the rix mix

Skipped the school election. 4 candidates for 3 BoE slots, so there was no opposition slate & no debates to make the news. The mayor & his people were against the budget, of course, since he doesn't control the Board, & the people who do are in effect the political opposition to the powerful city/county regular Democratic organization. The Mayor sent out flyers to vote no. I'm indifferent to the budget. For several months BoE has piled up slick brochures in the mailbox telling us how good the schools are. Some of them sure look nice. But the test results & rankings easily found online say something else. It may be possible to steer a child through the system here, to the best schools & teachers. The only Elizabeth teacher I know teaches music, he was just reelected to the Rahway Board of Ed, which passed their budget. A few towns have lively elections for the Board of Ed, but it's such a thankless job in most communities that they're lucky residents care enough to run & serve. Roselle Park had only two candidates for three slots. Since BoE elections are "nonpartisan" it's considered unseemly to behave too much like a politician when you campaign.

(The Elizabeth budget was defeated. )

Labels: education, Elizabeth NJ