Schools
BOE President Showed 'Disregard, Disdain' for Public Opinion, BOE Candidate Says
Residents of this wonderful town deserve better than half-truths and disrespect, says Jonathan Blitt.
Dear fellow Westfield Residents,
As a member of this community for over 8 years I have, like many of you been blissfully unaware of the goings on at the Board of Education. Like many in this community, I believed that the democratic process that results in the election of members to this organization, also provides us the security that these public servants were acting on their constituents behalf. It was not until announcing my candidacy for the BOE, and subsequently attending a few meetings did I find out how very wrong those assumptions were. While most of these dedicated individuals deserve our admiration, there are a few that have shown through this process that they do not care to seek the counsel of the residents that they serve. I think that should expect more from OUR BOE.
That the president of the board showed such a blatant disregard and even disdain for public opinion was appalling. Culminating in his disrespectful treatment of some residents and even of fellow members of the board especially Ms. Cary whom he seemed to "accused" of inviting residents to attend the meeting - can you imagine such an awful thing as asking the members of the community to attend a public meeting (make no mistake Mr. President the tapes will clearly reflect and support this statement)
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Furthermore, that any member of the board agreed that Dr. Dolan's last synopsis of the June 11the Board meeting in which the first attempt to vote on the issue was tabled for further discussion calls into question the honesty of those that we have given our trust. Lies by omission, and half-truths have no place in our public school system where we try to teach our students integrity. Dr. Dolan owes them all a full apology. How would we treat a student if they decided to use the “Dolan Method" of omitting half of the information in order to influence events? It is inexcusable that our district’s top school administrator does not hold herself up to the same standards that we all expect from our students.
On a personal note, I am highly offended by Ms. Biegler's comment that "the reason the position is starting in the high school is because that is when children are most vulnerable." Is she suggesting that middle school aged children facing the huge changes associated with puberty, or elementary aged children who cannot effectively communicate their concerns nor even defend themselves are somehow less vulnerable?? Ms. Biegler please take note that last year alone there were more than a dozen cases of suspicious vehicles circling our elementary schools.Like the turf field issue before this, the BOE seems to have developed a nasty habit of working in isolation of the community that they serve rather than in concert with them. The residents of this wonderful town deserve better than half-truths and disrespect.
Kind Regards,
Jonathan Blitt
Chief Executive OfficerAztec Software
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