My views on an elected school board in MontclairFor any who are interested, here are some of my ideas on the elected verses appointed school board issue in Montclair. I hope to update this page as more information becomes available. A few weeks ago, I read a posting by Pegi Adam on the Montclair Watercooler requesting help in getting signatures for a petition to get the issue of an elected school board on this November's ballot. I went out and got a few signatures and thought I had done my civic duty. Then I heard that the Township threw out 700 of the signatures because of a slight difference in the petitions. I was upset and concerned that the Township Council was ignoring the will of the voters, and I committed to do what I could to help the elected school board group get the required signatures. The latest that I have heard is that Pegi has the required number of signatures. There are also some concerns that valid signatures were disallowed, but that is a totally different issue as long as the petition is on the ballot. The best thing about this whole effort is that it is making people aware of the school governance issue. Regardless, of how this turns out, it has to be better for Montclair and its school system if the issues are brought out into the open and discussed. Semi-secret appointments by one person to the school board are never a good thing. I am for an elected school board because I firmly believe that the combined opinion of the voters is, in the long run, always better than the individual decision of one person. Sometimes, the voters get it wrong, but in most cases, the voters, if they are wrong, will get it right the second time around, while the individual is loath to change his or her mind. In my mind, the primary advantage of an elected school board is that the board members will be more responsive to the citizens. I would expect more responsiveness at school board meetings and more willingness to share policy thoughts. The biggest disadvantage of an elected school board is that a very small number of activists would be able to control the vote if we continue to have low voter turnout and oddball election dates. Here is a list of meetings where the issue is to be discussed:
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Box 43254, Montclair, NJ 07043
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RStraten@RolandStraten.com
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