School Board Hopefuls Reveal Plans at Candidate's Forum

Candidates for the Board of Education told residents how they would approach a budget, choose a new superintendent and what they think of teacher tenure Wednesday night at a candidate's forum sponsored by the Paramus Parent Teacher Associations.

The candidate's night, moderated by the League of Women Voters and held in the auditorium, gave the public a chance to meet all 10 candidates for the four spots on the Board of Education that are up for election.

The candidates revealed what they would look for in a new superintendent, in light of James Montesano's coming departure for the Nyack, N.Y. school district. Many of them had high praise for the outgoing superintendent, and said they hoped to find someone like him to continue some of his initiatives.

Fred Rohdieck, who is running for an unexpired 2-year term, said Montesano gave the Board a standard by which they could hold any prospective candidate.

"We'll know it when we see it," he said. "And we'll know it when we don't see it either."

On the other hand, Carole Veloso, who is running for a 3-year-term, said it was more important to find someone to introduce new ideas to the district. She also said she would prefer a candidate who lived in Paramus and had a child in school system.

"I would like to see someone who reaches out to the community, not just to the parents who show up at every PTA meeting," Veloso said.

Moderator Minna Greenberg, of Glen Rock, asked the candidates how they would attract a new superintendent in light of Gov. Chris Christie's recently enacted cap on superintendent salaries. Under the regulations, the head of a district the size of Paramus could make up to $165,000 before merit pay.

Montesano's base salary was $232,000.

Incumbent Sheila Criscione said that while Paramus was an attractive district, the cap could hamper the Board's search for a new superintendent.

"It's going to be very difficult to attract someone of Dr. Montesano's caliber," she said.

However, she pointed out that New York is close to imposing a similar cap on superintendent salaries, which should stanch the northward flight of school heads. Regardless, William Holzmann, running for a three-year term, said parents should work to get the state off the district's back.

"The most important thing that we can do right now is really pressure our legislators to get Trenton out of our business," he said. "It should be none of their concern what we choose to pay our superintendent."

Each candidate had an opportunity to lay out what they would do if they were elected. 

The incumbents, Criscione, Joanne Bergmann and  Jacqueline Reuveni, spoke mostly about continuing the work they'd started, including updating the curriculum at the schools.

Holzmann, Rohdieck and Jeffrey Warren all come from business backgrounds. Holzmann talked about finding ways to measure success as a district. Rohdieck plans to use his connections to find grant opportunities for the district. Warren said would look to other districts for ways to cut costs.

The three educators running for spots are Ingrid Munin, a Union City teacher, Alison Donoghue, a transition coordinator at River Dell High School and Frank Scibetta, a longtime substitute. Munin said the district said the district should help typical students adjust to the arrival of special needs students being brought back to Paramus from out-of-district placements. Donoghue hopes to get more young parents involved in school issues. Scibetta said he would wring savings out of sharing services with other districts and municipalities. 

Veloso, who comes form the health care industry, spoke about shifting more dollars from sports programs to other extracurricular activities and making the budget more transparent.

The forum's organizers were pleased with the discussion afterward.

"I thought it was very informative," Rose Sondej, president of the West Brook PTA, said of the candidate's forum.

Sondej said the high number of candidates led the PTAs to organize the forum as a way to inform parents going into the April 27 school election. Next week's election will be held form 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

For more on the candidates, check out the Paramus Patch . In addition to the Board of Education election, voters will be deciding whether to .