With six members of the East Windsor Regional Board of Education joining the panel within the past year, the question of experience is a timely one.
By: Chris Karmiol
Newer is not necessarily better.
But maybe it is.
Where the East Windsor Regional Board of Education is concerned, new is now. The recent school board election brought three new members to the school board, and displaced two of that board’s senior members. With the election of three beginners in the 2001 race as well, the regional school board now consists of three members with only a year of experience one of whom, Ricardo Perez, was just elected vice president plus the three newly sworn members. There are nine board members total.
Bonnie Fayer and Robert Laverty were sworn in last year along with Mr. Perez, while Suzann Fallon, Susan Lloyd and Alice Weisman took oaths of office Monday night.
Former president Sheri Grunwerg is now the senior member of the board. She is beginning her ninth year.
"The new members will pick it up," she said in an interview this week. "It’s overwhelming in the beginning, but I think you learn very fast."
Mr. Perez, the board’s new vice president, agreed that new members face a definite learning curve, but said that the N.J. School Boards Association offers adequate training in being a board member.
"You basically learn the ins and outs of how to be a board member," he said of the training. "We’re not coming in to run the schools, just to see that they’re run well."
The NJSBA, based in Trenton, offers a board certification course, required of all school board members under the New Jersey School Ethics Act.
"It’s a basic course in various areas of responsibility such as negotiation, school finance, school law, policy-making and working with a superintendent," said Frank Belluscio, public information officer for the NJSBA.
While Mr. Belluscio pointed out the average length of board membership is two terms (six years), he said some board members serve up to 20 years on school boards.
"Like a job, it takes a year to get a good grounding on (being a board member)," Mr. Belluscio said, "but it does not mean the board will not do a good job."
He said the concept of New Jersey boards of education is lay governance, meaning regular citizens, who are not expected to be education experts, serve on boards. He added that the board does not manage the district, it merely oversees it.
Hightstown resident Eugene Sarafin is a former board member who was defeated last month in his bid to rejoin the board. An outspoken member of the public who introduced himself at the board reorganization meeting as the panel’s adversary, Mr. Sarafin said in an interview Wednesday that the inexperience of this board is fine.
"Was George Bush experienced being president?" he asked. "Was Jim McGreevey experienced being governor? The whole process of being a member is learning as you go."
Mr. Sarafin said the board’s inexperience is more of a blessing than a crutch.
"They have ideas," he said, "they have insights. They have wonderful ways of solving problems we never thought about before."
If they do face snafus, he said, they can rely on more experienced members of the school community for advice.
"The board members know there’s people like me to talk to," he said. "They’re not alone."