By: Andrew Coen
Incumbents Dr. David Sussman, Pam Greenbaum and Dr. Asher Mansdorf are running for re-election against Penny Schuster, Shlomo Huttler and Stanley Kopilow, respectively.
Schuster, Sussman-s challenger, who served as Lawrence Central Council PTA president from 2001 to 2003, is running for school board for the first time. I want to balance the need for the schools to provide an excellent education to the children they serve and at the same time be fiscally responsible to all the taxpayers in the community, she said. I am proud to have attended the Lawrence school district and that my children continue to receive a fine education. I am passionate about this community and will do my best to return it to excellence.
Schuster, who has two children attending public schools in the district, said that a major reason she wants to challenge Sussman is to oust the lone remaining member of the board who was around during the school district-s fiscal mess, when millions of dollars in reserve funds were misspent by the district, an error that was discovered in 2002.
I feel it is time for the last vestiges of the past, a financially irresponsible school board, to leave and give the new board an opportunity to succeed, said Schuster. The school board has a fiduciary and moral responsibility to the community, and that trust was betrayed during Dr. Sussman-s tenure.
Sussman, who was school board president from 1996 to 2000, is seeking a fourth term as trustee. I think I will continue to bring what I have brought to the board in the past, which is the highest standards of education for the entire community, a sense of community for all groups in the community, fiscal conservatism and fair play, he said.
In response to Schuster-s claim that Sussman played a role in the district-s budget crisis three years ago, Sussman said that part of the reason the district dug itself a hole was because the board refused to listen to him when it came to the lucrative teachers- contract that was approved.
I think that when one looks at what occurred, one mostly looks at the teachers- contract when I was outvoted by my board, and I said that the contract would cause a decrease in services, said Sussman, who has three children enrolled in the public schools and one who graduated from Lawrence High School in 2003.
Mansdorf, a Lawrence dentist who has three children who graduated and one who attends the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, is seeking his second term on the board. I always try to vote in a manner that is both fiscally responsible and educationally sound, and that-s what I-m going to try to continue to do, he said. I-m going to try and have an influence on my fellow board members, whether they are supporters of the private school and the public school or not, because their job is doing the right thing for everybody.
Mansdorf said it-s important that he wins so there are people on the board representing the private-school students in addition to public-school children. If I lose, then the decision they are going to make is that we want to have a board that represents only one segment of the community, and that will be a very, very sad thing, he said.
Mansdorf-s challenger, Kopilow, an attorney and a 1965 Lawrence High School graduate, said he is running to help turn around his district, in which he grew up. Like a lot of other people, I have complained about what I have seen happen to the district and been unhappy about it, and haven-t done anything in particular about it, he said. After a while, if you keep complaining and do nothing, instead of becoming part of the solution you become part of the problem, and I decided to become part of the solution.
Kopilow, who has two children in the Lawrence Public Schools and one who graduated, said one of the things he wants to improve on is the academics. When I went to school in Lawrence, it was one of the premier districts in the county, if not the state, he said.
Greenbaum, who won a special election last June for the remaining year of Frank Argento-s term, said that if she wins a full three-year term, she wants to continue the progress that has been made during the past year. I would like to continue the upward trend of regaining academic excellence, at the same time as regaining control of an out-of-control budget that was created by the previous boards of education, she said. I feel that when re-elected I will continue to look carefully at the budget and question each and every expenditure, while at the same time improving our academic rating. I think there are certain areas of the budget that have to be scrutinized more, and given the time to do that, I will.
Greenbaum, who has two children in the Lawrence school system, said she wants to gauge the pulse of the district if she wins her first full term. I will continue to attend every school event that I can to see for myself what is going on in the schools, she said. Talking to the students, parents and faculty and just being accessible to community residents helps [me] to know what is the reality of what is going on in our schools and our community.
Huttler, an attorney from Lawrence, is challenging Greenbaum. I stand for a commitment to a quality education for all of our children, community harmony, fiscal integrity, a greater emphasis on the preservation of our facilities and infrastructure, greater attention to our non-educational staff, and an honest evaluation of the performance of our educational staff, he said.
Huttler is a member of the Lawrence Association civic group, and this past winter served as the group-s Nominations Committee chairman, which traditionally endorses candidates for Lawrence Village government. The group voted at its March 17 meeting to change its constitution to begin endorsing school board candidates. But according to Lawrence Association President Rabbi Rafael Saffra, a committee has not been established yet to interview the school candidates, so it is unlikely that there will be any endorsements for the May 18 elections.
Huttler-s children attend private schools, but a niece attends the Number Six School in Woodmere, which, according to him, means he has a major stake in the success of District 15. I am a politically active parent of private-school students, with a niece and a nephew in the public school system, including one in School District 15, said Huttler. As such, I am strongly vested both in the continued success and prosperity of the Lawrence Public School system, as well as in the continuing effort to obtain the support of private-school families for our school system. Because of these qualifications, I believe I have an indispensable and unique role to play in achieving a lasting community harmony.
On the controversial issue of consolidation and reducing the number of schools from seven to six, all candidates said they want to study the options further before deciding whether it-s best for the Number One, Four or Five School to close. Sussman went so far as to say he will not vote to close the Number Four School. I will not vote to lease or close the Number Four School, because it-s a model program, said Sussman. I believe it is essential that everyone who takes part in this decision has to be impartial when we decide where to consolidate.
I am not in favor of closing any school until we have further studied the educational impact that would result from such an action, said Schuster.
All of the candidates expressed a willingness to try to bring the divided public and private-school communities together. It does take a village to make sure each and every child is successful, said Greenbaum.
In every bell curve there are people who fall out on the side of the bell, and unfortunately ... we are listening to the people who are falling on the outside of the bell and not the people in the middle, said Mansdorf. Most of my friends feel the way I do, and that is, you have to have a strong public school system in order to maintain property values. The important thing is to do the right thing, and the right thing is to have an appropriately funded, well-run public school system.
If the private-school community is getting its fair share of budgetary moneys and it also believes that the public-school sector is not getting more than its fair share, and vice versa, then you will see improvement, said Kopilow. Both sides of the system have to understand that you have to open up the budget process to them. If that happens, I think you are going to have a lot less divisiveness.
I believe that as a community, we would profit more from identifying our similarities and reinforcing the bonds that tie us together, said Huttler. We must marginalize those who seek to divide and embrace those who seek to heal.
A Meet the Candidates Night will take place on Monday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m., in the Lawrence Middle School-s Cafeteria A. Voting for the May 18 school board elections and approval of the proposed budget will take place at the Number One School, Lawrence Middle School, Atlantic Beach Village Hall, the Number Two School and Lawrence High School.
