Candidates' Night Features Lots of Questions and Answers

Nine of the 11 candidates running for the three open seats on the Jefferson Township Board of Education came out last night to answer questions from the public at Candidates Night.

Kathy Demerol of the Morris County PTA moderated the event, taking questions from the audience. The main topics under discussion were thel and SAT scores.

While many of the candidates believe the Drummond renovation is a win-win situation, some think the $1 million price tag is high.

“I think that’s a lot of money, and a life of the loan is long,” said candidate . “We don’t know what will happen with state aid five or 10 years from now, and that’s a lot of money to strap the town with for 15 years.”

“The building the administration is in now is a dump,” said candidate . “We have an investment in Drummond that is not being used, and is getting vandalized because no one is using it. We need to spend the money, get it fixed up, and let the administration have a decent place to work so they can better serve our children,” he said.

On SAT scores, the candidates were all in agreement that Jefferson can do better.

“We’re right in the middle of the pack based on ‘New Jersey Monthly’s’ ranking of state high schools,” Cuccio said. “I think we are a better town and we can do much better than that.”

“I’d like to see the money we have put to better use so that the teachers and students can get what they need to succeed,” candidate said.

“I also think we should try and form a committee and go out and look at what other schools are doing,” Batche said.

Candidate Jim Hines agreed. “If we can find out what the successful schools are doing and mimic that, we can be successful as well.”

Parents also questioned the candidates as to how they would overcome what the public sees as negativity between the current board and the public.

“I think we need to be as open with the public as we can,” said candidate . “We can use the district web site to provide information.”

Cuccio thought that a board liaison with the news media would be a good idea as well.

“We need to get the information out there so people can find it easily,” he said.

The candidates also discussed getting parents more involved with the schools.

“If we can get the parents into the buildings, then they can see what’s going on here and become involved that way,” Hines said.

“It’s hard when families have two working parents,” said candidate . “They need to have easy access to information so they know what’s going on and can be involved even if they can’t get to something in person.”