Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board Of Education Profile: Maggie Savoca

SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ —Scotch Plains-Fanwood Regional School Board has five candidates vying for three seats in the upcoming election on Nov. 3.

Dr. David Levine, Evan Murray, and Karen Mitchell are running for the two, three-year seats to represent Scotch Plains on the board.

Margaret "Maggie" Savoca and Amy Boroff are running for the one, three-year seat to represent Fanwood on the board.

Are you running for office in Hillsborough? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Hillsborough Patch.

Margaret "Maggie" Savoca

1. Why are running for Board of Education?

Leadership and accountability matter. Having worked in and guided many nonprofit organizations, as the owner of a nonprofit consulting firm, I've seen boards become stagnant and, in some cases, ineffective. I have also been on boards that are truly mission-focused. They have strategic plans that are discussed at every meeting and you can see the plan come to life in
the organization. I've seen many groups of well-meaning people not holding the organization they are elected to guide accountable. When there is a lack of accountability, your organization is a ship without a sail. From my current perspective, the current board does not effectively hold the administration accountable nor do they communicate with our community, a practice
magnified by the pandemic and the lack luster response from the board and administration.

The district has experienced racist incidents that have gone unaddressed. While SPFHS PTA president I offered to help — with an assembly or event at the high school and did not hear back from the superintendent. Our children are watching. Are we showing them what behavior is and isn’t acceptable? Does our curriculum and media represent what our community looks like — and the world at large? Are they being prepared for the 21 st century?

If elected, I will do what I can, as one of nine members, to make a difference for the students, families and taxpayers, with the goal of engaging our community more in one of the largest assets of our community. Our students, parents and taxpayers deserve the best education we can provide while being fiscally responsible.

2. What are your qualifications for this position?

Experience and desire to be part of improvements. Having volunteered in our school district for 18 years and been a catalyst for change, is something I would continue on the board of education. Eleven years ago, Park Middle PTA was the first school related organization to communicate broadly via email to the parent base. Even before that, parent volunteers developed websites so that other parents had easy access to information on a widely used platform, they district had not adopted yet. Nine or ten years ago, another parent and I researched platforms school districts were using to communicate with their parent base and brought those recommendations to Dr. Hayes, that effort led, in part, to the district adopting the use of Honeywell communication platform. The district has since switched to swiftk12.

Running my own nonprofit consulting firm, I’ve honed my leadership skills. I have not only participated in strategic planning processes I have facilitated them. I’ve worked with many organizations and diverse groups of people. Building consensus with so many stakeholders, is hard work, but it must be done in order to deliver an education our students deserve, and our
parents and taxpayers expect.

As an avid volunteer and certified teacher, I've been in classrooms and understand the challenges our district faces.

As a parent I've seen where our school district does well and where there is room for improvement. Our three sons have had varied experiences, our eldest attended Evergreen, Park Middle and the Magnet High School at Union County Vocational Technical Schools. Our middle son attended preschool at Brunner, School One, Park Middle and graduated from an out of district
placement high school. Our youngest attended School One, Park Middle and is a rising junior at Scotch Plains Fanwood High School.

Facts and models of excellence will be the best route to improvement for our district. The current school administration and board of education, while dedicated and many are intelligent, in my experience do not engage the students nor the parents and taxpayers in meaningful ways. If I am elected, I will be one of nine representatives on the board - and one of two for

Fanwood - I will actively engage with our community about the questions and issues they are concerned about.

Parents and taxpayers with questions can fill out my survey: https://forms.gle/CnMnsVbFy3YG...

3. The single most pressing issue facing our school district is ____ and this is what I intend to do about it:

As everyone knows the global pandemic has affected every area of life. How and where we educate our students affects everyone, the staff at school, their families at home/work, the community at large and the students. My youngest son will be a junior this year. Junior year is a very important year for students who are college bound. Every year of schooling impacts student outcomes. We need to make decisions and use our resources for the benefit of students.

In order to do this our administration and board need a plan with objectivesand goals. What has to happen in order for our students to return to in-person instruction? Why wasn’t this figured out between March and August?

The issues many of us are grappling with, which were brought to a broader awareness, by the graphic and unjust death of George Floyd (and others), need to be discussed. As a school district we must have difficult discussions about United States history, current standards and curriculum and be part of the movement to a more true, equitable and just society and future.

How schools are funded in New Jersey and how that impacts our students and community is also a very pressing issue. I hope through my campaign to educate people on this topic and engage them to be part of a solution that benefits our students.