Mike Donoghue is vice president of the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC). The opinions he expresses here are his own and do not represent the views of any group or organization.
I am writing to ask South Orange and Maplewood residents who care about quality education for all students to join me in supporting Annemarie Maini for the Board of Education.
The challenges facing our district are numerous and complex. I believe that Annemarie’s considerable experience in education, both running a successful school for 8 years and actively leading the SOMA school community through her HSA and Presidents’ Council roles, as well as her extensive experience in finance, make her incredibly well suited to meet these challenges.
For the past several years, I have taken an active interest in the School District budget, speaking to District administrators, board members and others, and preparing analyses and recommendations based on my research. The budget is indeed complex, and despite the District’s efforts to make it more easily accessible and understandable, it too often remains opaque and inaccessible to the general public and even, it appears sometimes, to Board members. I believe that Annemarie’s strong background in finance as well as her detailed working knowledge of the school budget (knowledge which I’ve seen demonstrated firsthand) will make her an invaluable member of the Board – informed, confident, and able to understand the complexity and ask the hard questions about this crucial process that defines, to a large extent, what the District can even try to accomplish.
I am the parent of students with unique educational challenges. I believe that Annemarie understands extremely well the issues facing families that count on the District to provide appropriate educational services to all students on a consistent basis. I am confident that she will utilize her educational and financial experience to help ensure all students are well served while realistically considering the budgetary opportunities and challenges.
This is a very important election during a transitional time. Experience is a crucial factor in selecting our new Board members. I believe Annemarie Maini has the experience and the ideas to move our District in the right direction. I hope you will join me in voting for Annemarie on November 3.
Mike Donoghue
Maplewood
