Election 2024: Heather James For East Brunswick Board Of Education

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Prof. Heather James is seeking a three-year term on the East Brunswick Board of Education.

As a public college professor, James says she has experience in evaluating state and local budgets and advocating for increased school funding.

Read her Q&A with Patch to find out more about her platform.

Name: Heather James

Age: 39

Town of residence: East Brunswick, NJ

Education: Ph.D. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Occupation: Professor

1. Why are you seeking a seat on the BOE?

I live in East Brunswick with my husband and two sons - a sixth grader and one who is too little for school. Education has always been a priority for my family. Like so many in our community, I moved to East Brunswick before my first son started Kindergarten so that he could attend our high-performing public schools. I would like to serve on the Board of Education to continue my service to our school community and contribute my experience to the Board as we face big challenges ahead.

Community service is very important to me; I have been involved in our schools for many years. I was the Warnsdorfer PTA president during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. At that time, I led many initiatives including fundraising for a new sound system for the cafetorium and working with teachers on the school’s One School One Book grant. Earlier, I served on the Warnsdorfer PTA Executive Board as the VP of Cultural Arts. In that role, I collaborated with the principal and faculty to coordinate assemblies that augmented the curriculum. During COVID, I worked with two other PTAs to create a virtual assembly for three elementary schools. Currently, I am the Hammarskjold Upper Elementary School PTA Secretary. As a family, my husband and I are involved in various committees, sports, and music programs around town. Additionally, I was a founding member of the East Brunswick Educational Justice Alliance. I became interested in the East Brunswick Board of Education because of a busing issue in my neighborhood. In response, I organized my neighbors to attend board meetings to advocate for change.

This election represents a critical moment for our educational system. We need Board of Education members who are committed to doing the work and who are solutions-oriented as opposed to focused solely on negativity. I have experience working with diverse groups and leading coalitions. I am willing to collaborate to solve problems. I also have budget experience. Moreover, as a public college professor who works with students from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, I spend significant time mentoring, counseling, and providing social service support in addition to teaching curriculum. My classroom experience gives me perspective into the work of our school faculty and staff. I deeply respect our teachers and educational professionals. I believe these attributes make me a good candidate for the Board.

2. What sets you apart from the other candidates?

Throughout the course of my 10+ year teaching career, I have dedicated myself to empowering students and creating safe learning spaces for people of all backgrounds and belief systems. I also have experience evaluating state and local budgets and successfully advocating for increased school funding as the Legislative Representative for a faculty and staff union representing approximately 30,000 members. Both in my career and as a volunteer, I have served in many roles that require close collaboration and teamwork among different parties. I believe that to move our district forward to meet its future challenges, collaboration is extremely important. I have extensive experience working closely with others towards a common goal and gathering input from various parties to incorporate into a joint strategy that works for the majority.

Additionally, I acknowledge that part of being a board member is using critical thinking skills, along with community feedback, to assess and create my own opinions about what is best for the future of our school district. I plan to work collaboratively with other board members and the administration, but also to add new ideas and to speak up when I believe it is needed. Everything that we do has to be in the best interests of our current and future students in East Brunswick while understanding that we also need to be fiscally responsible and supportive of our community needs.

3. What according to you is the biggest issue facing the school district?

Managing next year’s anticipated budget shortfall due to the full implementation of the state funding formula is one of my major priorities for next year. We cannot continue to move forward on other matters unless we adequately prepare for additional funding shortfalls during the next fiscal year. Beyond the budget, I am motivated to serve on the Board by three important issues: communication, curriculum, and facilities. We must do more to seek community input regarding the high school and provide more detailed information to the public. We must address redistricting issues and a long-term facilities plan for Hammarskjold as a 5th and 6th-grade school and make continuous improvements to keep our curriculum strong. On-going anti-bias education, listening to our SEPAG parents to address the needs of this growing population and mental health programming are also important.

4. Are you happy with the way the district has handled state aid cuts? What would be your approach?

Due to the full implementation of the state funding formula, we will face a funding shortage next fiscal year. This shortage is anticipated to be around $4.4 million. One way to address the shortage is to work with the 100+ districts that also lost funding to encourage our executive branch and state legislature to change the funding formula. Realistically, this will not be accomplished in one legislative cycle, which is why we must also advocate for another bundle of temporary funding to help fill the gap. We must also look at ways to reduce spending and increase revenue through the expansion of popular community programs.

