Speak Out!

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 go. Mr. Seamon was a …

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 supporting and disagreeing with events. …

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 also disheartening to publicize their …

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 behalf of the Board of …

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 to his/her highest potential and …

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 against them in such a …

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 to the article, the stated …

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 possible moment, so the board …

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 amounts to a 14 percent …

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 coming up and needs to …