Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Candidate Nights Summation":
I was also at the meeting last night. I agree that Angel Cepeda was the only one that address the real problem with our District, The Greed of the Teachers union.
The 1st person that must be voted for is Angel Cepeda.
The 2nd person is Stephanie Nelkins. Although I do not agree with her on some points, she has proven to be a person that gets things done, even without being on the board. She also has my vote.
3thrd person, I feel that Gary Bettan might be the better choice than Emily Shulman. I must say I was Not impressed with her. Every other sentence began with "Ehmm". Clearly she is not comfortable speaking in public which makes me think she will panic or avoid conflicts and giving in on crucial issues. Also the biggest problem with Emily is that she is or was a Teacher.
She has a teachers mentality and not a leadership mentallity. Also next year when teachers contracts come up again she might be sympathic to the Greedy teachers union. I noted that she did not address the highjacking of our schools by the teachers union.
The Board must have people that are strong and not influenced by the teachers union and outside interests.
My 3thrd vote is still undecided.
Forget about Craig Levy, He is on the side of the teachers union especially since his daughter is going to be a teacher. Maybe he wants to try to get her a job in the district.
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How in the world can you think Gary Bettan would be better than the other cadidates? What has Gary done after the Math Debacle to which he was in a group of people who took action. Gary VOTED FOR the teachers contract. In my opinion he has no clue to the reality of finances and labor contracts. When you compare Gary Bettan to Emily Shulman let us look at their accomplisments. Gary , what did he state that he did before being on the board? nothing. I never heard of the guy or saw him at a board meeting. He has mentioned no accomplisments .The next contract he will just give the teachers even more money.I spoke at the board meeting a few months ago and yes he was one of those board members who ignored me and the other residents who spoke . Reckless fiscal irresponsibility.
ReplyDeleteEmily Shulman: there is not enough room on this blog to state her accomplisments. She has been involved in the PTA, SEPTA, school activities , just to name a few. She has a proven track record of helping our children in Plainview.
Why would anyone care who you vote for?
ReplyDeleteBoth you and I are Anonymous.
Gary seemed like he did not care to even be there-sorry, but him showing up looking like he just came from the beach did not impress me. He sat up there giggling-does he really want to be there? Stephanie needed several questions repeated--why? Just nerves or comprehension? Craig Levy--did not say anything impressive. He wants to make Plainvew the first district with electric buses. ANother expense that I will pay for and my great great grandchildren will benefit from. Emily--she may have said Ummm often which bothered another poster, but once she began talking, she knew what she was talking about and did seem comfortable talking--I feel confident she would be able to tackle issues and not worry about dealing with conflict --she definitely seems like the brightest candidate-- Angel-he impressed me-I did not like him when he originally ran but he seemed to understand the issues and was one of only 2 board members to vote against the teacher contract-that took chutzpah and that is who I want to represent me
ReplyDeleteI would take Emily Schulman over Gary Bettan any day. She is a very capable person with many accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at what has become of Septa over the past few years, you will notice that many of us stopped going to meetings. No one shows up. The organization is disappointing. If new people try to help, they quickly see how political it is and either leave on their own or are not welcomed. Septa is not open to change. Too many Septa people only advocate for their own child's disabilities. So to think that being involved in PTA and Septa should get my vote, that is exactly the opposite of who I would want on the Bd of Ed.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Emily's stand on the teachers union ?
ReplyDeleteFrustrated with 4th grade science
ReplyDeleteAre the children learning science by mostly taking practice state tests and reviewing them? Why don't they have study materials? Is it true Parkway children have a Barrons review book? Stratford Rd. kids do not. Do Old Bethpage and Pasadena? I heard one Stratford class has photo copies of a coach book. A parent asked a teacher about a science book or notebook to study from and was advised to BUY the Barrons book! IF YOU GO TO PARKWAY YOU GET THE BARRONS BOOK - IF YOU GO TO STRATFORD RD YOU HAVE TO BUY IT YOURSELF!!??? There is really something wrong when we pay so much in taxes and our kids don't have the proper tools they need.
Can someone please comment on the specifics of what the candidates said? What were their answers to the questions asked? I wish I could have been there to hear it myself.
ReplyDeleteGary Bettan is currently on the board, voted for the contract and doesn't even know that the High School DOES NOT HAVE UNIVERSAL BUSING. Gary Bettan sounded like an oaf and is in the union's pocket. The vote should go Emily Schulman, Angel Cepeda and Stefanie Nelkins. Craig Levy may be well intentioned but what is his answer on saving money, getting off the grid and using electric buses. Where are we going to get the money to do that.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your problem with having a teacher as a trustee for the BOE? Gee teacher, kids education, I can't think why that might make sense. You rather have the fashion plate Gary make decisions for our kids when he doesn't even know how to dress for a candidates night. I think that is considered a life skill, anyway Emily is definitely the way to go!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's not the teachers its both the lack of curriculum and the lack of continuity throughout the schools. Administration needs to be held accountable for higher test scores. We need board members who actually understand what the students' needs are in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteGary Bettan is a disaster.
