Candidates’ experience marks race for 3 seats
6 residents want chance
to serve on Marlboro
By jeanette M. eng
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Six people — including one former member and one incumbent — are running for three seats on the K-8 Board of Education in the April 15 election. The seats are three-year terms.
Incumbents Terry Spilken and Martin Karasick are not seeking re-election.
Board member Bari Sobel is running for her second term. Also running for the board are Catherine Wersinger, Andrea Tunis Miller, Stacie Stoy, Raymond Eng and Steven Wolfson.
Wolfson, who has recently become a regular attendee of board meetings, has found himself "concerned with the quality of the system and where budget cuts are coming from." With two small children soon to enter the school system, Wolfson previously said he wants to be a part of the decision-making process. He could not be reached for additional comment for this story.
Wersinger began attending board meetings as the Township Council’s liaison to the board. She said her interest in education issues has been sparked ever since and she believes that she can be of even more service as a member of the board.
The mother of a special needs child, Wersinger has been involved with Marlboro’s education system on various levels, including the Marlboro Early Learning Center PTO and as an activist and advocate for equality among all children in Marlboro schools.
"If elected, I am committed to a collaborative process. I am committed to maintaining and promoting open channels of communication between the board and its constituents, so that all parties remain aware of the needs and constraints of each other," Wersinger said.
Looking to contribute what she called her business sense and common sense to the board, Wersinger maintains respect for the long-time standing of the board and the success of its operations.
"I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I want to contribute my specific strengths to this team," Wersinger said, explaining that she believes in ongoing re-evaluation.
On similar sentiments, Miller, who has been involved with the board peripherally for years, doesn’t believe there has to be a problem in order to look for change.
"I think it’s great to collaborate," she said. "There’s always an opportunity for improvement."
Miller, the chairwoman of the private Marlboro Education Foundation, said she initially became interested in the inner workings of the board when she was chosen to join the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee in 1997. Miller has considered running for the board since then, but her schedule has only recently allowed her the time to do so.
"As technology plays a bigger and bigger role in life, I think it has to be integrated into the education system accordingly," Miller said, explaining one of the focuses she plans to take on if elected.
Miller described Marlboro’s board as a "terrific school board" and said she is running to become a part of something that she believes in.
Stoy is another candidate who is looking to become a part of a good thing. The active PTA member has co-chaired this year’s series of Project 3000 meetings, an outreach effort by Superintendent of Schools David C. Abbott to inform and involve the public in the 2003-04 K-8 school budget process.
Having been a teacher herself, Stoy is also a strong advocate for quality treatment of teachers and regard for education.
"We have to appreciate the teachers that we have and how hard they work and [we] need to support them," she said. "And as the community keeps growing and becoming more diverse, we have to be able to provide for all of these students and understand that they have different learning curves."
Sobel, excited over the prospect of running for her second term, gleaned from first-term experiences to shape the aspects of education of importance to her.
"I feel it’s really important that board members make the effort to get into the different buildings, meet the staff and see what’s going on in the different schools," she explained. "Each school has its own personality."
Sobel was part of an effort to realize constant communication between the Marlboro council and school board members. As a result, the Marlboro Education and Government Group (MEGG) met once a month to touch base through representatives from both groups. MEGG, however, was short-lived as meetings eventually stopped. Sobel said she wants to revamp this effort.
As the mother of a fifth-grader, however, the nucleus of Sobel’s focus will always remain "on the kids."
Two-time board member Eng, a math teacher at High Technology High School, Lincroft, is no stranger to what is expected of high school students. From this, he is also forming strong opinions of what K-8 students should be working on before getting into high school, he said. And Eng’s expectations do not end in academia.
In the past, Eng said he has advocated for the inclusion of character education in the core curriculum. His views remain the same.
"As I get older, students seem to know less and less. And I am concerned for the quality of education," Eng said. "I also think character education — things such as handwriting, study skills, organizational skills, respect for elders and manners are basic needs which are deteriorating."
Eng hopes to bring to the board his dedication to focus on curriculum issues, which often times end up on the back burner in light of handling a crisis, he said.
"Most of the time is spent on business, which is important, but at the same time, we have to set aside appropriate time for educational items," Eng said.
Although he acknowledges that it is a practice which is "fighting against the tide," Eng also hopes to bring his personal perspective on life in sync with how the board operates.
"People have to endure short-term costs in order to reap long-term benefits," he said, explaining his long-term thinking style on issues such as the budget. "Unfortunately, it is human nature to focus on the short-term costs because short-term impacts are very real."
In the same way, every one of the candidates recognized and expressed concern over the annual task of preparing an operating budget that will be accepted by the public.
"I plan to focus on keeping the budget lean, but continue to provide an excellent education," Sobel said.
"We need to be able to continue to have an outstanding education system which meets all the needs of the children in the district and do that all within a reasonable budget in order to not burden the taxpayers," Stoy said.
"The most important issue currently facing the board is the challenge of continuing the tradition of offering an education of the highest quality, while maintaining fiscal integrity and pursuing policies of financial responsibility," Wersinger said.
Miller said the task of balancing the budget with the quality of education is high on her list of priorities.