Campaign signs are sprouting
(Here shown in alphabetical order by team name).
The hundred or so Plainfielders attending last night's League of Women Voters forum got a final chance to hear each of the fourteen candidates for the school board.
With the election next Tuesday, the campaigns now move into their endgame -- with mailings, literature drop and other marketing moves in the next few days.
Please check the other blogs for coverage of the the forum (I am still struggling with my pages of notes).
You can also check the three teams that have online presences (independents Catherine Crittendon and Denise Riley do not have websites) --
There are three teams of candidates running for three 3-year seats and 1 one-year seat. Each has a campaign blog, listed below in alphabetical order by team name/designation. Incumbents are designated by an asterisk (*). There are two independent candidates who are not blogging as far as I know.If you have been expecting more from the various teams' online campaigns, join the club. Once they put their sites up, they appear to have pretty much run out of steam (though Rebecca Williams did promise on behalf of the League of Women Voters to email last night's questions to the candidates so they could post their answers online -- if they do, that will be a plus).CHANGE OUR SCHOOLS - CHANGE OUR CITY
3-year term: Jaclynne (Jackie) Callands, Dani Fletcher, Mahogany Hendricks; 1-year term: Clayton Tucker, Sr.
COALITION FOR BETTER SCHOOLS
3-year term: Mary Burgwinkle, Martin Cox*, Christian Estevez*; 1-year term: Carmencita Pile
ELECT A GRAND S.L.A.M. (SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ADVOCACY MOVEMENT)
3-year term: Rasheed Abdul-Haqq, Wilma Campbell*, Renata Hernandez; 1-year term: Keisha Edwards
DENISE RILEY, independent candidate for 1-year term (Courier News item)
I'll be writing more as we enter the final days of the campaign.
-- Dan Damon [follow]
Posts
3 comments:
Today I received in the mail a flyer from the Superintendent of Schools with the headline "PPS CHECKLIST FOR PROGRESS #2". One can question the timing of the document, so close to the election, but looking past this I have some concerns.
-I see nothing about test scores.
-I see nothing about drop out rates.
-I see no mention of reigning in out of control costs.
-The result of the State investigation seems to endorse the school system the way it is written.
-I see that we have over 1000 staff to educate 6400 students. A 6.4 to 1 ratio!! I understand that many other districts have a ratio greater than 10 to 1.
Please, this is a sad statement of where the school system stands, and if this flyer was indeed published by Dr. Gallon he needs to go see how other districts operate.
Thanks for the post Dan. Many of us need this information to make an informed decision come election day. Turnout is usually abysmally low and yet this is has a significant impact on our tax base, home values and quality of life issues. When I moved here several years ago, the mantra back then was "nice homes" but the schools are horrible. Sad, but not much has changed when you look at the scandal and rancor this current BOE has created with the hiring of Dr. Gallon. What blows my mind is that three of the four candidates are incumbents wanting us to give them all another term. How? Why? I also don't understand how the folks running with these incumbents on the same "ticket" can justify the actions of the incumbents unless there is something I am seriously overlooking. Plainfield has a horrible practice of rewarding bad behavior. I only hope a clean slate wins on Tuesday otherwise I think we are in for more of the same.
Hi Dan,
Please share this discussion thread from NJ.com "Plainfield adopts plan to correct flawed hiring practices..." Isn't it a real shame that this is the perception some have of Plainfield and I am sure this person is not alone. When will this City wake up? There are shreds of truth in the first post and the second post I wish were indicative of the majority and not the minority in Plainfield. I used to think the power was at the ballot box, but I really question how educated the electorate is and how many have succumbed to the brainwashing that has kept Plainfield in a downward spiral for years...thanks.
POSTING #1
Why bother correcting their hiring process???? The city of Plainfield is rife with racial, minority and hateful preaching and teaching. If anyone worth their salt were to be brought in they'd be accused of every civil slander in the book, and that would be because they like the law of the jungle, so to speak, hiring in-laws, out-laws and the like of which has never been held accountable for doing it. Now you may say I have a problem with saying this but the citizenry of Plainfield likes to ruin their own town. No outside help other than more federal and state money is required, it's a lawless welfare town, sad but true.
POSTING #2
As a citizen of Plainfield, it's disheartening to hear xxxxx's comments. I agree that the city administration does very little to make Plainfield a better place, and in fact, seem to go out of their way to keep public perception low. BUT most people don't know that the majority of Plainfield is very nice. Beautiful historical districts, the 2nd oldest community symphony in the country, a terrific library and local history department, and above all, the most amazing and diverse community of people , who fight (the administration) every day to restore goodness to the streets. The battle is difficult but it's the citizens who keep Plainfield alive. It's the people who make this city a wonderful place to live. Yes, there are areas that are not nice and the news often focuses on the gangs and thugs (politicians included) but there is so much more that gets overlooked. In fact, the mayor doesn't even include the beautiful neighborhoods on the city website (attempt to keep the perception of a welfare town?). Either way, to respond to yagaa, it's not "citizenry of Plainfield who like to ruin their own town." It's a handful of politicians, that keep Plainfield in the news. The majority of people who live here are very good people, dedicated to keeping it alive. Unfortunately, the politicians are connected to the dirt that is typical for politics in New Jersey, which use Plainfield as their dumping ground. It's much higher than local politics. If the citizens can take back the city from the powerful politicians that use it to fill their pockets, everyone would be surprised at how nice it really is.
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