Board’s Past President Says Members Are Acting in Best Interests of Parents
To the Editor:
When I spoke at the February 3 meeting of the Princeton Board of Education, I spent too much of my five minutes on labor negotiations and too little on my main message, which was to parents of students in the district. I hope to finish my remarks here.
To summarize my comments about negotiations: It seems to me that members of the Princeton Regional Education Association have propagated two false narratives. The first is that the Board doesn’t respect teachers and consequently cannot understand the stress teachers feel about the economy and protracted negotiations. The second is that the Board lacked leadership, foresight, and ingenuity in negotiating in difficult times. Having worked with a majority of the current Board and after reviewing all public statements from both sides, I find the first narrative absurd and the second simply inaccurate.
While I think it’s important to call attention to these false narratives, my real motivation in addressing the Board was to speak to the parents who have attended Board meetings for the past six or seven months, expressing concern about negotiations, particularly the parents of elementary-school students. What gets lost as the Board listens in open forum is that its members are acting in the best interests of these parents, with a goal of ensuring that as their children grow, they will have the same — or even better — learning experiences as those currently offered to John Witherspoon and Princeton High School students.
The Board is acutely aware of the forces working against the district’s culture of continuous improvement, including the 2 percent cap, flat or declining state aid, rising enrollment, and expenses that outpace revenues. Last year’s Board was forced to cut $1.6 million from the 2014-2015 budget, which it did without significant impact to programs. While I’m not in the loop for the upcoming budget cycle, I assume this situation has not improved. In fact, I’m guessing this year’s Board will need to make difficult decisions about district programs, decisions that will affect the lives of students in ways that are much more significant than the amount their teachers are required to contribute for health insurance.
Boards of Education are elected to reflect the educational values of their communities and to communicate those values to district administrators. It’s not an easy job in any town, and it is particularly difficult in Princeton, where we value a wealth of opportunity for every student in our diverse community. That said, I urge parents to fully educate themselves about the fiscal crisis: think about what you’d be willing to live without; share your priorities with Board members; and learn just how relatively small a percentage of the district budget constitutes discretionary spending. Go to the Board’s budget workshop, and follow up by sharing your impressions at the budget hearing.
It’s easy to go to Board meetings and express support for teachers — just about everyone here is pro-teacher. What’s far more difficult is for a volunteer Board of elected officials to take a hard look at the numbers and start weighing the merits of various programs and the impact that cutting or reducing programs will have on students. This is the true challenge Princeton faces and I wish the Board and everyone in the school community the very best as they work to find solutions to this difficult situation.
Timothy Quinn,
Wilton Street
Editor’s note: The author served on the Princeton Board of Education from 2008 to 2014 and is the immediate past president.