Moderator Blocks Slater Comments on Teacher Contract

Board of Education candidate Mitch Slater's attempt to discuss the new teacher contract during Thursday evening's BOE candidates' night was blocked by the moderator, saying the topic was not germane to the question.

Slater attempted to raise the issue of the teacher contract during a question on the Board Watch accountability program, an initiative that is a key part of Slater's platform. Slater has made the teacher contract, ratified by the board in March, a part of his platform as well, questioning the 3.9-percent teacher raise and questioning the decision to ratify the document before state aid figures were released. The aid figures included a $4.22 million cut for Westfield. At the time of the question, Slater had already addressed Board Watch in a previous answer.

The moderator, a member of the Maplewood League of Women Voters, stepped in and blocked Slater from addressing the contract, saying he could only address Board Watch. Slater objected, questioning if the forum rules specifically dictated the content of answers. He also noted he had not been stopped on previous questions from answering with other topics and had seen the practice occur during the 2009 BOE candidates' night.

Slater had answered two previous questions with answers that were not the same as the question, before the Board Watch question/teachers contract answer. In response to a question on continuing to enforce state mandates, Slater centered much of his answer on his concerns surrounding the high school guidance department. During a question on guidance issues, he spent most of the answer discussing Board Watch. At neither time did the moderator stop the answer.

During the three questions, the other three BOE candidates - incumbents Ginny Leiz, Richard Solomon and Julia Walker - did not object to Slater's answers. Leiz, Solomon and Walker did not use any of their answers addressing topics other than what was in the question.

Following the moderator's decision to stop Slater from addressing the contract issue, several members of the audience applauded the decision. During the brief interchange between Slater and the moderator, one audience member shouted for the moderator to allow Slater to finish his answer on the contract issue. The contract issue was not the topic of a question and was only raised briefly in the context of whether Slater could address the issue.

While the movement of using one question to answer another question was limited during the BOE forum, the practice remains common in political debates at all levels. During last year's League moderated forum for the county freeholder board, candidates used several answers to address questions other than those being posed.