Take Five With Westfield BOE Candidate Simon Cirasa

WESTFIELD, NJ - Patch asked Westfield BOE Candidate Simon Cirasa 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?

Having returned two years ago with my wife to our hometown of Westfield to raise our children (two boys, ages 5 and 3), I am keenly aware of just how great a town Westfield has always been for families and how worthy it is for the investment of my time and energy as a conscientious citizen. I am eager in particular to do all I can to uphold and advance the school system’s long tradition of educational excellence that I myself enjoyed. And now seems to be an especially fruitful time for that investment. The State's recent and (I hope) continuing reforms in educational funding have brought significant additional resources to our school budgets. It would be a privilege to help determine the use of those new resources.

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

Obviously, the need for increased school security and for the effective management of the fluctuating State mandates for the PARCC (now “NJSLA” exams) have been and will continue to be major challenges for the board. Also very important, I believe, is the demographic challenge facing the system as the number of young families moving into town apparently continues to increase. The board has devoted much attention to the maintenance and improvement of the system’s facilities, but we appear to be at absolutely maximum use of them, as the recent discussions of moving from a half-day to a full-day kindergarten made clear. The next board membership will need to work closely with our school administrators and with our community at large to develop responsible, creative, and widely supported cost-effective solutions for accommodating what may well be significant growth in enrollment.

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?

As a graduate myself of our schools as well as a taxpayer and parent of school-age children, I have a unique combination of perspectives and experience that positions me especially well to make positive and prudent contributions to the board’s work in upholding Westfield’s tradition of educational excellence. I know both the worth and the cost of that tradition, and I am deeply committed to upholding it in the most fiscally responsible as well as educationally effective way possible.

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

Westfield’s board has made many efforts over the years to be “transparent” in conducting its business. Its meetings are open to and regularly attended by the public and the local press, of course, and it has greatly expanded the content and functionality of the system’s web site to include videos of its meetings as well as copies of the policies, budgets, minutes, and other documents the board takes up. The web site also includes comprehensive curriculum documents and many other administrative and educational resources for families and staff. As member of the board, I would seek to have added to those resources real-time webcasting of board meetings (of the sort now done by the Town Council) with an interactive component by which residents can contribute in real time to the board’s pending discussions and decisions.

5. What inspires you?

The future… the future, that is, of my children and their entire generation. The many profound recent advancements in knowledge and technology have positioned our newest generation to make the most powerful contributions ever to our local and national communities and to the world at large. I am excited at the prospect of all that they might accomplish, and I am determined to see that they have every opportunity to realize this unprecedented and enormous potential.

(Photo courtesy of Simon Cirasa)

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.