TUF BOE Endorsement For 2006

TUF has decided on its endorsements for candidates, before we name them we'd like to say that all six candidates are qualified because they are all in our opinion intelligent enough and interested enough in the schools and the community to do the job.

The BOE needs to change. We believe that most have lost sight of the public and are not open to public concerns. Their lack of communication regarding the recent violence and the late opening of the high school are but the tip of the iceberg. When one goes to a BOE meeting and asks questions the general answer from Ms. Nagy is "We are doing everything we can." If the voters do not tell the BOE that that is unacceptable then it will never change.

We recommend voting for LaCorte, Mettler and Unger as a block. If the incumbents win then the BOE will see this as agreement with their policies.

To some small degree we regret our position as stated above, the three best BOE members in our opinion are (starting from the best) Mr. Kanerak (not running), Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Web, they are the only ones that have shown any openness to TUF's ideas. Mr. Hernandez is at least open to televising BOE meetings. Thus if there is a challenger that you don't like Mr. Hernandez should be your third vote.

    

The incumbents' advantage is the typical incumbents' advantage, they have experience. Of the incumbents Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Web have always been very open and eager to talk to TUF and try to understand our points. Mr. Bonanno on the other hand is always respectful but my impression has been that his eagerness to talk to TUF was not to understand but instead to win an argument.

Mr. Bonanno has even gone so far as to say in his opinion the board has been elected to do their job and TUF should just let them do it. If we don't like what they do then we should vote them out of office. Mr. Bonanno if I misquote you please feel free to write us.

TUF has called for the BOE to address five issues. Chief amongst them are televising meetings and having an outside group perform an independent review of the operations of our school system to see if we are spending the ballooning school budget in the right way. Mr. Bonanno has refused on both accounts indicating that he believes that televising meetings will cause people to use the public portion of the meetings to sensationalize problems. On the review of operations he believes that the BOE works so hard on the budget they could not possibly make any mistakes thus a review would be a waste of money. Because of his close mindedness TUF could not possibly endorse Mr. Bonanno.

Mr. Hernandez is the most open of the three incumbents. He is always respectful of those that disagree with him and seems eager to understand others point of view. He has given some support to televising meetings though admittedly more as the elections draw near than earlier. He however opposes and operational review of the budget.

He has now twice commented on the alternative program stating that it was the voters that cut it from the budget. We strongly disagree in our fact check (4/9/06).

Because Mr. Hernandez has said no to and operational review it would be very hard for us to endorse him, however he does appear to be open minded and he does seem in favor of televising BOE meetings. Therefore our opinion on Mr. Hernandez is that if you feel you must vote for at least one incumbent he'd be the one.

Mr. Web. I sincerely like him. He is a gentleman and he has always wanted to hear what TUF has to say. His catch line is "I have 7800 kids". A plus in his favor is that we detect that often there is some friction between him and the Board President Eva Nagy indicating independent thinking. He has however also opposed both the operational review and televising BOE meetings. For that reason we respectfully and regretfully cannot endorse him.

For that matter it is unfortunate that it is this year that the BOE is challenged. The three best BOE members in our opinion are (starting from the best) are Mr. Kanerak (not running), Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Web.

    

The challengers' advantage is the typical challengers' advantage, they offer change. Their website, boeabc.org, details much of their thoughts so I need not repeat to many of them here. In brief:

Ms. LaCorte's works with not-for-profit organizations, has been active in the PTA and Cub Scouts. She has served in the township government. She also has learned the ins and outs of the school system as a mother of a special ED student.

Ms. Mettler is looking for change and openness. She suggests budgeting policies and inventory management that can reduce costs. She has experience in government, mental health work and addictions counseling.

Mr. Unger offers considerable experience in both business and government. His work last year on the Franklin Township Veterans Memorial and his ability to involve volunteers thus saving the township over $250,000 speaks loudly for his ability to involve the public in BOE affairs. This is an area that is sorely lacking today and that he has promised to change. His business accomplishments are too numerous to include here.

The challengers present themselves as running mates that:
• Are unhappy with the decline in test scores.
• Want to hear from students, teachers, parents and taxpayers alike.
• Want an independent analysis of BOE operations
• Want to televise BOE meetings.
• Pledge to be open and honest with the public.

TUF's Phillip Kramer has been to most BOE meetings for the last 6 months so he knows the members fairly well. He's also known Gene Unger from Mr. Unger's work on the Council and has spent considerable time talking to Ms. LaCorte in the past two weeks. Of all the candidates he knows Ms. Mettler the least but has spent enough time speaking with her to learn what she wants. Finally Phillip Kramer attended "Meet The Candidates Night" sponsored by the Franklin Township Public Schools PTO Presidents Council. Because of this Phillip Kramer has written this article though the endorsements are not his alone - it is a group decision of TUF.

A personal note from Phillip Kramer, as inappropriate as it maybe for me to write this next part I feel compelled to do so. I truly like all three candidates as people. Mr. Web has been especially kind to me. Mr. Bonanno and I have butted heads and debated each other several times. That has left me with respect for him as a person and respect for his intellect. The combination of his intelligence and hard work with his closed mindedness makes him a powerful force in what I believe is the wrong direction. Thus I believe he should be replaced. I realize that if I have gained Mr. Bonanno's respect then he might use the same words about me.

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