Board of Education

R - George King

Wife, Denise; two children

Former Town Councilman

Our strength as a community is rooted in our ability to exchange ideas about the enormous challenges we collectively face. Our elected officials are duty-bound to represent those ideas in a bi-partisan manner and make the difficult decisions required overcome those challenges. Doing so requires our elected officials to have a strong, working knowledge of our town.

I’m a proud, lifelong resident of Monroe. My involvement in our community began as a Monroe Soccer Club coach and I later served as the league’s Vice President. I have twice served on the Zoning Board of Appeals and was elected to Town Council.

These positions exposed me to the spectrum of issues facing our community, and have afforded me the leadership skills required to navigate our community’s toughest challenges.

If elected to the Board of Education, I will face these challenges, value community ideas over party affiliation, and represent the voices of all constituents equally.

We’ll achieve the most cost-effective education budget possible for the taxpayers, while keeping Monroe’s current teacher population working for the students in our public schools.

Our challenges today are very real. Vote George King on Election Day, and we’ll meet them together.

D - Terri Bhatt

Husband, Al; daughter, Sara

Founding member of MOVE

My seven years of volunteer experience in the schools puts me in the unique position of having pre-established relationships with children, parents, teachers, and administrators throughout the district. They know I have no agenda other than the improvement of our schools, so these are relationships built on trust. Trust is critical to progress.

As a founding member and official spokesperson for MOVE, my goal was to increase voter awareness and parent participation in the referendum process. I made it my business to understand and communicate the state of our school budget. Open, proactive communication with all members of the community is critical to progress.

In my previous position as operations manager for Grolier, Inc, I was responsible for the annual creation and management of multi-million dollar budgets. By eliminating redundancies in operating procedures, I led our facility to become one of the most successful in the division after years of being among the bottom producers. Financial efficiency and transparency are critical to progress.

Trust, proactive communication, financial transparency and the understanding that it is our moral obligation to provide children with the best education available — these are the responsibilities of an effective board and what I will bring if elected.

R - Darrell Trump

Wife, Debbie; four sons

Chairman, Board of Education

Experience does matter. I bring the leadership and experience that is required to serve on the Board.

I am Darrell Trump running for re-election to the Board of Education. I am the Chairman, and before that two years as Secretary. I have 20 years experience as a corporate executive, a BS degree in Finance, and a Masters degree in Business Administration.

I have extensive experience in multi-million dollar contract negotiations, human resources, team building, and process improvement. I’m an agent for change, I question the status quo and look for better ways of doing things.

For the past four years I have had the pleasure to work with our Superintendent Dr. Palmer, and a team of dedicated and professional school administrators and teachers. I am very proud of what the Board of Education and the school district has accomplished.

We have had our challenges, and will continue to have them. We have accomplished much, but have much to accomplish. I accept that challenge and with your support will continue to work diligently on behalf of our school district.

D - Kelly Plunkett

Husband, Jim; two children

Training Program Manager

I’m not your traditional politician. I’m a parent — a taxpaying parent that doesn’t want a tax increase anymore than the next person. I just want to be at the table helping decide where those tax dollars are being spent and that it is being done in the most effective and responsible way.

I want to ensure our tax dollars are used in a fiscally responsible manner providing the most impact for the children of Monroe. Who better to hold accountable than a parent with children in the system directly impacted by Board decisions?

I also feel too many decisions and policies are not properly communicated that affect the students of Monroe. A lack of quality, consistent communication has created a culture of distrust amongst parents and taxpayers. Communication and collaboration are cornerstones to a successful relationship between the BOE and the community and I will work tirelessly to increase transparency.

I will ask the tough questions that parents want answered and willingly share that information to change our current culture. I have a strong commitment to increasing collaboration within the community to create a common goal in safeguarding the success of Monroe students.

For more information about me, visit monroeboe4u.blogspot.com

R - Mark Antinozzi

Wife, Marian

30-year educator

As a candidate for the Board of Education, I sincerely ask you to consider my 30 years experience teaching at the Elementary, Middle and High School levels. During these years, I’ve also worked a second job as the Business Manager for the architectural firm Antinozzi Associates.

My educational background gives me hands-on experience dealing with the day-to-day responsibilities of a teacher which not only includes planning lessons and teaching, but also curriculum development, discipline, and testing. As a business manager, I have dealt directly with contracts, insurance, and budgets. Combining the knowledge of both allows me the ability to serve not only the students and parents, but also all the tax payers of the town of Monroe.

I have served Monroe both as the chairman of the Architectural Review Board, and as a Planning and Zoning Alternate. I have learned through these experiences that personal views should be carefully shielded from decisions affecting the whole.

Consequently it is important to remember that I will not go into the position with a pre-determined agenda based upon a singular set of views. I pledge to listen and value all considerations, opinions, and views prior to making the important decisions affecting our town.

D - Fran Welch

Husband, Kevin; three children

Pension Administration Consultant

I am running for Board of Education to ensure the students of Monroe receive the best education possible in a fiscally responsible manner. As a pension consultant, I am called upon to find cost efficient solutions for my clients.

As a BOE member, I will have the opportunity to utilize my experience to provide innovative ideas in allocating and prioritizing funds available to the district. Reducing expenses cannot be the only solution and I welcome the opportunity to work with Dr. Palmer on the BOE to aggressively examine alternative ways to generate income.

As a frequent BOE meeting and town meeting attendee, I have listened to the concerns of fellow taxpayers and parents. I’ve witnessed the impact that a lack of communication from the BOE can have on the community. I will work to improve the communication channel with the BOE knowing this successful relationship will strengthen our community.

The boards and councils of Monroe must put aside their partisan ways and come together to help avoid compromising the quality of our schools. Educating our children is the most important thing we do as a society and it benefits everyone in our community.

For more information about me, visit monroeboe4u.blogspot.com.

R - Donna Lane

Husband, Richard, two daughters

Board of Finance member

The most important issue facing the Board of Education is the 2010-2011 budget. As a current member of the Board of Finance, I will bring to the Board of Education my experience with the budget process and expertise in the Education budget.

As recently presented by Dr. Palmer, the Board is facing a 6.9% increase by meeting our contractual and health insurance obligations. We need to explore innovative ways to continue providing a quality education for our students, attracting and retaining excellent teachers while being affordable to our community.

This is a difficult task, but not impossible. All expense items will need to be carefully reviewed. We need to find efficiencies to save money. Can the implementation of technology cut costs? Are there best practices used in other districts that we can implement in Monroe? Cost cutting is not the only answer.

We need to explore revenue generating opportunities such as sports sponsorships, school usage fees and state and federal grants. We need to explore other revenue opportunities available to the Board. These are just some of the areas I will focus on if elected to the Board of Education. To view my biography, visit monroectgop.org and townleaders.com.

D - Amy Primorac

Husband, Robert; three children

Former Elementary Teacher; Web and Graphic Design

Four years ago I wrote my first letter to the editor. I wrote it to talk about the most recent budget defeat and the concern I had for our school system. I had been volunteering in my daughter’s kindergarten class and already saw the effects of years of budget defeats. I had no idea what went on with the budget, I just knew the effects I was seeing.

Now that daughter is in fourth grade. She has 25 students in her classroom. I have witnessed a further decline in our school system. Year after year, we just try to get through that budget season instead of planning long term for what our town needs.

There is much out of our control with expenses in our schools, but I believe there is more that can be done to find efficiency and save taxpayer dollars. I feel the most effective way I can do find them and implement them is by serving on the Board of Education.

For more information about me, go to monroeboe4u.blogspot.com