''Twas the night before Election Day...

It’s the night before election day and I’m sitting here feeling overwhelmed, stressed, nervous.. but at the same time I’m feeling so proud of myself for going through with this BOE campaign. I promised myself that I would run a clean campaign. NO negativity. Others can go that route.. but that’s just not me. I’ve seen so much negativity with the presidential campaign. And even at the local level with the town elections. It truly saddens me. Negative campaigning to me is a sign of weakness and speaks a lot about a person’s character.  Our country, our town, our schools do not need any more negativity. I hope everyone goes out and votes for who they truly think is the best candidate and will do the best job and not vote because of party or friendships. Tomorrow good people will win. And good people will lose. Regardless of the outcome, I’m just happy I can honestly say that I’ve kept my head held high  and stayed positive during all this. Go out and vote. Your vote. Your voice.

Sport Budget

I attended the high school baseball parents meeting tonight and what I learned has completely shocked me. The parents purchase the baseballs for practice and other needed equipment. How do we have this huge district budget but not enough money to purchase needed sporting equipment. Baseballs of all things. You can't play without them. I'm just shocked this isn't paid for by the school. I wonder what other basic equipment is being paid for by parents in all sports. I'm definitely looking into this. What a disgrace.

Democrat or Republican?

As I have been walking around town and meeting new people, I'm frequently asked "Are you a Democrat or a Republican". I always answer "neither". Regardless of the fact that the BOE is not affiliated with a political party I want them to know that I truly am not for one party over the other. I've always voted for the candidate that I thought would do the best job. And not just because of their party. Where I might have voted one party one year, I might vote the opposite the next. Let's vote for the best candidate out there. And not just by party. Please don't forget to vote November 8th. I"m column #7. Thanks in advance for your support.

Top Five Objectives

If elected, what are the top five objective you would like to achieve during your term?

1. One of my main objectives would be to have the board members act more like a team and not against each other. The board should be able to collaborate well with other and be respectful of each other and the superintendent.

2. My second objective is to focus on what's best for all students. In particular I would like to see a change in the preparation involved in state testing. Right now our students and teacher are spending an excess amount of time preparing for a test. This prep time is taking away from our student's education. It's time to get back to teaching and not being so worried about the outcome of one test.

3. Thirdly, I would like our schools to move forward with technology. One area that needs to be addressed is the inconsistency of WiFi within the schools for teachers, students and guests. Students are encouraged to use Google Classroom, especially at the high school. However how are they supposed to use this technology if they don't have access to a dependable network.

4. Another objective of mine is better communication. The Board of Education has a responsibility to communicate their actions to the community. A successful school board keeps the community informed of the districts progress and challenges.

5. My last objective is to more proactively market our schools. Especially at the high school level. Did you know that Paramus High School has more course offering and a lower student teacher ratio than neighboring parochial high schools. However we lose students to private schools because parents aren't properly informed of all we have to offer. We need to get the word out by advertising how great our schools really are.

Time for change!

Those of you that personally know me know that I'm a person who doesn't like to sit back and watch. I'm a doer. I like to get things done. If I see something broken I will try and fix it. If a volunteer is needed, i'll raise my hand and do it. So when I saw that Paramus needed new school board members I decided to run. A politician I am not. I am a parent who wants what's best for their kids and all the kids of this town. Being PTA president of both Stony Lane and West Brook I've learned a lot about our schools. I've seen firsthand what works and what doesn't. I feel this town is ready for change. I feel our town is ready for new voices on the board. There are 7 other candidates that are running BOE with me who I hope all feel the same way. It's time! Throughout this election campaign I've tried my best to stay focused and positive in the same way that I would if elected. There is no room on any board for negativity.. especially a school board. Our schools are in need of a board who can work together and put aside their personal agendas. A board that operates together with the same goal. The goal of making our schools exceptional. November 8th is coming up quickly. Please don't forget to vote. I'm #7 on the ballot. Thank you in advance for your support.

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.