The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
MARKEVITCH TO LEAD SCHOOL BOARD SLATE PROMISING REAL RESULTS
MARKEVITCH TO LEAD SCHOOL BOARD SLATE PROMISING REAL RESULTS
Running under the banner Real Results, a new slate of candidates for the Hoboken school board filed its petitions Monday and launched its campaign for the April 20 election. The slate is led by long-time Hoboken activist Elizabeth Markevitch and includes Perry Lin, Kathleen Tucker and John Forsman. Markevitch, Lin and Tucker are running for three-year terms and Forsman is running for a one-year term.
Real Results promises quick and effective action to improve Hoboken's schools and get the system's bloated budget under control. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman say Hoboken's traditionally low expectations for its schools must be dramatically raised, so each student has a chance to reach his or her full potential. At the same time, the Real Results team will tackle the school system's enormous amount of waste--money that never reaches a classroom but instead goes to employees with little or nothing to do, outrageous benefits that are far out of line with the real world and even a junket for a board member next month. At nearly $25,000, Hoboken spends the second-highest amount of money per student of any K-12 district in the state (behind Asbury Park), and almost twice the state average.
Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman all would bring a wealth of business and management experience to a board that's now woefully short of real-world knowhow. Hiring executives, negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts, and supervising top management are what a school board does, and the current board has virtually no one with the skills for these crucial tasks.
All four candidates supported the Kids First slate that last year won control of the board. But as the year wore on, Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman lost confidence in Kids First as some members lost interest in keeping their campaign promises. For example, Kids First missed countless opportunities to cut costs, they shut the public out of an important meeting in December in an apparent violation of the state Sunshine Law, they failed to move quickly against highly paid administrators who they knew were double-dipping and/or incompetent, and they teamed up with the board's minority faction to ram through the appointment of a new superintendent without giving the public any notice.
Most important, the board has not focused on making any meaningful budget cuts for next year and is not planning any tax cut, despite the huge amount of fat in the school budget. Last year's tax levy--the amount of tax revenue raised from Hoboken property owners--was $36,764,796. The planned tax levy for this year: $36,761,743. That's right--the expected tax levy is only $3,053 less than last year's. Real Results promises to cut more than $3,000 out of a $60 million budget.
With the election approaching, Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman feared that no reformers would decide to run this year. The Kids First slate is led by two incumbents who haven't stepped up and made the tough decisions that equal reform. So Real Results expects to be the only slate in the race intent on making real changes in the schools and paying real attention to the budget. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman expect to have the reform field to themselves in the election while the Kids First slate and other candidates battle for supporters of the status quo and the way things have always been done. Voters deserve a choice and Real Results will give them that choice.
THE CANDIDATES
Elizabeth Markevitch has lived in Hoboken for 20 years and has attended school board meetings since 1995. Her daughter attends Elysian Charter School and will go to Hoboken High in September. Liz comes from a family steeped in education--her mother is a retired teacher and her sister is a teacher. She's also a former director of the Boys and Girls Club of Hoboken. A graduate of Bucknell University, Liz is the founder and president of a firm that recruits staff to fill technical jobs and provides career guidance, and has 18 years of business-management experience. "My mission is matching the right people to the right position, something that the school board has often not been good at," she says.
Perry Lin moved to Hoboken in 2004 and purchased his home here in 2005. He's a product of the Millburn public schools and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. Perry serves as the Northeast regional manager of a publicly traded medical-device company and has 10 years of experience in sales and management jobs in health care and technology. "I so wanted Kids First to work out last year but they really disappointed me," he says. "It's unbelievable that after all their criticism of the budget a year ago, all they did was nip and tuck around the edges. They not only avoided the hard decisions, they avoided many of the easy ones. Their hearts may have been in the right place, but that wasn't good enough. This ticket will show much more backbone."
Kathleen Tucker has been a Hoboken resident since 2004; she and her husband purchased their home here in 2007. She works as a designer for a marketing and media agency in New York, where she focuses on how customers interact with health care industry websites. Kathleen grew up in Chester and still regards her high school history teacher as an important role model. A graduate of the University of Scranton with a degree in international relations and German, she's long had a keen interest in how students learn and what they learn. "I got an excellent education in New Jersey public schools and that's an opportunity every child deserves," she says. "There's so much more we can do to make sure every child here gets that opportunity."
