By:Hillsborough Beacon
With the start of a new school term comes a new Board of Education. The makeup of the board is largely the same as before the April 18 election — the sole difference in membership comes from Steve Kaminsky’s departure and replacement by Steven Sloan — but the recent reorganization changed the structure of the board, from committee liaisons to the hierarchy of the board itself.
Loren Lemelle, formerly the board vice president, took office May 1 as the new president. In an interview with the Hillsborough Beacon, Ms. Lemelle listed several challenges the school district will have to face, including replacing key administrators such as high school Principal Anthony Radano and Superintendent Robert Gulick when they retire, managing growth and keeping taxes down.
All those are important goals, and each sounds easier than it really is. The increase in the number of students especially is likely to complicate the goal of putting a lid on budget increases. The board will have to pursue aggressively alternatives to property taxes for meeting the district’s expenses.
Before the election, Ms. Lemelle mentioned soliciting financial support from area corporations. Such support can be a double-edged sword. We urge the board to pursue such aid, but to be wary of letting commercialism encroach further into the schools. But the budget has to be brought to heel before taxpayers face another increase such as this year’s.
Ms. Lemelle did not name “improving communication” as a goal the school board will face over the coming years, and to be sure, this board of education is better at communicating with the public than many. The biweekly “Notes from the School Board” column in the Hillsborough Beacon frequently alerts readers to issues before they reach board meetings. The key communicators program speeds news along from administrators to parents. And with its current makeup, the board is able to reach senior citizens, a group traditionally uninvolved or hostile to school boards.
But even with these strengths, communication always can be improved. During the recent campaign for the school board, challenger Hal Brown raised the issue of the school district’s Web site, www.hillsborough.k12.nj.us. Broadcasting the meetings on the Web as Mr. Brown has suggested would serve little purpose, but the Web site could do far more to inform parents by listing upcoming school activities, assemblies and programs, as well as board agenda items, and forthcoming issues. With a little programming, the Web site could become thoroughly interactive and give residents a chance to air their concerns and questions before things reach a point of contention.
