By Ruth Luse, Hopewell Valley News
Hopewell Township and Pennington Borough citizens who want to be school board candidates for the April 21 annual school election have until 4 p.m. March 2 to file nominating petitions.
That’s less than a month away.
The seats up for grads in the 2009 school board election include two Hopewell Township seats (three-year terms) held now by Jeffrey Bartolino and Leigh Ann Peterson. The third is held by Pennington’s Daniel O’Connor. This also is a three-year term.
The Hopewell Borough seat, held by Mel Myers, is not in contention this year.
This is not an easy time to serve on the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education. Funding is scarce and taxpayers are worried about their own pocketbooks, their livelihoods and their homes.
Although the 2009-2010 budget that will go before voters on April 21 will have been struck by then, those who are elected will face the same challenges that have plagued the current board. They will have to wrestle with economic realities we don’t think will improve much for some time to come. They might even have to help identify ways to cut the 2009-2010 budget if voters do not give it their OK April 21.
Those who join the nine-member board in April also will be getting ready to work with a new superintendent of schools, The current board is conducting the first round of superintendent interviews this month and plans, we’re told, to make a final determination sometime in March. Members have said they hope to have a new superintendent on board by July 1.
Come late April, both new and old members will be facing these and many other rough issues. Because many members of this community watch the school board and school district like hawks, the best efforts of all members will be required.
The following should give would-be candidates an idea of what they must do before March 2 and what their duties would be if elected April 21:
Any Hopewell Township or Pennington Borough resident who’d like to run must:
— Obtain a nominating petition from the school board office at 425 S. Main St., Pennington;
— Get the signatures of at least 10 qualified voters living within Hopewell Township or Pennington Borough (whichever applies). One of the signatures may be the would-be candidates own.
— Be able to read and write.
— Hold citizenship and one year of residency in the school district.
— Have no interest in any contract with, or claim against, the board.
— Not hold office as mayor or member of the municipal governing body.
— Be registered to vote in the Hopewell Township or Pennington Borough (whichever applies).
Those who would like to be school board members also should know what the job entails. According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, a members job is:
— Not to administer the schools, but to work with the board to see that the schools are well run.
— To listen to opposing views and be able to defend the boards philosophy and goals.
— To be willing to invest the many hours necessary to meet the responsibilities.
— To serve out of a sincere desire to benefit the community rather than for personal glory or to carry out personal objectives.
— To bear in mind that, as a state official, a board member has a responsibility to all the children in the state, not only to those in the local district.
Unlike those elected to political office, school board members do not represent the townspeople who elect them. Board members have just one constituency — the children of New Jersey.
We hope those who sincerely believe they can make an honest commitment to the work of the school board will come forward as candidates.