John Forsman has called Hoboken home for five years. He and his wife became homeowners three years ago and plan to raise their family here. John belongs to St. Francis R.C. Church and the Hoboken Rotary Club, and will soon begin serving as club secretary. He's helped organize the Rotary's Spelling Bee for Hoboken fourth-graders and he's also been a Big Brother. A native of Monmouth County and a graduate of St. Joseph's University, John has worked in health care administration and now works for a major financial institution as a financial adviser and health care specialist. He aims to apply this background to the schools' ballooning medical costs. "Our insurance costs are jumping 16-22% in the new budget," he points out. "We're spending $6.6 million on insurance premiums for probably only 500 full-time employees. It's amazing. With some smart adjustments, we could cut that substantially and still provide virtually the same care."
Real Results promises a full-blown campaign that will point out where the schools can do better, suggest innovative solutions, and challenge its opponents to defend their records and provide better answers. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman encourage every Hoboken voter who wants real results to support this ticket.
Running under the banner Real Results, a new slate of candidates for the Hoboken school board filed its petitions Monday and launched its campaign for the April 20 election. The slate is led by long-time Hoboken activist Elizabeth Markevitch and includes Perry Lin, Kathleen Tucker and John Forsman. Markevitch, Lin and Tucker are running for three-year terms and Forsman is running for a one-year term.
Real Results promises quick and effective action to improve Hoboken's schools and get the system's bloated budget under control. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman say Hoboken's traditionally low expectations for its schools must be dramatically raised, so each student has a chance to reach his or her full potential. At the same time, the Real Results team will tackle the school system's enormous amount of waste--money that never reaches a classroom but instead goes to employees with little or nothing to do, outrageous benefits that are far out of line with the real world and even a junket for a board member next month. At nearly $25,000, Hoboken spends the second-highest amount of money per student of any K-12 district in the state (behind Asbury Park), and almost twice the state average.
Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman all would bring a wealth of business and management experience to a board that's now woefully short of real-world knowhow. Hiring executives, negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts, and supervising top management are what a school board does, and the current board has virtually no one with the skills for these crucial tasks.
All four candidates supported the Kids First slate that last year won control of the board. But as the year wore on, Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman lost confidence in Kids First as some members lost interest in keeping their campaign promises. For example, Kids First missed countless opportunities to cut costs, they shut the public out of an important meeting in December in an apparent violation of the state Sunshine Law, they failed to move quickly against highly paid administrators who they knew were double-dipping and/or incompetent, and they teamed up with the board's minority faction to ram through the appointment of a new superintendent without giving the public any notice.
Most important, the board has not focused on making any meaningful budget cuts for next year and is not planning any tax cut, despite the huge amount of fat in the school budget. Last year's tax levy--the amount of tax revenue raised from Hoboken property owners--was $36,764,796. The planned tax levy for this year: $36,761,743. That's right--the expected tax levy is only $3,053 less than last year's. Real Results promises to cut more than $3,000 out of a $60 million budget.
With the election approaching, Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman feared that no reformers would decide to run this year. The Kids First slate is led by two incumbents who haven't stepped up and made the tough decisions that equal reform. So Real Results expects to be the only slate in the race intent on making real changes in the schools and paying real attention to the budget. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman expect to have the reform field to themselves in the election while the Kids First slate and other candidates battle for supporters of the status quo and the way things have always been done. Voters deserve a choice and Real Results will give them that choice.
THE CANDIDATES
Elizabeth Markevitch has lived in Hoboken for 20 years and has attended school board meetings since 1995. Her daughter attends Elysian Charter School and will go to Hoboken High in September. Liz comes from a family steeped in education--her mother is a retired teacher and her sister is a teacher. She's also a former director of the Boys and Girls Club of Hoboken. A graduate of Bucknell University, Liz is the founder and president of a firm that recruits staff to fill technical jobs and provides career guidance, and has 18 years of business-management experience. "My mission is matching the right people to the right position, something that the school board has often not been good at," she says.
