Many of you probably listened to the Radio Free Montclair series done Sunday morning October 22nd. If not, definitely take a listen. I will update this when it is posted.

We ran out of time to answer some questions asked to other candidates, so I wanted to give my thoughts here.

Charter Schools

As James said in the other interviews, this is a topic bound to make some blood boil in Montclair! I am a full supporter of public schools and our public school districts. If our schools are not able to support a student’s needs, the schools must (and do) find a school that will. This means Montclair already sends students to other districts or even private schools and there is no need for charter schools. Students needs will be fulfilled by our public schools one way or another and we do not need to divert public funds to what are effectively private schools.

Now, I do wish Montclair could fulfill all our students’ needs in district, and hopefully we get there. Regardless, there is no need to privatize our education system.

Montclair as a potential hotbed for political activity and protest

Radio Free Montclair asked multiple candidate about things like book bans and recent protests at the Montclair Public Library by anti-LGBTQ+ communities. I want to be on record that I believe we need to support our students. Students of any type need to feel welcome in our schools and they cannot be subject to harassment or outing. I believe it is also important to teach our students how to think, not what to think. So I believe no student should be subject to harassment for being just who they are, I also believe it is important to teach our students how to think about why policies like these might be important without teaching them to blindly follow the policies.