Board of Ed. candidates have space, tech needs on mind

Residents voice concerns on conflicts of interest, superintendent selection

BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer

Topics on providing more classroom space in the 17 schools in the district and providing up-to-date technology in the schools highlighted the discussion at the first Edison Township Board of Education Candidates Night open forum last week.

About 40 residents attended the event at Martin Luther King Elementary School on March 23. Another Candidates Night was held April 1 at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

Eight candidates – incumbents Raymond Koperwhats and William H. Van Pelt, and newcomers Michael P. Winters, Veena Iyer, Gene I. Maeroff, Aimee Szilagyi, Ralph Errico and Samip Joshi – are vying for the three three-year seats open on the Board of Education.

Van Pelt could not make the open forum due to personal reasons, and Joshi, who is a young graduate of J.P. Stevens High School, could not be reached.

Koperwhats, Van Pelt and Winters are running on a slate; Iyer, Maeroff and Szilagyi are running on another slate; and Errico and Joshi are running independently. Incumbent Joe Shannon announced in March that he would not run for another term on the board.

Many of the candidates said they approved of the proposed $195,030,235 budget and the $52 million bond referendum. However, Maeroff said he felt the decisions made on the proposed budget and referendum were rushed.

“We are in sore need of more classroom space,” said Maeroff, a senior fellow at the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York who has authored 12 books on education.

Koperwhats, a retired teacher in the Bridgewater school system, said he believes this year’s proposed budget and referendum would lead the school district in the right direction.

“After looking at the 2006-2007 budget and referendum, I was opposed to it,” he said. “There was no plan for the overcrowding. But with this administration’s work on the proposed budget and referendum, I believe we are stepping in the right direction.”

Errico, who has a master’s degree in educational leadership, said the school administration has to plan better.

“Developments are being built, bringing more students into the district,” Errico said. “Where are we going to put all the children? We need to plan better for these kids.”

The candidates said the current technology in the Edison schools is shameful.

During a budget presentation on March 18, Schools Superintendent John Dimuzio said he wants to place an extra emphasis on upgrading the district’s technology, with about $700,000 for upgrades slated to go into the potential 2008-09 spending plan.

“We are woefully behind other school districts in technology when we should, as a school district of 14,000 students, be competing with other school districts,” said Iyer, who said she is running because of the simple fact that she is a mother. “I find it disturbing that we are cutting staff-development funds in the budget. If we can’t provide training to our teachers, we will have issues with our children.”

Winters, who said he went through the Edison school system, said he hopes for better schools and better equipment for the students.

“My youngest son is in his senior year of high school and is taking a graphic design class,” he said. “I told him, ‘Let’s go to the store and buy the program you are using in school so you can use it at home.’We found out that the program has not been made in three years and we can’t purchase it anywhere. We really need to move forward to the 21st century, because our kids are suffering.”

Iyer said the school district needs a technology plan put in place as well as a director of information technology (IT). Koperwhats and Maeroff agreed.

“[The school district’s] technology is in the Dark Ages,” said Maeroff.

In the wake of Superintendent Carol Toth’s placement on paid administrative leave in November 2007 until her contract expires in 2010, residents said they worry about the conflict of interests that board candidates may have.

All board candidates told the audience that they did not have any conflict of interest.

Also, residents asked for the candidates’ thoughts on evaluating the superintendent and if they were against looking outside New Jersey for the best candidate for the superintendent position.

Many of the candidates agreed that the superintendent is the most important position, and as a board member they would evaluate the superintendent on an ongoing basis. Many of the candidates agreed they would consider looking out of state for a superintendent; however, Koperwhats stressed that looking out of state would be costly.

Parents also expressed concern about the drastic differences in rankings between J.P. Stevens High School and Edison High School. According to New Jersey Monthly magazine, J.P Stevens is ranked no. 82 and Edison High School is ranked no. 155 in the state.

“I believe the main reason is we lack classroom space and there is a deficient selection of advanced placement [AP] courses for students to choose from,” said Iyer.

Szilagyi, who has been on the English Department faculty at Middlesex County College since 1988, added that technology of online courses could provide that outlet for more AP course options for the students.

Maeroff agreed.

“A lot more could get done with independent study,” he said.

Winters said the rankings go back to the need for more technology incorporated into the schools.

“We need to move the funding into the schools,” he said.

Errico added that the problem is the student-teacher ratio.

“The problem is we have one teacher for 25 to 30 students,” he said. “This is not good. Students who want to take more AP courses can’t because of no class space, which is a huge problem.”

Voters will decide on the school budget and school bond referendum and choose school board candidates on April 15.