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Candidates discuss issues
(by Megan Burrow - April 09, 2008)
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Barbara Gregory*
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Borough resident: 41 years
Family: Husband, Gil, a retired engineer; three adult children; seven grandchildren
Occupation: Former teacher in River Vale
Education: BA in elementary education from William Paterson University
Elected office: Westwood Regional BOE since 1990
Community involvement: Chaired the special education committee for state school boards; member of Bergen County executive board; Bergen County professional development board; class mother; scout leader; volunteer tutor.
Why are you running for the board?
Barbara Gregory said she is running for re-election because, “It is exciting times for the board of education. We are a very unified and well-working team. We have a dynamic new administration with some new dynamic ideas. Things are really heading up and I would like to be here to be involved with it.”
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Bernadette Koski*
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Borough resident: 22 years
Family: Husband, Richard; three children, Alison, Anne, and Richard, all in their 20s
Occupation: Non-practicing attorney
Education: BA from
Lehman
College ; JD from
Pace
School of Law
Elected office: Westwood Regional BOE member since 1995
Community involvement: Scout leader, PSO, HSO, BOE finance committee, involved with BOE legislation, policy, and personnel
Why are you running for the board?
Bernadette Koski said she is running for re-election because, “I’ve been committed to the educational system in
Washington
Township and Westwood since I moved here. As a senior member I believe I can still continue to serve the community well.”
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Abbe Lewites
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Age: 51
Borough resident: 13 years
Family: two children, senior at
Westwood
High School and a junior in college
Occupation: teacher at
Hasbrouck
Heights
High School
Education: bachelor degrees from Syracuse and
Montclair
Elected office: no previous elected office
Community involvement: Involved in many PSOs; held board positions at
Washington
School and Brookside; involved in project graduation; active member of the
Bergen
County
YMCA
Why are you running for the board?
Abbe Lewites said she is running because, “I would like to see the Westwood school district be more competitive with the neighboring district. It’s important to get everybody on the same page and working towards a common goal. We need to be able to meet the needs of everyone in the community. We live in a competitive society and the education children receive should be just as competitive.”
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Darlene Mandeville
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Age: 43
Borough resident: 17 years
Family: Husband, Craig; four children, Craig, Mathew, Mark and Erin, all in the school system
Occupation: Registered environmental health specialist in
Saddle
River
Education: BS from
Stockton
State College
Elected office: no previous elected office
Community involvement: Cub scout leader for the past 7 years; co-president of Westwood Parents with educational concerns for the past five years; active in school as class parent and library aide; was on board of directors for Pascack Valley Cooperative Nursery School.
Why are you running for the board?
Darlene Manderville said she is running because, “I would like to work with the district helping them achieve excellence in education. I have a lot of communication with stakeholders in education through my children and I think I would have valuable input to the board. I would like to make education in the district better for each and every child.”
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Louis Montresor
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Age: 51
Borough resident: 7 years
Family: Wife, Barbara, works for Johnson & Johnson; children, 21-year-old Kevin at the
University of
Michigan and 7-year-old Matt at
Washington
School
Occupation: attorney, currently non-practicing, raising child, housework, and volunteer work
Education: Bachelor’s degree from
Villanova
University ; JD from New York Law
Elected office: no previous elected office
Community involvement: District member of special education self assessment committee; co-president of Westwood Parents with Educational Concerns; member of Westwood Officers Network; Washington Elementary Chair of Board Communication Committee; co-class president; coaches youth baseball and basketball
Why are you running for the board?
Louis Montresor said he is running because, “Through my participation with the district I feel like I can continue to move to more dialogue on policy. I support some of the new initiatives and feel that the vision of the district is moving in the right direction. I feel I can help identify where there could be bumps in the road and help the board move forward.”
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Andrew Restivo
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Age: 22
Borough resident: 22 years
Family: Parents; younger brother in
Westwood
Regional
High School
Occupation: Construction engineering technician
Education: Graduated from
Fairleigh
Dickinson
University with a bachelor’s degree May 2007; educated in Westwood school district since fifth grade
Elected office: FDU student government president in senior year
Community involvement: Involved with various committees and organizations in college
Why are you running for the board?
