To the Editors:
Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad and James Davis
This year I’m pleased to support Stephanie Lawson-Mohammad and James Davis for the Board of Education.
I met Stephanie three years ago when she first ran for the Board of Education. What I liked then is still very much what I like now — a sane, thoughtful, balanced human being who’s able to articulate the issues confronting our children and effectively advocate for positive change. Within the politics of education, effective advocacy requires a commitment to educate ones own self about the state laws and the rules (whether we like them or not) that define much of how our schools operate. This keeps the conversation, even a passionate conversation, smart and ups the chance of new initiatives being more successful.
James, Corporate Counsel for American Express, has been a community volunteer for many years — coaching sports teams and, most recently, serving as an Achieve Foundation volunteer. He shares Stephanie’s commitment to ensuring successful educational experiences for all of our children. And shares her measured and thoughtful approach to achieving that goal.
Intellectual diversity is the beauty of our communities.
Look at the range of career choices made by your friends and your neighbors! We are not cookie cutter towns. We don’t have cookie cutter children. And it’s important that our school system, while incorporating the core educational mandates of the state, be challenged to think outside of the mold and embrace and nurture this intellectual diversity that is the heart of the Maplewood and South Orange communities.
This is what Stephanie and James will fight for.
Sincerely,
Nina E. Davenport
Maplewood
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