Perry Lin moved to Hoboken in 2004 and purchased his home here in 2005. He's a product of the Millburn public schools and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. Perry serves as the Northeast regional manager of a publicly traded medical-device company and has 10 years of experience in sales and management jobs in health care and technology. "I so wanted Kids First to work out last year but they really disappointed me," he says. "It's unbelievable that after all their criticism of the budget a year ago, all they did was nip and tuck around the edges. They not only avoided the hard decisions, they avoided many of the easy ones. Their hearts may have been in the right place, but that wasn't good enough. This ticket will show much more backbone."
Kathleen Tucker has been a Hoboken resident since 2004; she and her husband purchased their home here in 2007. She works as a designer for a marketing and media agency in New York, where she focuses on how customers interact with health care industry websites. Kathleen grew up in Chester and still regards her high school history teacher as an important role model. A graduate of the University of Scranton with a degree in international relations and German, she's long had a keen interest in how students learn and what they learn. "I got an excellent education in New Jersey public schools and that's an opportunity every child deserves," she says. "There's so much more we can do to make sure every child here gets that opportunity."
John Forsman has called Hoboken home for five years. He and his wife became homeowners three years ago and plan to raise their family here. John belongs to St. Francis R.C. Church and the Hoboken Rotary Club, and will soon begin serving as club secretary. He's helped organize the Rotary's Spelling Bee for Hoboken fourth-graders and he's also been a Big Brother. A native of Monmouth County and a graduate of St. Joseph's University, John has worked in health care administration and now works for a major financial institution as a financial adviser and health care specialist. He aims to apply this background to the schools' ballooning medical costs. "Our insurance costs are jumping 16-22% in the new budget," he points out. "We're spending $6.6 million on insurance premiums for probably only 500 full-time employees. It's amazing. With some smart adjustments, we could cut that substantially and still provide virtually the same care."
Real Results promises a full-blown campaign that will point out where the schools can do better, suggest innovative solutions, and challenge its opponents to defend their records and provide better answers. Markevitch, Lin, Tucker and Forsman encourage every Hoboken voter who wants real results to support this ticket.
Views: 3
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by scott m siegel on
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Negotiated salary increases w/employees:+$1,183,516
Who voted aye? Raia, Kearns, Garcia, Farina and DeFalco.- "Old Hoboken"
Who voted no? Minutillo, Markle and Gilliard.- Kids First
Increase in employee benefits: +$596,870
Who voted aye? Raia, Kearns, Garcia, Farina and DeFalco.- "Old Hoboken"
Who voted no? Minutillo, Markle and Gilliard.- Kids First
Reduction in state & federal grants: $2,866,559
Who's fault? People who voted for Obama and Corzine.
Grand Total: $4.7mm
Fault: Old Hoboken + bad voters:
Total budget decrease: -$2,250,642
Who to thank- Kid's first
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Markevitch on -
Last year Jan. 13, 2009 from BOE minutes when Hoboken Revolt organized people to attend the teachers' contract vote .
Ms. Markle stated she cannot support this contract because it is not fair, not
everyone is getting 4.3% raise, some are getting a miniscule raise and it’s not right.
When Revolt members in the audience supported her NO vote, Rose rudely hushed them.
scott m siegel said:Negotiated salary increases w/employees:+$1,183,516
Who voted aye? Raia, Kearns, Garcia, Farina and DeFalco.- "Old Hoboken"
Who voted no? Minutillo, Markle and Gilliard.- Kids First
Increase in employee benefits: +$596,870
Who voted aye? Raia, Kearns, Garcia, Farina and DeFalco.- "Old Hoboken"
Who voted no? Minutillo, Markle and Gilliard.- Kids First
Reduction in state & federal grants: $2,866,559
Who's fault? People who voted for Obama and Corzine.
Grand Total: $4.7mm
Fault: Old Hoboken + bad voters:
Total budget decrease: -$2,250,642
Who to thank- Kid's first
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Inadvertently left off Oland's ayes.
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Inadvertently left off Oland's ayes..
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Permalink Reply by rosethorn on -
Fap -- From looking through the draft budget, it appears that the cut in state aid is not figured in yet. The draft budget--and therefore the flat tax levy--assumes that state aid will be flat. That's because the district doesn't know how much will be cut until later in the month. So the expected state aid cut has nothing to do with taxes not being cut. The very nominal Kids First budget cuts haven't prevented the draft budget from going up $400,000 over the draft budget a year ago.
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Permalink Reply by FAP on
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Isn't that exactly what I said? They had factored in the decreased aid they knew as of 2/1 however a few weeks later it became clear that aid would be cut further. Forget the 2009-2010 "draft" budget look at the ACTUAL budget and tell me what the delta is.
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Permalink Reply by Meatloaf on -
Elizabeth, I would like to know where you got that idea that the BOE's job is all about "Hiring executives, negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts, and supervising top management". All intelligent people know that BOE stands for Board of Education. The BOE's responsibility is to better the school system for the students so that they can get the best out of it.
So education has no merit. It seems that Real Results only cares about tax relief. Where is the concern for the school system? When your child attends the school, as you have claimed, wouldn't you want the best education for her, or are we going to cut programs, like the theater arts.
As I have also read, all of the candidates have backgrounds in management. How can that help the EDUCATION of the school system?
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Markevitch on
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Hoboken Schools have a number of excellent teachers and programs that are very successful. I have met many fantastic teachers and seen the results of great programs.
The John Hopkins program, Theater program, Music program, IB program, early childhood education program and many more are some of the successful programs . Unfortunately many people do not know this. They are also problem areas that need to be addressed. There are far too many administrators in the system and in other areas where too much money is spent that has nothing to do with improving the education of our children. I have been aggressively studying and learning about education since I became pregnant in 1995. My mother is a teacher and she started the Artist in Education program in NJ, which became nationally recognized as the leader for this program in the entire United States. In the late 1990’s and early 2000 I studied with a group of activists school systems that had hired Superintendents to turn around failing programs in order to present a series of lectures for positive ideas for Hoboken. In 2000 I designed, built and financed a curriculum for a wired computer center in the Hoboken Boys and Girls Club as well as interactive multi-media learning programs for the Early Childhood Education program in 3 schools
Great teachers need great management so they can do what they do best without shackles of paperwork and useless procedures. We have seen how poor management can set back advances made in the past by hiring great teachers ,by the test scores from several of our schools last year. Our teachers need to be supported by good management not dragged down by incompetence. The BOE is a board of directors whose sole purpose is to be an objective senior management team the same way the board of directors works for any corporation.
Anybody with common sense knows we should spend our money wisely and prudently.
Why should I pay $2 when it really costs $1
Meatloaf said:Elizabeth, I would like to know where you got that idea that the BOE's job is all about "Hiring executives, negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts, and supervising top management". All intelligent people know that BOE stands for Board of Education. The BOE's responsibility is to better the school system for the students so that they can get the best out of it.
So education has no merit. It seems that Real Results only cares about tax relief. Where is the concern for the school system? When your child attends the school, as you have claimed, wouldn't you want the best education for her, or are we going to cut programs, like the theater arts.
As I have also read, all of the candidates have backgrounds in management. How can that help the EDUCATION of the school system?
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Permalink Reply by Sven on
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Meatloaf said:... All intelligent people know that BOE stands for Board of Education. ... As I have also read, all of the candidates have backgrounds in management. How can that help the EDUCATION of the school system?
Thank you very much for enlightening the rest of us about what BoE stands for. What would we have done without you?!
It appears to me that it is not Liz who is confused about the role of the BoE but you are. The people on the BoE are obviously not the ones doing the educating (that's what we have teachers for, you know?) but they are the ones supposed to oversee the management of the school district. Having management skills and experience therefore seems like a prerequisite to me, wouldn't you agree?
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Permalink Reply by Tony Soares on -
Liz, did you know that Maureen was on the custodian's negotiating committee?
Did you know Maureen even signed the MOA?
Did you know she's on the record stating it was a good contract?
Did you know Maureen voted to approve said contract?
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Permalink Reply by Meatloaf on
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Real Results, Could you please provide specific examples, methods and ideas you have for quick and effective action to improve our schools and get the system’s bloated budget under control, hiring executives, negotiating multimillion-dollar contracts and overseeing top administrators?
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