School Board Candidates Have Residents Talking

A night aimed at addressing the West Deptford school district community didn’t have as much of a turnout as expected–but for those came out to the meeting, it was a night of revelations and understanding.

Looks of concern and anticipation turned satisfied and relieved as the candidates gave brief bios of themselves and their reasons for running for the school board.

West Deptford resident and mother of two, Nancy Garvin was the first to participate in the Q&A portion of the evening, asking the candidates why the state spends more than $15,000 total per student, when the national average is $10,000. West Deptford's total cost per student is $12,922.

Candidate Peter Guzzetti took it upon himself to answer Garvin’s question.

“I’m not going to answer that specifically because I have absolutely no experience (on the West Deptford school board). But I can tell you, that you raised an excellent point," he said. "And that is something that I would like to do as a school board member–is take those type of stats that you just quoted.

"At both national as well as a regional level, take a look and see, how do we compare? When we see these budget charts splashed up and say you know, ‘This percent was spent on that. This percent was spent on this.’ That doesn’t mean much to anyone in the room, does it?”

He added, “We can’t just look introspectively; we need to look at how everyone else is doing as well.”

He was immediately followed with a response by candidate John Hayden, who commented on the Swedesboro-Woolwich school district, a kindergarten through sixth grade district, which spends about $2,300 less than West Deptford per student.

“What are they doing that we’re not, that they’re able to keep the costs down?” Hayden asked.

Garvin, although unanswered, was pleased with Guzzetti’s and Hayden’s response.

“They may not have had the answer for me, but they made an effort to get me an explanation why, and they showed some curiosity into why. The man that’s on the school board (Gotchel), I just didn’t like his (answer),” she said.

Louise Keller, a homeowner in West Deptford for 25 years, was curious to know how many school board meetings the candidates had attended before choosing to run as a member. Her reasoning was simple.

“I want someone who can understand why decisions were made. They don’t just make decisions because they want to. They make decisions that they have to make,” said Keller.

When the board candidates were asked by current board member Don Hicks if they agreed with the budget that'll go to voters next week, Hayden was the only one to disagree.

“The costs have gone up every year. Costs have never gone down,” said Hayden. “There hasn’t been a single decrease in what it takes to run this school district. I find that very hard to believe.”

Jill Cullen, instructional aide for West Deptford Middle School, compared the apparent needs of the school with caring for a home that needs repairs.

“I’m glad that even though were at a point where those things are obvious that need to be replaced, we’re able to put that in the budget so they can be done. You wouldn’t want the school building falling down around you,” said Cullen.

As a mother of two from the West Deptford school district, Cullen said she respects the board and their efforts to improve the lives of students as she feels they have with her own children.

“I’m very glad they received the education and opportunity for extracurricular activities to develop them fully as citizens and proud members of society,” she said.

Lisa Jackson, a medical office manager and resident of West Deptford, was impressed by Guzzetti.

“I was impressed with him saying that he feels that you know, because we’re heading into such a technological time, that there is a value of somebody being on the board that has that kind of skill. That’s something I didn’t know about any of the candidates until tonight,” explained Jackson.

Overall, the meeting was a success in her eyes.

“It was important for me to hear who they were. Some of them I know from the community, I know from the schools, I know from the neighborhoods, but the other half, their names didn’t mean anything, so I needed to see who they were,” said Jackson.