ReplyDeleteEmily is probably one of the most intelligent people you will meet.Public speaking or not, she is the better choice by a long shot. You are dead wrong when you think she will side with the teachers. She is a proven advocate for the students and the community. Gary Bettan has already proven that he is useless and is only in there because he rallied all of his sports buddies to vote for him. He is probably the biggest "yes" man to both administration and the teachers Union. He needs to be "Ousted".
Stephanie Nelkins has been advocating for equal materials for all schools including the science review book for 4th graders. She figured out that problem LAST year when she looked at the textbook budgegts and made a chart that showed which schools were getting which books or no books at all. She brought up this inequity to the BOE last year - as you can see they didn't fix it. She has spoken to the BOE about it this year also. She doesn't give up.
ReplyDeleteBTW - Stephanie also noticed because of comparing the budgets last year that Old Beth students had to pay for Scholastic News while other kids in our district didn't have to pay extra for them. She told the BOE about this also and this supposedly stopped.
My vote is for Stephanie. All kids should have the same books.
Although I admit to nervousness during Candidate's Night, that's not why I asked for the questions to be repeated.
ReplyDeleteVarious responses often worked in additional tangential points which drew away focus from the original question.
My preference was to answer the given question as directly as possible and that is why I asked for the questions to be repeated.
To the person who asked us to look at what has become of SEPTA over the past few years...
ReplyDeleteYou state "many of us stopped going to meetings. No one shows up."
How would you know if you don’t go?
New people are welcomed with opened arms and encouraged to participate. While it’s true that attendance is less than it used to be, its not for lack good speakers and informative meetings.
SEPTA is open to change and new blood because new members are what will keep SEPTA moving forward.
SEPTA during Emily Schulman, Chris D'Alessandro, Linda Jakobs, Robert Savitzky, and my tenure as presidents we have always strived to get more NEW people active. It is this great leadership that has brought some really informative speakers like Marilee Shannon, Pam Tucker, Carol Sullivan, Rick Lavoie, Lou Wasserman, and Dr Brad Tepper to our meetings.
As far as advocating for children other than their own, ALL of the current and past presidents have and will spend more time advocating for children they don’t know more than their own.
So YES, I believe that Emily who has been active in SEPTA and other PTAs for many years should get the vote of every parent in our district because she cares about the quality of educations and the needs of ALL students in this district.
If you would like to discuss your perception of the shortfalls of SEPTA and feel that you can improve it please give me a call. My phone number is 681-8489.
David L Kralstein
Past President SEPTA
Gary Bettan
ReplyDeleteYour ad in Pennysaver says you are proud of the impact you have been able to make on the financial health of our district.
Gary you stated at meet the candidates night that we are facing a financial crisis in the district. Which is it Gary? you can't have it both ways.
Financial health?? You are more like Dr. Kevorkian slowly bringing this district to its demise by continually rubber stamping whatever the teachers want.
You can't hide from the fact that you blew it, because you saw the teachers as the driving force to get you reelected. You've made an error in thinking that this community will not come out to vote, out they will come and out you will go.
Why is nobody offering specifics on what the candidates had to say? Most of this blog is about hearsay. Can we get some specifics?
ReplyDeleteIt's not the teachers? why do the kids get 3-4 hours of HW almost every night. They give the children projects over vacations. Do they do school work over vacations? School is for learning and HW is for going over what you learned that day not learning something new. The bottom line is that the administrators are to blame as well as the teachers . Both of which are highly overcompensated. Let us not forget that the teachers also enjoy the huge pension when they retire from a system that is in a hole for over 30 billion dollare that we must pay for. And why should I vote for this budget. If the teacher received no raise at all our taxes would not be going up one dime. Instead they are . Maybe we should just make our tax checks out to the PCT instead of TOB.
ReplyDeleteThis is the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteSchool Budget increase $ 2,992,863
$ 1,780,257 of it (60%) is for teachers raises.
If someone can explain to me how $ 1,780,257 going to teachers already FAT salaries will improve our childrens education please try to justify the Greed.
The only thing that money is going to is to help the teachers enjoy their summer vacation.
I would have been great if our Board was as tough as a school Board in a Road Island town was this winter. Their Teachers union pull the same garbage as ours did . More money for nothing.
That Board did not Negotiate in fact they gave every teacher and gudiance counsels a pink slip for the end of the school term. Your Fired.
Guess what the union gave in.
If the Budget fails it is 100 % the teachers union fault and the first thing we should do is fire some teachers to send the message that Enough is Enough
I hope the budget fails by a big margin and that we teach the BOEand the PCT a big lesson that we the residents are sick and tired of being shafted by giving and giving and getting nothing. Maybe we should have a propsition to get rid of some teacers and hire some unemployed teachers who would gladly work here without the greed or arrogance that comes along with a "PCT teacher"
ReplyDelete