On the Issues: BOE Candidates on Priorities, Bullying, Referendum and More

After Wednesday’s PTA meeting and candidates’ forum at School No. 3 and Tuesday’s Fort Lee Homeowners Association-sponsored Candidates Night, Fort Lee voters have now had two opportunities to hear from the six candidates for three seats on the Fort Lee Board of Education and get a feel for their platforms and positions on issues of importance to the school district.

In a separate article, Patch took a look at one specific question—that of the two failed referendums to upgrade and expand the school system. Today, we take a closer look at some of the other issues raised Tuesday and the candidates’ positions on them.

On taping or televising Board of Education meetings:

Michelle Stux-Ramirez (Incumbent) – “I am in strong support of having [the meetings] taped.”

Helen Yoon – “I’m totally for it. I think we’ll have accountability, and we’re in a technology age.”

Tracy Mattei – “It would be fine, I think, if the Board of Education meetings were taped. I would like to see a little bit more conversation between the board members … a little bit more discussion. And I also want to make it clear that children need to be protected. HIPAA laws have to be looked at—no names, no innuendos.”

Joseph Surace (Incumbent) – “If you want the thing televised, God bless you. It doesn’t bother me a bit.”

Peter Suh (Incumbent) – “I’m all for it, and no I didn’t write that question.”

Paul Umrichin – “I’d actually like to take it one step further. Not only in videotaping, but use the technology that we have in this district … I’m not saying [post the meetings] on YouTube or anything like that, but put them on the board of ed website … or even stream it live.”

Top three priorities for the upcoming school year:

Mattei – 1) Elementary curriculum being implemented and the teachers being supported; 2) Represent parents of the children in the school district; 3) Community outreach and better use of website

Mattei added a fourth, saying, “I would really like to start rebuilding the trust for the community. They need to trust the Board of Education in making the right decisions.”

Stux-Ramirez – 1) Address the referendum; 2) Bring back in Fort Lee’s own special needs students; 3) Continue to see an upward trend in increasing scores in Fort Lee schools

“Getting the education to the level that we can all say, ‘We are from Fort Lee, and we have a great educational system,’” Stux-Ramirez said.

Umrichin – 1) Curriculum needs to be looked at and made consistent across all four elementary schools; 2) “Definitely the referendum. It’s a must;” 3) Feedback from the public

“There’s really no secure outlet for anyone to express their ideas and thoughts other than talking to an administrator or asking the teachers or talking amongst themselves,” Umrichin said. “What we need is something on the actual website that may address feedback from the community.”

Surace – 1) Financing; 2) Being more vigilant on “students that don’t belong in the district.” 3) Aging schools: “We have 100-year-old schools”

“We have to do more with less,” Surace said. “Finances drive what we’re able to do and what the taxpayers are willing to pay for.”

Suh – 1) Find creative ways to keep our academic performance up and our taxes down; 2) Bringing children back into the district; 3) “Continue to spend the tax dollars that will get us the most bang for the buck”

“The children come first,” Suh said. “The taxpayers come a close second. We have to find ways that will keep our costs down and yet provide the most possible for our students.”

Yoon – 1) Focus on the children efficiently; 2) Prioritize; 3) More transparency

“We need a lot of things done, but what do we really need now?” Yoon said. “We need to cherry-pick the essentials … and we need to build the trust again … and bridge the gap between the community and the board.”

On bullying in schools:

Mattei – “There’s two different issues: The actual bullying of the child and the culture of the school … you have to ask questions of the school administrators ... through them, eventually, and very slowly, there will be a culture shift … New Jersey has the toughest bullying laws enacted earlier this year … the board’s going to use that code to develop policy, and then the school district will provide the teachers and the principals with data and training.”

Umrichin – “The first thing you need to do with a bully is call the bully a bully … and with the new laws that are coming out, what will probably happen is that there will be some sort of committee … that assigns the task to stomp out this problem in the schools where the administrators even have to be educated."

Yoon – “It is the responsibility of the school to deal with these problems. There are people like the school resource officer, someone who is monitoring the school and enforcing rules and being a watchdog for the kids … I think that’s a good way to resolve the bullying problem within the school and within school hours … I also think there should be a relationship between the parent and the child where the child can just go to the parent [and tell them they’re being bullied].”

Suh – “We should have zero tolerance for bullying in the schools, but it happens. I don’t think that any child is born evil or bad. I think it’s a product of their circumstances. [We should provide support for the child who’s being bullied], but we should also be looking to support the kids who are doing the bullying—find out why they’re bullying kids.”

Surace – “If any parent in this town feels that they’re not getting the right answer from the teacher, then they should go to the principal. If you’re not happy with that answer, then you should go to [the superintendent]. If you don’t get satisfaction at that level, that’s why you elected us. Come to the board, and hopefully we can get it straightened out … bullying is being addressed all over the United States right now, and I think regulations and laws are going to come down on how the school districts are going to have to handle the situation.”

Stux-Ramirez – Declined to answer, saying only, “I think it’s been covered.”

On when they registered to vote in Fort Lee and the first time they voted in a school election:

Surace – Said he registered to vote when he was 21 and doesn’t think he’s missed an election since

Suh – Registered to vote in college, and his first school vote was “probably right after college, when I moved back to Fort Lee.”

Stux-Ramirez – Registered when she moved to Fort Lee and started a family, estimating 1996

Mattei – Registered in Fort Lee in 1997 and has been voting since then

Umrichin – Registered to vote in Fort Lee when he moved to town in 2009; the first school budget he voted on was last year’s “because that was the first one available”

Yoon – “I have voted in elections in various places because I relocated for work. I have not been able to vote in a board election, because I was not physically here when the board elections took place.”

On splitting the referendum so infrastructure repairs and construction of a new school are separate questions on the ballot:

Surace – “In my opinion, I think the question of a new school is off the board … I think if you see something, you’re going to see something along the lines of repairs, major renovations that have to be done. That’s probably what’s going to come down the pike if anything.”

Suh – Said he doesn’t support “a bifurcation.”

“I don’t even support building a new school,” Suh said. “Because I don’t think it’s what the public wants. I heard you twice, and I heard you loud and clear.”

Stux-Ramirez – “Repairs must be made … what’s going on now is just inexcusable. But I also feel that we need to deal with the overcrowding … repairs are not going to take care of the overcrowding … On a smaller scale we need more rooms, so whatever that will take.”

Yoon – “I think a new school is not what we can afford right now, and it’s too overbearing for our community right now.”

Umrichin – “I’m not averse to the idea [of splitting the referendum if presented in the right way]. I did think the second time the referendum was put out, it should have been split, because the repairs definitely needed to be made. The school didn’t need to be built.”

Mattei – “What I would like to see is community leaders come together in an informal way and discuss what we think the community could be as far as a referendum. Splitting? Yes. We desperately need new boilers, we need new rooms, windows, all that. But we are also desperate for classroom space.”

The next opportunity to hear from the BOE candidates directly will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Fort Lee Public Library, where the United Republican Club of Fort Lee has invited the six to give a brief summary of their platform followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Election day is April 27.