School Board Candidate: Douglas Wild

Eight candidates are vying for seats on the Board of Education in the April 27 election. Today, Wall Patch continues its election coverage with the latest in a series of candidate profiles.

All candidates have been invited to participate in a short interview and provide a brief biography and a photograph.  Additionally, Wall Patch has provided a short slide show of the candidates’ closing statements from the April 5 candidates’ night, which can be accessed by clicking on the icon to the right.

 Candidate: Douglas Wild

Age: 57

Address: 2131 Old Mill Road

Occupation: Sales Manager, GMI Home Loans LLC

Children: Two, one in district

Experience: Seeking fourth term

Doug Wild, who is seeking his fourth term on the board, said getting this year’s spending plan and future budgets passed at the polls remains the top challenge for the school board.

Wild said the state-mandated 2 percent cap and fluctuating state aid work against the board in preparing budgets each year, making it difficult to keep all the district’s educational and extra-curricular programs in tact.

“Every year is going to be a challenge,’’ said Wild, the current school board vice president. “And that is going to be the main challenge for our district.’’

Wild said that if budgets don’t pass at the polls, the district will have to “look at all viable options’’ to keep programs from being cut in the district, including shuttering West Belmar School.

“It’s been shelved for the meantime,’’ Wild said of the district’s plan. “But everything is an option.’’

And if the district begins to lose its student population, as a demographic study commissioned by the district earlier this year has suggested, the district may have to consider redistricting, depending on class size, he said.

“You have to look at increasing revenue so you don’t have to face those options,’’ Wild said. “And if you pass the budgets, you don’t have to deal with any of that.’’

Wild also said the search for a new superintendent will be complicated by Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed cap on salaries. Superintendent salaries would top out at $175,000 for the largest districts, under the plan.

Schools Superintendent James Habel had a base salary of $207,873 for the 2009-10 school year, according to state records. 

“I think you’ll see a less experienced pool of applicants applying for the job,’’ Wild said. “I don’t think experienced superintendents are going to take that kind of pay cut. We may not see the experience we’re used to.’’

That may be good, Wild said.  But it will make the interview process more intense, he said.

Habel's contract expires next year. Although Habel has not said publicly that he will not seek an extension, the school board at its Jan. 11 meeting cited the search for the district’s next superintendent as one of its top priorities, according to meeting minutes.

Wild also cited the continuing negotiations with the teachers’ union as a major priority for the district. He said those negotiations have been ongoing for some time, but said he was encouraged by the cooperation the union showed in making concessions to save the majority of custodians in a recent move.

“I look forward to those kinds of negotiations taking place and getting done in amicable fashion,’’ Wild said.

Wild said maintaining and improving the district’s educational experience was his overall goal.

“I would like to keep programs in tact,’’ Wild said. “As we saw last year, the kids lost a lot of programs. I’d like to put back some of those.’’

, an action taken in 2006. The ban is indefinite.

Wild has said no crime prompted his prohibition and that none of the credit union’s customers lost money while he was in charge of Garden Savings.

“It (the prohibition) was an administrative action,’’ Wild has said. “There was no criminal activity, and there are no criminal charges.’’

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Other School Board Candidate Profiles: