South Orange BOT election

The latest SO Forward mailer really has me annoyed.  I, along with Trustees Rosner, Levison, and DuBowy, spearheaded the study that was done in 2015-2016, resulting in a resolution from the SO BoT stating that the current school funding formula was unfair to South Orange, and that the Village intended to seek recourse.  All of the research was done by myself and another former resident.  I was the primary presenter to the BoT.  I wrote the majority of the resolution that was passed unanimously, and I was the primary presenter to the Commissioner of Education and our elected representatives at the state level Jasey, McKeon, and Codey, and/or their representatives,  

First off, we do not have a "special school charter".  We are defined by state law as a "Consolidated District".  There are only 7 Consolidated Districts in the state, and only 2 that are K-12.  There used to be 3, but Loch Arbour recently sued for the right to leave the Consolidated District they shared with Ocean Township and won. 

Consolidated districts are a vestige in state law that goes back over 100 years, and were imposed when 1 municipality split into 2, as South Orange and Maplewood did around the turn of the last century.  All of the rest of the multi-municipality districts are "Regional Districts".  These Regional districts have more leeway in their funding formulas than Consolidated Districts do.  Some regional districts apportion by student population rather than by aggregate property value, especially those created more recently.  

But in order to change our funding formula, one of 2 things would have to happen.  Either a change would have to be made to state law, allowing us to change the funding formula, or South Orange would have to sue for the right to leave the SOMA school district.  Neither of these things will ever happen. 

The same elected officials who represent South Orange at the state level also represent Maplewood.  Maplewood has more voters.  The idea that Jasey, McKeon, and Codey would spearhead this at the state level is pie in the sky.  It will never happen. 

On the other hand, a motivated SO Village President could sue for the right to leave the district as Loch Arbour did.  But the two cases are very different.  Loch Arbour was sending just a few students to the district and being taxed at an extreme rate.  South Orange and Maplewood are not in balance but are much closer than the obvious case of Loch Arbour.  Considering the long odds and loss of goodwill in a court case of that magnitude between SO and Maplewood, I doubt that could ever realistically happen either.  

Then they say they will place a cap on property tax increases.  They can only control about 27% that is the municipal portion, which already has a 2% cap.  The rest comes from the School Board and Essex County, over which they have no control.  So this is just pandering.  

Don't lie and say you can fix something when you know you can't.


shelag67 said:


Rob_Sandow said:

shelag67 said:

librarylady said:

So I’m curious about people’s reaction to all these out of town endorsements of the various candidates with Village positions. What’s your take on this? Should people in Milburn East orange or Newark influence the decision of Voters of  South Orange? Is Maplewood a special case? Not arguing that they shouldn’t make these endorsements (first amendment and all that) but just curious if it would change your vote?
I agree with you. Why isn't anyone asking the SOVCA Executive Board why Bob Zuckerman was fired from his job, accompanied by a separation agreement? Wouldn't you like an answer to that, librarylady?
 Do you have any proof to back up this allegation?  
 Yes, just ask the SOVCA board. Don't be lazy like Mary Barr Mann. If you know anything about non profit hierarchy, an Executive Director answers to the Board. In this case, they fired him.

 

If you know for sure, and have discussed it with the SOVCA Board, please provide whatever evidence you have.  I sit on the board of SOPAC, so I know a little about non-profit hierarchy, but thanks for asking.  



Rob_Sandow said:

First off, we do not have a "special school charter".  We are defined by state law as a "Consolidated District".  There are only 7 Consolidated Districts in the state, and only 2 that are K-12.  There used to be 3, but Loch Arbour recently sued for the right to leave the Consolidated District they shared with Ocean Township and won. 

Consolidated districts are a vestige in state law that goes back over 100 years, and were imposed when 1 municipality split into 2, as South Orange and Maplewood did around the turn of the last century.  All of the rest of the multi-municipality districts are "Regional Districts".  These Regional districts have more leeway in their funding formulas than Consolidated Districts do.  Some regional districts apportion by student population rather than by aggregate property value, especially those created more recently.  