I was not a member of the Board of Education during last year’s budget vote, but I know that very difficult choices had to be made. Recently, the Board took a vote on how to allocate the approximately $600,000 in additional state aid that was received after budget cuts. That aid didn't cover everything, to say the least, but the Board was able to bring back some faculty and staff, especially in support titles. The restoration of nine secretaries from ten months back to twelve months was an important development that helped make sure our schools could open successfully last month. We talk a lot about protecting the certificated and uncertificated staff in our buildings, so when we have that opportunity we must take it. Shortages in support staff result in less stability in our classrooms, especially in our special education classrooms where more staffing is necessary and required. If I have the privilege of serving on the Board of Education during this year’s budget cycle, I would focus on keeping teachers and student-facing staff in our buildings, placing the burden of cuts on the administration if absolutely necessary. I would help make every effort to ensure that cuts do not come from curriculum or extra-curricular activities.

5. There were discussions about expanding the high school either by building a new one or renovating the existing one. What are your thoughts on this?

Ultimately, this is the public’s decision. Any action on the high school will require a bond referendum. I believe there are some good reasons to invest in a four-year high school including having our 9th-grade test scores counted toward the high school rankings and saving money on activity bussing. Making sure that East Brunswick public schools remain competitive is also a major concern. To the extent that building a new high school furthers that goal, I think it makes sense, but not at any cost. We have to balance the needs of younger families like mine with the concerns of seniors worried about being priced out and middle-income taxpayers in general. In looking into a new or renovated high school I think we should focus on the spaces that are related to a strong curriculum. For example, building state-of-the-art labs and making sure that our children have access to the latest technology and fields of learning. We may not be able to accommodate everything on our wishlist, but we can figure out what is most important to the community and look to neighboring school districts where bond referendums have occurred recently for takeaways on what works and what doesn’t. The reality is that we need to make these decisions soon. We have temporary classroom units at Churchill and children can only stay there for a limited period of time before we have to move them or present a plan to the state to move them. I believe I can help make data-driven choices and I have a track record of bringing people together to find a solution that works for the majority.

6. What other aspects need to be improved in the school district?

I am proud to send my children to school in East Brunswick. However, every system can benefit from a mix of experienced and new voices as well as creative improvement strategies. I am running to address pressing issues of importance to our community. This includes facilities usage. Specifically, the possibility of building a new high school or renovating the old building, redistricting, and the continued use of Hammarskjold as a 5th and 6th grade school. With regard to the high school, community buy-in is needed to allow any suggested plans to move forward. I believe in making community engagement around facilities a higher priority and in spending more time analyzing the financial impact of such decisions, while recognizing that it can be hard to anticipate all of the costs related to large changes. I believe in continuing to create opportunities for community members to talk to the Board. Further, I am running to support an inclusive curriculum that encompasses efforts to address bias and works for all students, including those with learning differences. Additionally, investments in a wide array of extra-curricular activities are a way to create spaces for all students to engage in social-emotional learning and build self-esteem. We must balance our desire to provide robust programming with the reality of the full implementation of the school funding formula. I am running to help find creative solutions to our budget challenges. Further, I hope that we can improve our transportation system. Transportation issues drew me to the Board initially and I believe we have more work to do regarding the use of contracted buses, the length of bus routes, and the general lack of availability of buses for some activities. Finally, we can improve our communication,which is the key to building community trust. We can take measures to improve our online communication and responsiveness, reformat meetings to be more informative, and create opportunities for the public to speak to administration. I believe I can help us make progress because I know how to work collaboratively with others and am focused on putting student needs first.

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your campaign?

In late May 2024, I was sworn in to fill a temporary vacancy on the Board. If elected, I look forward to continuing to serve our community in my first full term. I’m an educator, an advocate and a parent. I’m invested in our school system for the long term. As a first-generation college student, I am also a true believer in the power of education and am committed to giving back in this way. I believe that everything that we do has to be in the best interests of our current and future students in East Brunswick while understanding that we also need to be fiscally responsible and supportive of our whole community’s needs.

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