Schools

QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES: BOE President Mary Shaughnessy

In a Patch Q & A, Shaughnessy discusses why she's running again and what she plans to do for the school district if re-elected

 

PATCH:  Why are you seeking a position in the Board of Education?

SHAUGNESSY:  After working in publishing for 30 years, I was ready for a new challenge when I first ran for the BOE in 2009.  Improving our district during an economic downturn was one of the biggest challenges I could imagine, but I thought it was worth the effort.  

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I had an economic interest as well. Our property values are directly tied to the quality of our schools. It’s in everybody’s self interest to help our schools reach their full potential.  

Because I work as a freelance reporter/researcher, I have the time, the tools and the drive to improve the educational environment in this district. Anybody who knows me knows that when I commit to something, that’s it—I’m in it heart and soul.  Caring for your schools very much equates to caring for your home, your neighborhood, your town.  That sentiment remains as fresh today as the day I decided to run three years ago.

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PATCH: What are your qualifications for the position?

SHAUGNESSY:  My training as a journalist makes it easy for me to pick up the phone and talk to anybody.  My first three years on the board were about learning the lay of the land.  If I am re-elected, I plan to more thoroughly use my skills as a researcher and advocate, something I have done effectively on a local and county level for more than a decade.  For more information, click on http://bestteam2012.com/read-about-mary-shaughnessy-3a/

 

PATCH: What do you see as the top three problems in the Board of Education?

SHAUGNESSY:  Of course, the most obvious problem is the state’s continuing and aggressive effort to shift public funding for education into privately managed, for-profit schools.  Depending on whose figures you rely on—the state’s or those of New Jersey’s Education Law Center -- the Bloomfield school district has been deprived of anywhere from $16 to $26 million in state funding since 2009.  This is a problem we need to address not just as an individual board, but as a joint effort with other districts that are also being shortchanged of the amount of funding the state itself says it takes to help all students meet the basic requirements of the state-mandated curriculum.  In many cases, these mandates from Trenton are unfunded, which puts an unfair burden on local taxpayers.

 Another problem is that we currently have a relatively new school board and an administration that lack institutional memory.  We have to find more effective ways to draw on our internal human resources—the wisdom of the district’s most demonstrably dedicated educators—to effectively strategize the shortest and most cost-effective route to improving student achievement.

Finally, we have to figure out how to better showcase our strengths. Bloomfield schools are much more then a set of numbers derived from a single set of standardized tests, which often fail to capture the progress of our creative and/or alternative learners.  The Bloomfield school district has a beautifully diverse population of students who are offered the opportunity to participate in a vast array of academic and extra-curricular pursuits.  This year alone, many of our K-12 students placed high in county, state and regional academic, music and arts competitions, and our high school was nationally recognized on two occasions for showing great improvement academically and socially within our economically disadvantaged student population.  We have to stop hiding our light under a bushel.  

 

PATCH:  What would you say are some of the best things about the current BOE?

SHAUGNESSY:  One of my objectives in running for the Board of Education was to help purge the board of partisan political influence, which I truly believe has had a corrosive effect on how our schools are run.  I believe we are moving in that direction.  One of the best things about the current board is that, while we all come from different political and philosophical persuasions, the spirit of the board is now friendlier and more cordial both to the public and each other.  The fact that we are, for the most part, independent thinkers is one of our greatest strengths because the push and pull of differing opinions forces us to more closely examine our individual positions.

We are a relatively green board so the learning curve has been very steep for many of us, but we are willing to try different formats and approaches until we get it right.  To that end, we have greatly increased the amount of board training we receive from New Jersey School Boards Association to make ourselves more effective.  All but one of our NJSBA-led board workshops has been open to the public so residents could see our work in progress. Another example of our drive for transparency is the vast expansion of information made available to the public in our published agendas, which now include all resolution attachments that can legally be made available.

Despite cutback challenges, our hard-working staff has upgraded technology to provide accelerated reading and math programs, as well as data-driven student assessments and individualized classroom instruction.  By the fall, we plan to house a Montclair State University satellite office at the middle school to greatly enhance instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  We have redesigned the district website to give parents unprecedented access to their student’s information, including online grade books.  And within a few months, Foley Field will move a step closer to completion with new bleachers, press box and sound system, provided by a state Green Acres grant, which will also subsidize our concession stand and restrooms.

In terms of cost savings, we consolidated several administrative positions.  For instance, we hired an in-house attorney to serve as our director of human resources and labor negotiations.  Our newly-trained and certified energy specialist, who also doubles as our lead residency officer, has saved $104,000 in utility costs over the past five months, and we expect our overall utility costs to decrease by 35 or 40 percent as his efforts continue.  And next fiscal year we will recover some $150,000 by changing health brokers. 

 

PATCH:  How are you funding your campaign?  Who are your main financial supporters?

SHAUGNESSY:  Dan Anderson, Kent Weisert and I teamed up to help defray the cost of campaign literature, signs and postage, which will probably run anywhere from $3500 to $4500.  We each contributed $500 to the pot to get us started.  The rest was collected at a potluck fundraiser held at the home of Emily Smith, a current board member.  We sent out invites via email and snail mail solely to family, friends and neighbors who were asked to give a suggested donation of $30.  

 

PATCH: Anything else you would like to say?

SHAUGNESSY:  If there was one thing we could teach our students it would be to always leave a place better than the way they found it.


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