful experiences beyond the classroom. We are also dealing with capacity issues at many of our schools by creating an expanded facility inventory to identify which projects must be done and when, estimate costs for construction/renovation, and identify potential funding sources.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My professional and volunteer experiences have made me a strong advocate with a true commitment to MSD. From continuously promoting better communication with all stakeholders to assuring academic rigor and balanced resources in our students' courses to developing and approving policies that address equity and inclusion for every student to aligning budget expenditures with student needs, my focus is always "Put Kids First".

The best advice ever shared with me was:

"Procrastination is never your friend. Just get 'er done." (a quote from my Father while I was growing up)

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

One of my other mantra's is 'Be a Better Board'. This focus is good for both the Board and for the District. There has been significant Board turnover since 2018 - 2 members were new in 2018, and 8 had long-term service; while in January 2022, only 2 of 10 BOE members will have long-term service. It became imperative to be able bring new BOE members on-board quickly and consistently, so they could 'hit the ground running'. I volunteered to address this challenge on behalf of the Board and personally authored a comprehensive Board Orientation Package that has been deemed as one of the best in the state and is used as a model for other Districts by NJ School Boards Association. Other proactive Board/District guidance in which I have been involved includes co-authoring the BOE anti-racism resolution, updating Board procedures for efficient and effective operations, and establishing annual Board goals.

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