"The school district of South Orange and Maplewood did not arise from a consolidation of two districts, but simply remained one in spite of the division into two municipalities of the old township of South Orange which from 1863 comprised the territory now occupied by the school district.  In 1904 at the request of the Village an act was passed by the legislature separating the Village from the Township in all respects except as to the School District which was specifically declared to remain the same.  Not long afterward unsuccessful attempts were made to bring up the question of dividing the school district also.  The rural part of the township retained the old name until 1922, when it was changed to Maplewood because of more or less confusion arising when one part was called Village of South Orange and the other Township of South Orange."

The Evolution of the School District of South Orange and Maplewood New Jersey, 1841-1927,

By Henry W. Foster (Superintendent, 1900-1927)  (W. F. Humphrey Press, 1930)

There's a copy in reference in Maplewood Memorial Library.  


South Orange and Maplewood share a school district, which under NJ law is called a consolidated school district. A consolidated school district arises when one part of a town decides to leave that town and form its own municipality but still share the same school system. (Ironically. one of the reasons South Orange broke away was that it wanted its own school district. The state said that South Orange and Maplewood still had to share the same school district.) Under state law, when that happens, the state of NJ, under the relevant statute, says that the school district that the two towns share is a consolidated school district and the costs of that school district are shared according to equalized property values. Under this rule, South Orange pays 41.79% % of the school costs and Maplewood pays 58.21%. This is the case even though South Orange has 33% of the students in the district and Maplewood has 66%.
A mailer had gone out from SO Forward suggesting that school costs should be shared on the basis of student populations, that South Orange is paying too much, and that the state legislature should be approached in order to get the law changed so that SOMA are apportioned on the basis on student population. At the outset, the problem with this is that Mila Jasey and John McKeon also represent Maplewood, and would have to agree with. They were approached last year and said that they would not agree with changing the law.

But this goes beyond Jasey and McKeon. Case law doesn't support the sharing of school costs in a consolidated or unified school district on a basis other than equalized property values. South Orange and Maplewood are a unified school district and under NJ law the apportionment of school taxes is on the basis of equalized tax values. Loch Arbor was in a unified school district with Ocean Township, but in 1998 because of legislation known as the Keily Bill, Loch Arbor's share of school costs was limited to $330,000. Loch Arbor, being a small village and a seasonal one at that, only had 16 students in the Ocean Township school system. In 2008. the Legislature passed the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) and eliminated the Keily exemption. As a result, Loch Arbor had to pay its share of school costs on the basis of equalized tax values and saw its share of school taxes go from $330,000 to $1.3 million - $1.6 million.or $81,000 per student. Subsequently, Loch Arbor left the Ocean Township school system, formed its own school district, and is now sending students to West Long Branch schools and paying tuition based on cost. Some people saw their property tax bills increase by $20,000.  The state legislature is not going to carve out an exception for South Orange - otherwise, you would have a municipality like Loch Arbor arguing for equal treatment.

https://www.nj.com/news/2010/01/loch_arbour_must_continue_to_p.html?fbclid=IwAR3qvrZae93vgTpzsEeKQ5qGgJH7Pt_pRRz9rp1TkfFDUdgmpRgUgN1PTM4




Latest campaign finance filings are out and they're pretty underwhelming. A lot of money pouring in under the $300 threshold. On the SO Forward filing, only significant donations come from Wayne Canastra and Elliot Malone, a Bergen County based attorney. 


MasterP said:
Latest campaign finance filings are out and they're pretty underwhelming. A lot of money pouring in under the $300 threshold. On the SO Forward filing, only significant donations come from Wayne Canastra and Elliot Malone, a Bergen County based attorney. 

Malone's office is in Cresskill, right next to Alpine.  I wonder what his interest is in this election?

Wayne Canastra's company owns several apartment buildings in S.O.


Sheena's report show a disbursement of $700 on April 30 to TAP into Local LLC NJ. I assume this is for an add in TAPinto. 

Neither of SO Forward's filings, this month or last, show any disbursement to TAPinto, and yet SO Forward has been running a banner ad every day for the last couple of months.TAPinto SOMA has been practically an arm of the SO Forward campaign.  Maybe there's an explanation. 


Since we're parsing the filings...


SO Forward spent $1,760 with Lionel Leach, who appears to be former president of the CWA, who had to step down from the union over missing funds. The filing says is for reimbursement of office supplies, so maybe he's taken up a paper sales job in the meantime?!


MasterP said:
Since we're parsing the filings...


SO Forward spent $1,760 with Lionel Leach, who appears to be former president of the CWA, who had to step down from the union over missing funds. The filing says is for reimbursement of office supplies, so maybe he's taken up a paper sales job in the meantime?!

 That's A LOT of office supplies.


MasterP said:
Since we're parsing the filings...


SO Forward spent $1,760 with Lionel Leach, who appears to be former president of the CWA, who had to step down from the union over missing funds. The filing says is for reimbursement of office supplies, so maybe he's taken up a paper sales job in the meantime?!

"Leach is a well-known player in Newark politics and worked on the campaigns of Sen. Robert Menendez and Gov. Jon Corzine. He was also the most vocal champion of the taxi industry during fight to regulate Uber and Lyft."

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/09/26/cwa-notifies-federal-authorities-following-investigation-into-nj-chapter-president-114722

 


Posting in this playground for Team Sheena's sycophants and minions goes against my better judgment but a contrary POV needs to be documented.  It just so happens this contrary POV comports with reality.


The reality of this current world is that the power brokers of this State (and especially the local leadership) can not stand Sheena.  Should you ask one of them in their travels through our small Village, and they are speaking forthrightly, they will give an honest assessment of her.  It's not pretty.  Such disparaging adjectives and nouns should not be repeated on a family website.  I think the best way to encapsulate these feelings is that Sheena considers herself someone who knows more than anyone else, on any given topic, and is not tempered by any sense of self-reflection to realize that such a demeanor strikes many people the wrong way.  Many of these people are individuals who actually have the power to influence how our small Village gets preference on discretionary items whether they be from the State, its agencies, or the County.  


Imagine you are figuring out how to award grants for parking or development; or for a more advantageous NJ Transit schedule; or just about anything that comes from echelons of government much higher than that which is decided by the VP of South Orange.  If there is a close call and you think that the elected leader of SO is one of those distasteful adjectives/nouns I mentioned earlier but the elected leader of a nearby town is a swell guy/gal, who do you think is going to get the short end of the stick - whichever town Sheena is running. 

Now I know what you are saying, Sheena is perfect, I love her, how could anybody hate her! In the real world lots of people simply do not care for her style.  I think this style is best encapsulated by the debacle that occurred earlier this week in what was supposed to be an intriguing debate between the two candidates for VP.  This article I came across I think best explains how Sheena operates.

 https://www.tapinto.net/towns/soma/articles/exclusive-collum-agreed-to-single-topic-fire-debate-then-changed-course-emails-show

In a nutshell, after agreeing to participate in this debate, not only did she back out claiming she didn't know about the debate or "wasn't invited", but in truly vapid and an utterly ridiculous lack of self-awareness, decided to send her campaign manager to the "debate" to read a grievance and then post comments about the debate in real-time on Facebook live.  Seems to me not only did she know about the debate and where and when it was happening, but she simply decided she was not going to be challenged by her competitor in person for reasons that are questionable at best. Such adolescent and amateurish behavior is the perfect exemplar of why this woman is so loathed by so many with power in this State.

Again, I know this forum is now going to dismiss this post and continue praising Sheena as the beacon of light in a dark, dark world, but that is not reality.  It is with great anticipation that I hope reality comes out in force on Tuesday and the SO citizenry realizes our current VP is a hindrance to this Village reaching all of it's potential and votes her out.  


"Such disparaging adjectives and nouns should not be repeated on a family website." 


In fact such talk should not happen at all.  Especially by "power brokers" who are asked questions about candidates by residents... 

Sounds like what women confront in the workplace everyday.  Or maybe its just your own characterization of what is happening, and you are totally wrong.   


WOW, your 30 minutes as a member of our "community" sure did teach you alot about "us", and in such a short time. Truly amazing !


Dennis_Seelbach said:
WOW, your 30 minutes as a member of our "community" sure did teach you alot about "us", and in such a short time. Truly amazing !

 RileyReality - thanks for joining the message board at 2:37 p.m. today so you could give us your two cents.  I'd love to know if you work for the South Orange Forward and/or DDF campaign.


Of course she isn't part of the machine.  That's why we like her.  The machine locally has helped us keep a double dipping county executive in office, re elect a mostly ineffective senator, and nationally has been so effective at spreading our democratic agenda that we have Trump.  