Andrew Restivo said he is running because, “I think they need a change, new blood, new ideas. I’m a recent graduate, so I’ve seen the Westwood schools first hand. I have a lot of pride in where I come from.”
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Six candidates will be vying for the two open
Township of
Washington seats on the Westwood Regional Board of Education (BOE) when residents go to the polls April 15.
The candidates, incumbents Barbara Gregory and Bernadette Koski, and challengers Darlene Mandeville, Louis Montresor, Andrew Restivo, and Abbe Lewites recently discussed the most pressing issues they believe the district faces today.
Each candidate was asked to name the biggest challenge the BOE currently faces and if elected, how they each would deal with the issue. The incumbents all pointed to the experience they have gained on the board as a valuable asset to the board, while their challengers stressed their own virtues and spoke of the importance of fresh ideas.
Abbe Lewites feels that meeting the needs of every student in the district, from advanced placement to special education is a major concern. “We need to be more competitive with our test scores and recognize that there are students who are in danger of not passing and we need to identify and work with them,” Lewites said. “We need to keep the staff we have because they’re excellent. That means being competitive with salaries.”
Because she has not yet served on the board Lewites said she is “not privy to a lot of information,” but if elected, she hopes to “go through things line by line,” and learn on the job. She added that she would like to see more special education students brought back into the district.
Many candidates mentioned the budget as the number one challenge the district must face in the upcoming years. Barbara Gregory said it is almost always the biggest issue the board must deal with.
“Each year it seems we have more mandates and less funding,” she said. “More and more falls on the shoulders of the local taxpayers and that should not happen. We will work with what we get to try and make strides managing well within our capital reserves. We will do things within the means that we have. Everybody’s feeling the crunch. It takes a community to educate a child and I am thankful the community came out to support the referendum.”
Bernadette Koski agrees that financial issues are always at the forefront. “We have seen a major increase in the student population in the last 10 years,” she said. “We are limited in spending through state caps. It is a matter of balancing needs and getting as much as we can.
Koski said that the board is currently in negotiations with staff and will look at the salary guide and listen to their thoughts on how to improve the system.” She added, “Because I have a lot of training and understanding of how education works in
New Jersey , I believe I am a good candidate.”
Andrew Restivo also believes that the budget is one of the top issues. “There is a lot of small amounts of money thrown around that can be redirected in more positive ways for the children,” he said.
“The economy is heading towards a recession and there is a lot of concern with the cost of things,” Darlene Mandeville commented. She said the board is “trying to provide the best services possible in tougher economic times.”
In order to meet this challenge Mandeville proposes trying to “look through line items and get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.” She added that through her experience on the board of the
Pascack
Valley
Cooperative
Nursery School she is well equipped to deal with the issue.
Challenger Louis Montresor applauded the board for its hard work on the budget, saying, “It seems a corner has been turned and hopefully the budget will pass. The board has the entire rehabilitation project mapped out and should stay on top of it.”
Another popular topic of conversation among the candidates was the importance of communication, both within the board and with the larger community. Many candidates pointed to this strategy as the most effective way to deal with the challenges the board faces.
Bernadette Koski stated if elected, she will “continue to listen to committee members and interested parties and try to get the community involved.”
Praising the current board, Louis Montresor said he felt it “got off to a good start last year with communicating with the larger community.” If elected, he said he would “focus on helping the community understand how the board works. I feel I have something positive to contribute to the dialogue and building relationships with members. I look forward to ramping up my knowledge base and learning from existing board members.”
Andrew Restivo echoed these sentiments, saying he would deal with issues through “meeting with the community and find out what their top priorities are.” He added, “the community should be involved. After all, it is their tax dollars.”
Board of education elections will be held on Tuesday, April 15.
Megan Burrow's e-mail address is burrow@northjersey.com.
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