Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is more than a month out from his life as an elected official, but the Hillsborough resident has returned to the spotlight on a more local level, advocating that academic clubs and teams like Hillsborough High School’s Team 75 “RoboRaiders” be eligible for varsity letters.
During a Hillsborough Township Board of Education meeting earlier this month, the former Republican legislator joined a chorus of RoboRaiders members calling for a change to the district’s varsity letter policy.
“There’s very few things in life anymore that are black and white, but this just seems like a black and white issue,” he said. “Let’s commit ourselves to putting a policy in place in the next few months so these graduating seniors can graduate with a varsity letter.”
Ciattarelli, who opted not to run for re-election after falling in the polls to former Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno in the GOP gubernatorial primary, sent his four children through the Hillsborough school district. His son earned a varsity letter for cross-country track.
Yet the former legislator points to a bill he sponsored last year that passed both houses and was signed by then Gov. Chris Christie that allows districts to award varsity letters to students who compete in non-sports activities.
“I’m disappointed that the town with the oldest robotics team in the state seems to be the one taking the longest to put a varsity letter policy in place to award non-athletic student participants who engage in interscholastic competitions a varsity letter,” he said. “Montgomery’s done it. Bridgewater-Raritan’s done it. Why not Hillsborough?”
Though the bill doesn’t require schools to hand out varsity letters in non-sports activities, it was largely seen last year by supporters as an effort to push districts in that direction.
Since 1996, students interested in robotics and other aspects of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) have turned their understanding of coding and machining, as well as public relations and finances, into the state’s oldest FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition team.
The team regularly competes throughout the region in an effort to “spread awareness of science and technology within the community,” according to the group’s website. Over the years, the team has earned a number of awards and taken top honors at several regional championships. The group has also received the Chairman’s Award, which FIRST bestows on teams that best represent “a model for other teams to emulate and best [embody] the purpose and goals” of the international youth organization.
For students like Daniel Lee, who serves as the team’s public relations manager, his time on Team 75 has proven to be a valuable part of his academic and social life.
“I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to make as many friends as I have now who are all interested in STEM and who challenged me and pushed me to success,” Lee said during the school board meeting. “The RoboRaiders are more than just a club; the RoboRaiders are just like any other sports team. We train, we learn, we compete to our hardest and we know we can rely on one another.”
School board President Judith Haas, whose son was a member of the RoboRaiders while he was a student at Hillsborough High School, said she was in favor of awarding varsity status to not just the robotics club, but to other organizations as well.
“We have a lot of very, very high performing academic teams…so yes, this is a matter of policy that goes beyond the robotics team, which is a wonderful example of the merging of so many different fields and endeavors,” she said. “We love all of our academic talent and at least speaking from myself, I think they should be rewarded.”
To that end, the board will bring its findings to the next meeting on Feb. 27.
School board Vice President Dr. Lorraine Soisson said things may take longer than that since there are new members on the education committee, though she was firmly in support of making the policy changes.
“We may come to a decision, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on our new board members, who have not been part of the education committee previously,” she said. “I do want to reiterate what Judy [Haas] said.”
With that in mind, Ciattarelli said he would be attending future board meetings with members of the RoboRaiders to keep the issue on the school board’s radar.
“If you are a student participant in an extra-curricular activity in which you work hard, prepare and compete inter-scholastically, and when successful bring distinction to your school district, shouldn’t you be worthy of a varsity letter,” Ciattarelli asked. “The answer to that question in my mind is unequivocally ‘yes.’”