Seven candidates are vying for three seats on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education in the Nov. 5, 2024 election. Village Green invites voters to submit Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. See guidelines below.
Dear Village Green,
I have been a resident of Maplewood and South Orange for over a decade, with kids in the schools since we moved here before my oldest started kindergarten. I have been watching the district and board dynamics intently since the beginning. When it comes time to elect members of our BOE, every year I am disheartened by the divisiveness that occurs in the community in our support for our preferred candidates. While I’ve voted across slates in the past because I do believe in having different perspectives on the board, I do typically align with candidates that have the same views about addressing the inequities that exist in our district and in helping the students who need the most support. Though exhausted by the local politics in recent years, this year I didn’t want to engage online (failed at this miserably), I didn’t want any lawn signs, and I had no intention of writing an endorsement letter. Today, two hours before your deadline, I changed my mind. This election is too important in deciding how we move forward.
While reading the online discourse around candidates, I realized there was a common theme no matter who you supported- we need BOE members who will, as someone online asserted, “clear up the dysfunction and get our district on track to support all students”. It became clear to me how Qawi, Arun and Bethany are the right people to do just that. Since Qawi became President and Arun 1st VP at the beginning of this year, I have found them to be reasonable in their leadership and collaborative with the entire board. They have shown their willingness to work together from the start by reaching across the aisle in choosing who to serve with them on the executive committee. I have disagreed with some of their individual positions, including both of their votes to retain our business administrator most recently. But when the majority of the board disagreed with them, I appreciated how they both moved forward, without any animosity or resentment, as shown in how they have conducted themselves since then in maintaining that collaborative spirit. They haven’t used their power on the board to get their way or overturn decisions they didn’t agree with. They have also made an effort to ensure all information is shared among all board members, so everyone is operating with the same knowledge.
Although I don’t know Bethany well, I know her from when our kids attended Seth Boyden. I was happy to hear that she was running and was impressed from the start. I appreciate that she understands what her role would be on the board to oversee, but not run the district, has an open mind about issues and understands decisions need to be made with the facts presented, even if she personally has a different opinion, and seems to have a practical approach to addressing differences. I have complete confidence that Bethany, along with Qawi and Arun, will continue to move the board in a positive direction, continuing the collaboration with the entire board, and supporting our new superintendent along with our young in tenure senior leadership team. It’s important the board allows them to focus on getting the work done to address the many competing issues our district faces, while carrying on the things we do successfully (and let’s not forget there are many!).
Sincerely,
Stacy Merriweather Fontil
South Orange, NJ
Letters to the Editors guidelines: Village Green publishes Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. Publishing these letters is at the discretion of the editors. We do not publish letters attacking competing candidates or any person. We aim to publish as many letters as we receive; however, if there is a large volume of letters and they are received late in the race, we cannot guarantee that they will be posted. Letters to the Editors can be submitted to villagegreennj@gmail.com. Please send as a Word or Google document, not as a PDF. Letter writers should provide their name and place of residence (town and state). The deadline for submitting a Letter to the Editor for the Fall 2024 election is Tuesday, October 29, at 5 p.m.
