Thank you for publishing the article on the Sussex-Wantage Board of Education election and the list of candidates.
I urge all Sussex Borough and Wantage Township residents to take the time to read the candidate comments, especially since some of the candidates do not seem interested in having a debate or Q&A sessions and their only public forum is Facebook pages with little to no information available for voters.
The parents and residents of Sussex and Wantage deserve a BoE who will work for the best education system for our children.
According to the state Board of Education, the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectation on statewide assessments for English Language Arts and math dropped from 55 percent (ELA) and 44 percent (math) for the 2018-19 school year to 44 percent (ELA) and 28 percent (math) for the 2021-22 school year (there were no assessments for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years).
As the only incumbent running and with this drop in proficiency occurring while being on the BoE, I would suggest that this member be asked why and what he plans to do to reverse this drop.
However, he has not (to my knowledge) provided a way to address this and only seems more concerned with advancing his own political aspirations. This is just one of many reasons he does not deserve three more years on this board.
Two other candidates, who until recently were running with him as a “slate” and have since apparently split for some unknown reason, do not seem to have any intention to allow the public to ask them just how they plan to address this.
Being a part of the local volunteer fire department is very admirable but as the only qualification given for being a board member (other than parental and marital status), I would suggest voters look to the other candidates (Braconi and the McPhersons) who have actual experience in education and are actively engaging the community.
Please become more informed about all the candidates and vote wisely on Nov. 7.
Chris Bob
Wantage