BOE - Disappointing for Parents as only one candidate turned up!!

Candidate Night for SB BOE - Disappointing for Parents/Residents as only one candidate turned up!!!

It seemed like a parent/ teacher night last thursday instead of "Candidate night" at south Brunswick board of education as only one candidate was present to take questions from the community. The date had been set by “South Brunswick cares about schools" way ahead of time. It was rescheduled to a later date to be fair to candidates in view of holidays . Yet none of the candidates except for Ms.Joyce Mehta showed up although a couple of current Board members had some valid reasons.

It was very disappointing to see that there was only one candidate for “candidate night” at this event where parents were allowed to ask questions in person and through FB live. There were around 30 attendees in the room and another 40-50 online. Overall very successful event with respect to questions from parents present there and through FB. This was particularly significant for new candidates as parents have little knowledge about them and their agenda to contest for the BOE seat. The names of some new candidates are not familiar in South Brunswick parent/teacher community as their contribution to our schools is almost next to none as they have never been seen to attend school related issues or have spoken their views at the BOE meetings .

We need good leaders on the board which means good communication, responsibility ,commitment , accountability , transparency, knowledge of education issues and enough confidence to answer any questions from teachers or parents. It is unheard of in other districts that candidates fail to show up for candidate night.

It was a complete embarrassment yesterday to know that out of 7 contestants only one Ms. Joyce Mehta showed .

The parents are to some extent familiar with the incumbents and their contributions over the years at south Brunswick BOE. But for the other three new candidates it was an opportunity to reach out to the community and take questions from parents / teachers/ guardians during yesterday’s meeting. Instead, the parents were told that they had their “own priorities” and were not able to make it .

The meeting was well attended by several parents, teachers and viewed by many more via facebook - all of who made themselves available as the future of our children is high priority and of utmost importance.If these new candidates did not find time or were not able to reschedule their priorities for 2 hours to attend this “important event” announced a month back - it is on us – parents & members of the SB community to ask if they will be able to make out time to understand and represent our issues concerning our children at the South Brunswick BOE in future if they get elected???

As of now it is disappointing to know that we know nothing about the three new candidates other than what was written on a couple of sheets handed to us at the meeting night. Of course, not much can be really learnt from that.

Let us as a community of parents ,teachers at South Brunswick make an informed decision regarding our choice of candidates for the forth coming BOE election. We are the stake holders, we need our representation at BOE and it is our children's future that matter the most to us!!!.

Please also watch the below video of the candidate night of the only candidate who attended the event. This video has seen more 1700 views in the last 3 days!!!

https://www.facebook.com/krist...

Let us think deeply based on the above and vote on this election day on NOV 7 and choose the right candidate that our SB community and our children deserve.

God Bless all.