By no means do I agree with everything this VP does, but I’d rather have a VP who does know more about many things than the average resident. Is that a bad thing? Or just a negative in the eyes of some men?


Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.


Disclaimer - I am in no way associated with the Line A campaign, just a SO resident and voter.


mayhewdrive said:
Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.

 Yes she is isn't Sheena who is a despised individual amongst people who can actually benefit SO in any meaningful way.


rileyreality said:
Disclaimer - I am in no way associated with the Line A campaign, just a SO resident and voter.

 I call BS on your whole post and whether there is a way to connect the dots with your relationship to Line A.  Give us your real name and I bet there is some connection.  


rileyreality said:


mayhewdrive said:
Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.
 Yes she is isn't Sheena who is a despised individual amongst people who can actually benefit SO in any meaningful way.

 So again, no ability to point to any accomplishments for Deborah after 12 years on the BOT?  So, yours is simply an "anybody but Sheena" vote.  At least you admit it.


rileyreality if you are coming here to try and convince people that your point of view should be heard and reflected on you've picked an idiotic way to do it. You started off by insulting everyone as sycophants and minions of Sheena. Your comment about being dismissed? Well, if you don't want to be dismissed don't start off by crapping on the people you disagree with.

Saying an alternative "point of view needs to be documented" is likewise senseless. There's no "need" to document your opinion in this matter. You want to speak your piece. So you created an account to do so. Did you read this entire thread and decide to join LOL?

Finally, what the hell are you even talking about? We have no idea who you are. What credibility can we ascribe to a bunch of vague statements about how the local powers that be don't like Sheena and this is bad for our town? 

If your goal was to try and change any opinions here you couldn't have picked a worse way to attempt to do so. If you're coming here solely to insult people and make people angry, congratulations.



rileyreality said:
Disclaimer - I am in no way associated with the Line A campaign, just a SO resident and voter.

 Objectively, as someone who went to many town halls, is there something that makes you feel that DDF would make a good VP. Not at all being argumentative, but I think that it is human to find problems with any current government but  it is a binary choice, so do you find something about the opposing candidate that instills confidence that this person would be a good leader able to address the issues that are on the table.

I saw a couple of our BOT members who were very active in their roles but they are retiring. Had one of them announced, I might have been less surprised. However I did not get a sense that Deborah Davis Ford was a very involved member, and for that reason, I was very surprised when she announced her candidacy. Some people are born leaders and some prefer to take a less prominent role. What were her individual initiatives that make you support her? 


I was going to ask, "With just a few days left in the election, what sort of last minute BS do you think we can expect?" I partly have that answer now. Any other guesses?


MasterP said:
I was going to ask, "With just a few days left in the election, what sort of last minute BS do you think we can expect?" I partly have that answer now. Any other guesses?

 I think our newest member's post is the forum equivalent of a flaming paper bag full of poop left on our doorstep. 

And I of course tried to stomp it out.  tongue wink 


mayhewdrive said:
Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.

 This. Sheena is by no means perfect, but she's a hard worker, a good communicator and has years of experience getting things done.  DDF has none of these necessary traits. 



rileyreality said:
Disclaimer - I am in no way associated with the Line A campaign, just a SO resident and voter.

 Even if every single thing you say is true about SC, her qualifications are night and day ahead of Ms DF.   


rileyreality said:


mayhewdrive said:
Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.
 Yes she is isn't Sheena who is a despised individual amongst people who can actually benefit SO in any meaningful way.

I think what you mean to say is that Sheena isn't for sale but DDF is?

If NJ power brokers are unhappy with Sheena that means they can't control her, which is much better than the alternative.


yahooyahoo said:


rileyreality said:

mayhewdrive said:
Disparaging the sitting "Mayor" is an easy game to play, but to play along, can you name ANYTHING that Deborah has done in 12 YEARS ON THE BOT that leads you to believe having her as Village President" would result in a more favorable outcome for the Village?  I've been asking for weeks and not a single supporter can point to any tangible accomplishments.
 Yes she is isn't Sheena who is a despised individual amongst people who can actually benefit SO in any meaningful way.
I think what you mean to say is that Sheena isn't for sale but DDF is?
If NJ power brokers are unhappy with Sheena that means they can't control her, which is much better than the alternative.

 But Riley loves a good sale....


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