3 Takeaways From Westfield's School Board Candidate Debate

WESTFIELD, NJ — Candidates for three seats on the Westfield Board of Education faced off during a virtual forum on April 13 hosted by Parent Teacher Council (PTC).

Westfield Board of Education(BOE) has five candidates running for the three open seats for the Election on April 25. Those candidates include:

• Brian Crawford (Bio)
• Kent Diamond (Bio)
• Brendan Galligan
• Charles Gelinas (Bio)
• Dyanna Pepitone (Bio)

Here are three takeaways from the candidate forum:

Opening statements:

• Crawford - who has lived in Westfield since 2010 with two boys. "One of the main reasons we moved here was for the reputation of the school system and thus far we have been really pleased with the system. But I think we can do more. It disappoints me greatly that there is no strategy along with the budget."
• Diamond - a current member of the BOE with 3 years of experience and resident for more than 18 years with two children in the school system. If re-elected, he said he could hit the ground running on: "Strategic planned budgeting," "Health and safety including physical as well as social and emotional well-being," and "promoting diversity." Diamond noted the district is in the midst of developing a plan for the next 5 years. He was part of a large group that attended a handful of meetings to determine what the district's focus should be.
• Galligan - a lifelong resident of Westfield and served on the BOE since 2013. "In those 10 and a half years, I have served on every Board committee and chaired all but one of them." In 2021, he was elected as Board Vice President and this year elected as Board President.
• Gelinas - two young daughters in the school system and moved to Westfield for the reputation of the schools. "I really would like to help preserve the top quality education school experience we have all grown to expect and love." Gelinas added that his daughters' are a big reason for his wanting to be involved in the district. "But to me, this is more than a family matter. For me, every student matters and that includes all of our kids."
• Pepitone - been a resident for 20 years. Along with her husband, they have raised three kids in town. "All three of my kids have attended independent schools so I do not have kids in the district. I come with an out-of-district experience and perspective. Hopefully that brings some creativity and some independence."

What are the biggest challenges facing our district right now and how would you recommend approaching each challenge?

• Galligan - pointed to two challenges, which he said are linked, - budget and facilities. "Last year we had to cut 25 staff members when the 2 percent budget cap finally caught up to us," said Galligan. He noted fiscal sustainability has been worked on every year and will continue to be worked on every year moving forward. As for facilities, Galligan said the schools average in age around 88 years old. The oldest is Tamaques which was built in 1964. "These schools need work, whether its systems upgrades to be more efficient, we need additional space to run programs like full-day kindergarten, the industrial arts and votech programs at the high school. Hopefully bring some of our out-of-district special ed back in district. All of those programs require space. Space requires money. Money comes from the voters," said Galligan, who added the district needs to rebuild its trust with voters to show they are doing the right thing.
• Gelinas - Budget issues was the top issue for Gelinas. "In an age of increasing costs, a lot of labor and other shortages and inflationary pressure in particular, I think there is a lot of work to do to make sure that going forward we can still exist within our tax and have effective budget set forth each year."
• Pepitone - recovery from learning loss during the pandemic was the top issue for Pepitone. "I want to make sure the Board has taken a look where they have attempted to measure, analyze, address areas where they can get students kind of back to where they were, moving them forward and coming up with a recovery plan for that." Another concern was state mandates coming down, said Pepitone. "They are coming down with these curricular mandates that are taking time away when we really need to be focusing on core academic areas," said Pepitone.
• Crawford - revenue is the biggest concern" by far" for Crawford. "Unfortunately, prior Boards have kicked the can down the road and tried to manage the budget by staying under a 2 percent cap that was completely unsustainable and not realistic and really did not serve our district well," said Crawford, pointing to staff reductions as an example. Crawford said staying under the 2 percent cap every year is completely unrealistic and "I think we should be going to the voters every single year with a budget, with our ideas, with our story on why this is a good idea and why you should support this. I just don't believe in managing to a cap," said Crawford.
• Diamond - Strategy, facilities, and safety are the top three challenges for Diamond.

Opinon on all day kindergarten?

• Gelinas - noted that he lived in Hoboken when his girls went through kindergarten and saw how great it was to have but noted it's a funding issue and a space issue. "I would welcome the program but I think there needs to be further consideration, further analysis to really get to the root of how we can fund this and how we can properly situate it in one of our facilities."
• Pepitone - noted how children can benefit from a full-day kindergarten program. "The kids coming into the first grade have expectations with regard to reading and math that is very hard for a half-day kindergarten program to satisfy. My children did go through full-day kindergarten not in the system but outside of the system and you can see the kids flowering in that setting."
• Crawford - noted that "kindergarten is really about first-grade readiness." Crawford said he had one of his sons attend a full day program in Clark and the other son attend a half day program in Westfield. "I saw a huge difference in their readiness for first grade with the older one being far more ready to tackle first grade."
• Diamond - said that the BOE had plans to add additions to some of the schools to create additional classrooms for full-day kindergarten pre-COVID. "It's always been top of mind in the district because we think its important, it's critical. We are one of the few towns in New Jersey that doesn't have full-day kindergarten," said Diamond, who added it would be worthwhile to add it to the strategic planning before bringing it to the voters.
• Galligan - said the BOE has been actively talking about the issue for more than 7 or 8 years. "We are one of the 7 percent in the state that still doesn't have full-day kindergarten which is remarkable considering the financial resources of this town plus factor in the academic outcome of our students. If we started earlier with our kids, the outcomes would be better. We might rise out of the top tier to be the top in the state." He added that instead of adding on to buildings, he would like to see the district build a new school to accommodate the changes.

Watch the full candidate forum below:

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