Voices from Vote Montclair, the League of Women Voters and the BOE. Watch the event live on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. and get your questions heard.
Watch the replay: Elected or appointed Montclair BOE? A live forum
On Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m., Montclair Local hosted a virtual panel discussion on the question before voters this November: Should Montclair continue to have a mayor-appointed Board of Education, or an elected one?
See the replay above (Note: Some users had trouble watching live on Facebook, though it worked for most; this is a new upload to our Youtube channel, and we think it should work for everyone).
Our panel, moderated by veteran education reporter Dale Russakoff, included voices from Vote Montclair, the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, and the Montclair chapter of the NAACP.
Our panelists
• Sergio Gonzalez, a former Montclair Board of Education member, appointed by then-Mayor Robert Jackson in 2019. Gonzalez will represent Vote Montclair, which successfully petitioned to put the question to voters on whether Montclair should continue with a Type I school district (with a mayor-appointed board) or switch to a Type II district (with an elected one).
• Diane Anglin, chair of the Montclair NAACP’s education committee. The committee has voted to support the change to an elected board, though the overall chapter has not taken a position. Anglin will represent the committee’s stance.
• Peter Braley, a longtime resident of Montclair with two children who’ve gone through or remain in the school system. He was recently chosen to be president of the Oratorio Society of New Jersey. Braley will represent the League of Women Voters of the Montclair Area, which has endorsed continuing as a Type I district.
• Johanna Wright, an education management professional, elected member of the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education and member of the Essex County College Board of Trustees (which is appointed by the county’s commissioners). She will additionally represent the LWV.
The panel will be moderated by Dale Russakoff, who was a reporter for The Washington Post for 28 years, covering topics including politics, education and social policy. She is the author of “The Prize,” an account of the attempt to remake Newark’s schools — and the fraught aftermath of a $100 million gift from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to the school system. Russakoff is a member of Montclair Local’s advisory board.
