Today is the deadline I had set for the candidates to reply to my question. As of this moment I have not received any reply from the Democrats. I assure them that I will post it unedited and without my comments with the proviso that there is no character assailment and the reply is pertinent to the question.
THE CONE OF GLOOM; Once more Plainfield has a negative headline. This time it is because of a County Superintendent's and the State's investigation of the qualifications of two "quasi-administrative" individuals in the Plainfield district. Would someone define what role a quasi-administrative person plays?
Reading between the lines of the newspaper article the individuals concerned were brought to Plainfield from Florida by the Superintendent when he assumed his position
Why am I placing this item as "political"? Many of the "Anonymous" commentators to this blog over the past 18 months have in defending the local party leadership referred to the present BOE as dominated by the "New Democrats". They and I assume that some have been spokespersons for the "oldies", have introduced politics into any discussion of the BOE. Assemblyman Green has often refereed to his role in Plainfield's education process.
As I recall the BOE is elected at a special election. There has always been a slate of candidates endorsed by the local Democrat Committee although the election is supposed to be apolitical. How many of the member s are "new", "old" or independent I have no idea. However there has been a resentment expressed against the new superintendent for bringing in some of his "cronies".
As an outsider the only observation I can make that in this second year the overall impression has been one of positive changes in Plainfield's school system, which I hope continues.
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Doc, the Democratic Committee hasn't ever endorsed candidates for the Board of Education. Individual members are of course free to do so, and to campaign for them, as I and others have done in the past--and not always for the same candidates, either.
ReplyDeleteDottie, I hang my head and stand corrected.I was under the impression that annually at least one of the 'slates" had the blessing of the Committee leadership. If there has been no political support all the more obnoxious has been the charges that the board has been controlled by the "New Democrats"
ReplyDeleteDoc,
ReplyDeleteDottie stands correct: There has never been open endorsements by the "old democrats", but there has been substantial economic support from the Assemblyman who happens to be the chair of the democratic committee. I guess for the "old democrats" support and endorsement are two different things...
As for the "New Democrats" controlling the BOE, well, today the BOE is not much better despite being split between "old and new", perhaps next election there could be some "independent" BOE candidates whose only interest is to move the district forward.
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps....
Best regards,
Maria
Any individual, including members of political committees and elected officials, has the right to support, endorse, contribute to, and vote for any Board of Education candidates they want to. That's as true for Jerry Green as it is for Maria Pellum or me or anyone else.
ReplyDeleteWhen Al McWilliams was chairman of the local Democratic Committee he made personal contributions to Board candidates too, and nobody jumped to the conclusion that those candidates had the committee's endorsement (or "support"--a distinction without a meaningful difference).
Someone might want to do some research on the ELEC website to see who has contributed to which Board candidates since 2000, and who they have supported and are now supporting for election to local and state office. The results might be enlightening.
I agree that the Board is not what it should be. We've had an elected Board since about 1985, something I supported then. Perhaps it's time to go back to an appointed Board, or maybe move the Board of Education election to November when more voters go to the polls. The low turnout for Board elections is sad everywhere--not just in Plainfield--and it would eliminate the cost of running a special election.
Dottie, When I first met you some wheres back in the dark ages, you were chaperoning a slate for the BOE that may not have had Committee sanction since the BOE elections are supposed to be non political, but****.I have always admired your political savvy and I know you do not need the mantle of Vice-chairperson or political office to have an impact. I wish we had more we your expertise in local office.
ReplyDeleteAs to the elected BOE. The concept was great but as most Utopian ideas it doesn't work. Less than 15% of the electorate bother to vote so power interests can dominate the board. I have always been for a mayor appointed board trusting that it might be better than the other Authority appointed boards. At least we could then finger point the mayor for the school systems proble4ms.
Doc, thanks for the compliment--but I never "chaperoned" BOE slates although I did run BOE campaigns for many years (the last one was 10 years ago). Never asked for or received Democratic Committee support and always got support from both Democrats and Republicans. And, for the most part, won.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right about going back to an appointed BOE--with 3 members appointed every year there would certainly be more accountability. The voters would have to approve the change in a referendum, though, and that might be a problem.