In Your Opinion: Public Thank-You to Outgoing School Board Member
By Bill Connell, Somerset. As a parent and active member of the community, I often get into conversations about the type of people we want as leaders. The common themes are kind, honest, and straight speaking. Mr. Seamon is all of these things. We had him as a school board member and we let him […]
In Your Opinion: Franklin School District Needs to Work on its ‘Issues’
By Lisa Barr, Montgomery I recently moved from Franklin Township as the parent of two children who went to school in the district, up to Sampson G. Smith. I’ve read with interest the recent events regarding the removal of Mr. Seto as superintendent as well as many of the comments posted in your paper both […]
In Your Opinion: Setting the record straight on Board Ethics Complaints
By Julia Presley No determination on any of the ethics complaints filed against me by Mr. Trautmann, Mr. Seamon, Mr. Burton, and/or Ms. Abreu has been found to have any merit. That is Mr. Trautmann’s opinion. It is Mr. Trautmann’s intention to mislead and misinform the public; I find this to be disingenuous. It is […]
In Your Opinion: Focus of School Board Ethics Complaints Should be on Conduct
By Rob Trautman, Somerset I am writing this in response to the editorial penned by Julia Presley recently that inappropriately and falsely accused me, along with others, of fiscal irresponsibility for filing ethics complaints against Ms. Presley. As an initial matter, I must make clear that I am writing as an individual and not on […]
In Your Opinion: Support Seamon, Danielsen and LaCorte
By John P. Felix, Somerset As you are aware, next Tuesday, November 5th, we’ll elect politicians to represents us at both State and local levels of governments. Much more importantly, we’ll also elect School Board officers who will be sworn to “provide excellent educational opportunities… for every student” as well as … “develop every student […]
In Your Opinion: Letter to School Board Voters From Dr. Julia Presley
Dear Fellow Franklin Township Residents: I would like to address the misinformation that has been posted and spread about me. My opponents and their community supporters have been spewing slanderous and false allegations about me, I promise you that none of what they are saying is true. I do not feel the need to retaliate […]
In Your Opinion: School District Does Not Need New Superintendent
By John Felix, Somerset In a recent posting, the Community for Change (C4C) authors outlined their reasons for opposing the tenure of the Franklin Township BOE superintendent, as well as their ardent support for the non-renewal of the Superintendent’s contract. There are four reasons why families of school children should think twice about this. According […]
In Your Opinion: Connell Responds to Fitzgerald on Substitute Teacher Pay
By Bill Connell, Somerset. This is to address Mr. Fitzgerald’s concerns. Board involvement is what created this concern. Having studied the board for a few years I feel I can speak to it. One of the problems I have noticed with the board budget is set when the state releases the budget at the last […]
Your Opinion: School Board Should Reconsider Substitute Pay Cut
By Mark Fitzgerald, Somerset Dear Board Members; For those present at the board meeting (Oct. 17), you heard from numerous substitute teachers in the district regarding a recent decision to reduce their daily per diem compensation. The change for many caused their daily rate to be reduced from $110/day to $95/day or $85/day respectively. This […]
In Your Opinion: Decision on Schools Superintendent Was Rushed
By Bill Connell, Somerset. I was at the meetings where the Super’s contract was discussed. My support of the Super starts at the fact that being a boss is not a popularity contest, but being a politician is. Having this discussion at campaign time is questionable because it confuses the conversation. The Supers contract is […]
