Schools

Member's Ire Can't Stop BOE Assigning Seats

West Morris Regional School Board approves – barely – policy to have members sit in assigned seats.

Jamie Button hasn’t had to sit in an assigned seat since elementary school, he says.

And that’s why the Mendham Township representative to the West Morris Regional Board of Education protested a policy before the board that would require assigned seating positions for the body’s nine members.

Reciting a written statement, Button slammed the policy’s mere existence, calling it “incomprehensible drivel.

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“[This policy] is designed to stifle dissenting view points,” Button said before the board voted. “It’s a policy filled with innocuous and opinionated statements … it is disciplining board members with dissenting opinions.”

Button pointed toward the U.S. Congress as an example for the importance of members to be able to sit where they please, as it allows them to caucus for productive debate.

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The policy change was brought forward to create more productivity, according to board secretary Doug Pechanec.

The hope would be to align more senior members of the board with newer members to work hand-in-hand, Pechanec said, and intersperse the members so they are not sitting in clusters by town.

Currently there are four members from Washington Township, two from Chester Township, one from Chester Borough, one from Mendham Borough and one from Mendham Township.

Lisa Woodring (Washington Township), Don Storms (Chester Borough), John Meyer (Washington Township), and Marcia Asdal (Chester Township) are all currently serving their first terms on the board.

If the vote passed, West Morris Regional would be the only district in New Jersey that has assigned seating for its board members, Button said.

“Assigning seats on a board in a floundering district is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” Button said.

The board – with just seven members present – voted 4-3 on the motion, with Button, Asdal and Storms saying no.

Since the vote did not require a full board majority to pass (five members), Pechanec said, the motion carried and an aligned seating structure will be put in place.


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