Bathroom renovations

I absolutely love seeing school renovations. One of the projects the BOE has been working on a few years now is much needed bathroom renovations. The age of our schools really shows in the bathrooms. I was so excited and happy to see this high school bathroom renovation in the 700 wing. It looks fantastic. Great job!

Testing and evaluations

Most of you already know that I'm passionate about technology in our schools. I posted about that awhile back (check it out in my news feed if you haven't  already).  But I wouldn't be running if I wasn't also passionate about our student's education.  Where I am not opposed to standardized testing (I do think it's important to see how our students perform compared to the rest of the state and country)..I am however opposed to standardized testing such as the PARCC being used to evaluate our teachers.

Did you know that the PARCC test used to account for 10% of teachers evaluations. But now Chris Christie has changed that! He didn't double it.. but he tripled it! So the PARCC results now count for 30% of a teacher's evaluation. That's absurd. I'm opposed to our kids being taught a test. It has to be more than about just a test. Teachers need to teach their way! Telling a teacher how to teach, what to teach and when to teach is taking away from the teaching experience for everyone involved.  And honestly it's not why these teachers became teachers. These test preps are taking away from our student's education.

Growing up I remember standardized "bubble" tests. What I don't remember was my teacher taking time out of the day to just teach us the test. We just took it. The results of these tests in no way affected the teachers evaluation. And that's how it still should be. How it should always be.

Update: I just read yesterday that a bill was passed by the State Assembly to cut PARCC results from teacher evaluations. I just hope this bill can pass the Senate as well. I'll keep you posted.

Ballot Position

Ballot Position. It's important. In an election where the top three candidates win, to get ballot position 1, 2 or 3 is huge. So you can imagine my disappointment when I didn't get those. Or 4. Or 5. Or 6. But SEVEN. Some say seven is lucky and I'm hoping that's true. So my request to you is to please spread the word that i'm number SEVEN on the ballot. 7! Thanks so much for your support.

Technology

Technology! It's what i'm passionate about. I'm that person that always has the new iPhone, iWatch, iSomething. I'm that person that people call to help with their computers, email or gadgets.

I was so excited to hear that my cousin's daughter was given a new laptop as a freshman at her high school. In fact every student at her school was given laptops to be used for the duration of their high school careers. My cousin's daughter is now a senior in college. A senior!! That was almost eight long years ago that her public high school lent out student laptops. 8 YEARS AGO! To say Paramus is behind is an understatement. I've asked around and many neighboring public schools have given out laptops to their students. We are one of the few that haven't. Textbooks are online. Assignments are online. Everything is online.

One of the things I want to fight for if elected to Board of Ed is more technology. I'm proud of our schools but don't want them to fall behind with this. Anyone that has visited the high school or any of the middle schools knows how shotty the wifi is. The high school has a BYOD policy. Bring your own device. But you are only allowed to bring one. That's great! But when that one device you bring can't successfully connect to the school's network, how useful is that?

Now i'm not going to be pretend to be a technology expert. That I am not. And I know that new computers and upgrading our network is going to cost a lot of money. But can you think of a better way to spend the budget's money. I'm hoping the future of Paramus schools is more connected. In more ways than one.

Happy New Year

The new school year is days from starting. I might be more excited than the kids. I drove around the schools yesterday and was so happy and impressed to see the changes everywhere but especially at West Brook Middle School. The addition of the many many parking spots will make traffic flow and parking a lot easier this year. I've also seen photos of the new and improved cafeteria. It looks absolutely fabulous. New tables, new floors, new lights! The works. Thank you Board of Education for funding these much needed projects. I know you will see many improvements at all the other schools as well. Many jobs well done!!

Make a change? But how?

I recently was asked how i wanted to "make a change". I wanted to share my reply.

First things first. I obviously want to change who's on the board. I want to change the dynamics of the board. I want to change how the board interacts with each other and the community. I've attended many many meetings where the current board is just so disconnected from each other. Many ugly arguments and inconsistencies.

I feel like I'm a fresh voice and it's time to shake things up at the BOE. It's time for change. It's time for something new.

I want to change how the public views the board. Right now it's not very positive. This needs to change. A board that works together cordially is one that can achieve anything. I want what's best for my kids and all the students of Paramus. I'm not saying the current board doesn't have the students best interest in mind it's just how are they supposed to accomplish anything when they can't agree on simple things. (Attend any meeting and you will see what I mean.)

Last night I attended the monthly board meeting and there were 8 people in the audience and that included one reporter. You might say "well that's b/c it's the summer", but honestly that's the usual attendance unless there's some pressing matter that the parents are upset about. Our community doesn't attend these meetings regularly at all. That's something I would love to work on. Getting the parents and community wanting to attend and be more informed on what the board is working on to better our district.

More to come! thanks for listening.

But why?

As soon as I announced my candidacy for Paramus Board of Education I was repeatedly asked, "Why?" "Why do you want a volunteer position where you're not paid for all the hard work it demands". Well the answer is because. Because I love Paramus. Because I love the Paramus Schools. Because I want what's best for my kids and your kids. Because I'm sick and tired of sitting back and being unhappy with the current board's actions and decisions. Sure.. i could sit back and do nothing. But that's not me. I can't sit back and watch our schools be only good. I want to do something to make them great. Make them outstanding.  Hey, I know I can't change everything. Nobody can. But being elected is a start. There are many many reasons why I'm running. But truth be told I'm running mostly to shake things up at the Board of Ed. It's time they got a new voice. It's time for a change. I hope I can count on your vote on November 8th. Make a difference. Make a change.