South Orange and Maplewood are truly special towns. Many people move here because they fall in love with the kind of life this community has to offer. I want them to stay because they fall in love with what our school district has to offer.
As the mother of a second grader and an incoming kindergartner, I am inheriting this school district. I have a personal stake in ensuring our schools are best in class. As the daughter of immigrants for whom a strong education led to a better life America, I believe academic achievement is the key to a bright future. I’ve put this to practice working with students from under-privileged communities in New York City through Minds Matter and the Knowledge is Power Program. As a proud graduate of great public schools, I will work hard to move our district’s schools from good to great.
I am thrilled to be running with Wayne Eastman and Jeffery Bennett. Where other candidates define their platforms by their support of recent policy changes and the status quo, we are a forward thinking team of concrete, fiscally responsible ideas to improve our schools.
We bring a skill set of responsible budgeting, in-class teaching, communications and expertise on college readiness/success. We recognize that the strength of our schools rests with a well rounded and rigorous curriculum and talented, empowered teachers. We possess intellectual curiosity to dig into curriculum and gender gaps, data integrity and to challenge single-minded solutions. We will stand up for fiscal responsibility.
I’m running to bring independent thinking to the Board of Education, and to use my communications and management background to bring a better governance model to our district including:
- Requiring due diligence from the Administration on proposals put forth. This means evaluation of multiple options to address complex challenges, and recommendations based on clean, consistent data.
- Better communication around student expectations and performance, policy changes, and meaningful opportunities for community engagement.
- Tighter long range budgeting and fiscal transparency for new programs.
- More choice based academic placement decisions.
- Taking responsibility for driving policy decisions that represent the pulse of the community, not deferring policy change to the Superintendent.
Expect more from your Board of Education this April 17th and vote for Madhu Pai, Wayne Eastman and Jeffery Bennett. www.votesoma2012.com
Suzanne Urban Ryan
2:01 pm on Friday, April 13, 2012
I am supporting Madhu Pai for the Board of Education! She is a breath of brilliant fresh air! Just what we need to move this school district to where it needs to go. She is articulate and she questions in a measured, respectful way. I applaud her for that skill. That is more than essential right now. Board members are elected to represent the community. In order to best serve the community, board members need to ask thoughtful,thought provoking questions and demand clear answers. Pai is a strong leader who will work to insure that our children will be served well by the decisions that are made.
As a long time community member, I have seen a pattern over the years--we elect members ( and I have helped elect several) who somehow forget that they are in charge and not vice versa. That type of thinking and action has severely hurt us over the years. It is time to stop that behavior.
We need to have a Board of Education that is wise, thoughtful, questions, analyzes, and truly is knowledgeable of the impact of the decisions they make and the policies they develop and enact.
Please support Pai, Eastman,and Bennett to the Board of Education. We cannot afford to not have them on Board.
Suzanne Ryan
Maplewood