Election 2024: Washington Twp. School Board Candidate Robert Waskis​

LONG VALLEY, NJ — In the 2024 general election, Washington Township residents will be voting for local school board seats and Town Council members, as well as some Morris County offices. They'll also see candidates for the presidential race, and for their representatives in Congress.

Patch has asked local candidates in contested races to answer some questions about their campaigns, which we've included below.

As a quick note, early voting begins on Saturday, Oct. 26, and the general election is on Tuesday, Nov 5.

Here is the candidate profile of Robert Waskis, a current Washington Township Schools Board of Education member who is running for re-election.

Editor's Note: Patch sent out the same questions to all candidates, using the email addresses listed for their campaign on the county clerk’s office. The responses received will be published between now and the Nov. 5 general election; any questions that the candidate did not answer will be left out. Local candidates who would like to participate but did not receive an email (for whatever reason) can contact Michelle.Rotuno-Johnson@patch.com.

Name: Robert A. Waskis Jr.

Town of residence: Washington Township (Long Valley)

Education: B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, M.S. Management & MBA from Florida Institute of Technology, Certificate of Leadership Dynamics from University of Pennsylvania

Occupation: Engineer

Candidate website or social media page: www.waskisboe.com; Waskis for Washington Twp. Board of Ed 2024 (Facebook page)

What inspired you to seek public office?

Serving my community has always been an important part of my life, whether that’s coaching teams and managing equipment for the Long Valley Rec Soccer Program, leading a mission trip and serving as the co-chair of Finance Ministry for my church, or simply spreading mulch with my neighbors at the neighborhood park every Spring. My wife was the one who first suggested I start paying attention to Board of Ed meetings, and I quickly realized my training and experience in leadership, process improvement, and problem solving would be ideally suited to making fact-based, data-driven decisions for the Washington Township School District as a Board member.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

The most obvious thing that sets me apart from the other candidates is my knowledge and experience. I have served on the Board for (nearly) a full three-year term now, having been Board Vice President for a year and chair of the Finance and Facilities Committee for two years. I have completed over one hundred hours of formal training in order to learn how to be a better Board member, and I use that along with the countless extra hours I’ve spent learning from district employees to focus on what matters most: improving educational outcomes for all of the roughly 2000 students in our district. During my first term the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards has gone up in math and English language arts, and the number of students in eighth grade in accelerated math grew from 90 to 130 and now outnumbers the students not taking accelerated math. Beyond that, we introduced twice-accelerated math and the number of students in that program has increased as well.

In your opinion, what is the biggest issue facing the Washington Township School District, and how would you address it?

The biggest issue unfortunately is funding. Several years ago, Trenton passed legislation known as “S2” that reduced the amount of state aid we received more each year for six years in a row and gave it to other districts. Over that six-year period that just ended last year, our district lost a staggering $14 million in state aid, and I’m always worried the State will do something similar in the future.

As chair of the Finance & Facilities committee I have worked closely with district administrators to prioritize the items in our annual budget and ensure they are tied directly to our District Goals. I am also aggressively building our reserves to avoid the negative impacts of potential future cuts to state aid; our capital reserves were $623K when I started on the Board and are now over $3.4 million. Additionally, I created a new maintenance reserve account with $200K to work around state restrictions on how we are allowed to utilize our funds, and researched state ROD grants for future capital improvements.

Name one thing about Washington Township/Long Valley that always makes you smile.

My work schedule doesn’t always allow for it, but I love it when I get an invitation from a building principal or other staff member to attend a school event and I can come in during the school day. Seeing the students learning to read by practicing vowel sounds with their pet monster or watching them conduct a Valentine’s Day-themed science experiment or listening to them explain how they made their stop-motion video make it all worthwhile.

Finally, do you want to tell voters anything else about you, or your goals for this position?

We set a lot of wheels in motion during my first term, including implementing an all-new math curriculum (Eureka Math2), plans to build new STEAM spaces in each school, and implementing a data warehousing program (LinkIt!) that will allow for increased focus on early-childhood intervention to provide supports when they’re most effective. These efforts have the potential to truly take our district to the next level, and I’ve worked with our Superintendent to add metrics and milestones in our district Action Plan for each of those initiatives. That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure we provide the proper professional development, staffing levels, and other resources to guarantee we get the greatest possible benefit for our students, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

More info on election deadlines and early voting

For new voters, New Jersey’s deadline to register for the Nov. 5 election is Oct. 15. This is also the deadline for people who need to update their registration to change their name or their address on their voter record.

In-person early voting for the general election will be Oct. 26 through Nov. 3. Hours are Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.to 6 p.m.

Here's where to vote early in Morris County.

If you are already registered to vote and want to check your registration status or see where your polling place is, you may do so online.

Any New Jersey voter may apply for a vote-by-mail ballot by completing the application by Oct. 29, and returning it to their county clerk's office.

Then, they may return their ballot by mail, in a secure ballot drop box, or at the county Board of Elections office.

New Jersey voters will also select a U.S. Senator to replace Democrat Bob Menendez, who resigned from office after being convicted in a high-profile bribery trial. All of the state's seats in the House of Representatives are also on the ballot, and you can look up which district you live in here.

Related articles:

• See Early Voting, Candidate Info For Election Day 2024 In Long Valley
• Contested School Board Races Kick Off In Long Valley