Hi everyone, my name is Alex Binkley and as you know I'm running for a spot on the Board of Education.  I wanted to give you a little background on who I am and why I am doing this and then talk about the issues I see and what we can do about them.

Professionally, I am COO and general counsel at an early stage venture capital fund.  We work with super young companies and try to help them succeed.  These are often companies with very young founders trying to figure out how to get from A to B.

Recreationally, I am a runner and a bike racer and am super involved in my kids' activities.  I've coached soccer for Montclair United, helped run my daughter's bike racing team, worked on the Northeast School Action Team for Partnership, the SATp, volunteered at swim meets, and am even turning into a semi-professional girl scout patch iron-er.

Growing up, both my parents worked in public education, my father a university dean and my mother, a PhD in curriculum development, was everything from a math teacher through a superintendent of multiple school districts.  In retirement she consults for districts trying to implement change.  So excellent, functional education was part of almost every conversation in my house.

Most importantly, I am a dad of two elementary school kids in Montclair Public Schools.   I am running for BOE for these two.

Having had kids in the district for four years now I have seen over and over again how our district falls short on communication, transparency and efficiency.  My goal with running for the BOE is to bring these three components back into our schools to make Montclair a better place for students, teachers and all families.

Now, I want to jump into what I believe our schools should be about.

First and foremost Montclair schools need to prepare our young people to be excellent citizens and productive members of society in all forms.  We want everyone to come to a school where they can be happy and healthy and prepared to thrive in their learning.

We are a community of many different backgrounds: racial, socio-economic, religious and cultural among others.  It is very important that all these backgrounds be represented and supported in order to provide the best learning environment for our children.  These children are going to end up in a broad swath of environments and professions as adults and our mission is to prepare each and every one of them appropriately.

Right now I am worried our schools are failing to live up to what they can be for our children.  Our schools are having trouble getting out of their own way and instead are creating problems of their own making.