Take Five With Westfield BOE Candidate Charles Ostroff

CHATHAM, NJ - Patch asked Westfield Board of Education Candidate Charles Ostroff to take five with us and share some thoughts on the city, the campaign and beyond. His answers are below, with minor courtesy edits for style.

1. Why are you running for office?

I have said on many occasions that I am running for the School Board in order to give back to the community. That I believe Westfield is a unique place where you have a town of multi generation families that have lived and live in this town. It is not unusual to meet someone where they indicate they went to the local schools, so have their children and now their grandchildren attend the local schools. I want to give back to this community and provide my knowledge in Finance and Construction to insure that our schools are in good shape both financially and physically. I tell people it is easy to write a check but our time is precious and I truly believe that we should give of ourselves. That the time I have committed to the position is to benefit our children and the schools they attend. Additionally, we have been able to accomplish many great things over the last almost three years and I want to continue that trend.

2. What is the biggest challenge you see facing your community and how will you address it?

I believe it is the safety and security of our children. We must insure the physical and emotional well being of the children of this community. We as a board continue to enhance the security for the local schools. For example we have provided School Resource Officers for the middle schools along with the high schools. The board has under contract a security firm that works with the school administration and continually assesses best practices to insure the safety of our children. The upgrades to the school have focused on security with the new communication/clock panels in the schools, cameras at the schools and the schedule replacement of doors at the schools. We provide opportunities for parents to hear about safety regarding social media as part of talks at the various schools. We also continue to address the emotional needs of our school children through the education of our staff and the parents. There should be no compromise when addressing the subject of safety of our children.

3. What makes you the right person to vote for as opposed to the other candidate(s)? What do you bring to the table that others don't?

I have now had almost three years on the board and in that period of time I have sat on the Technology, Facilities and I currently Chair the Finance committee. We have upgraded the School Districts Web site, we have upgraded the infrastructure of the schools and will start on the stadium project and through out all the upgrades we have been fiscally responsible. We have built up the reserves of the School District and have the funds available to tackle additional projects as the replacement of all the doors at each school. I have a background in Finance and Construction as well as negotiations. I am a Chief Credit officer and I have sound financial acumen. I also enjoy the opportunity to help and give back to my town of almost 16 years.

4. What will you do to facilitate communication with the community?

The new school district web site addresses many of the communication needs of our town. I will foster the relationship with the community as well as the town officials. I believe we can always add to the communication with not only the parents but with the teachers. As times evolve we have evolved. With the many items that we always need to be addressing I would like to initiate a practice of what I refer to as regular "office hours" to meet the needs and potential concerns of many parents. I would also point out that the e mails of the Board Members is on the Board Web Page and we are very responsive to any inquiry. I believe that open discussion brings about great ideas. I employ this practice in my everyday work when discussion deals and I believe this can be tailored to the continued communication of the Board.

5. What inspires you?

There are so many things that inspire me. In focusing on one thing I would have to say not only my children but the many children of this town that I have had an opportunity to watch grow. As a Board Member I get to see the many accomplishments our children achieve on a weekly basis. I believe it is a lot tougher being a child today than it was when I was growing up. There are many more issues that our children need to navigate but I watch them preserver and thrive. I am proud of what we as a board have accomplished and I believe we can continue to provide to the children of this community a great education and safe school environment. I would like to thank the residents for the past three years and I look forward to three more years of representing this town.

(Photo courtesy of Charles Ostroff)

Editor's Note: Patch has reached out to every candidate that has filed to run for office and is publishing all responses received. If a candidate does not have a story on the site it is because they did not respond. But they are encouraged to contact russ.crespolini@patch.com if they have any questions.