PARK RIDGE—The most competitive local school board race Election Day, Nov. 8, is in Park Ridge, where six candidates are vying for two open three-year seats: Erin Kate Comeau, Timothy J. Carroll, and the teams of LeeAnn Frank and Liza Falato-Lau and John P. Bierotti Jr. and Joseph Bucco.
We asked for their platforms, their best sense of where money can be saved — the school budget takes the lion’s share of property taxes — and what they feel are their district’s strengths, particularly in responsiveness to families and other stakeholders.
Of those who replied, here are highlights of their responses:
Erin Kate Comeau
Erin Kate Comeau said, “Along with my husband, I am a product of the Park Ridge School District, having attended West Ridge Elementary and Park Ridge High School. We decided to settle here and raise our family. Our two children are second-generation Park Ridge students.”
She said, “All students, no matter their skill level, background or financial status deserves a great education. Their schools should be a safe space to learn and to grow socially and emotionally.”
Comeau noted residential development of the former Sony property will affect the entire community. “Any increase [in student enrollment] will affect what we provide in the way of facilities and student-teacher ratios. It is vital that the board prepares and plans for this eventuality.”
If she could accomplish just one goal in her term, Comeau would want to address a dire effect of the pandemic, which she said “disrupted the ways in which we all communicate and interact. This is especially true in our school setting. I would like to build stronger levels of communication and transparency between all stakeholders: students, staff, board members, and the town public.”
Comeau said “Overall, I believe that the board is very responsive to stakeholders’ concerns. The public may be shocked to discover how many hours we volunteer each week on board of education business.”
She said, “Due to legal guidelines and state regulations, the required etiquette of a board of education meeting can lead to an appearance of unresponsiveness. While I have been a board member for a short period of time, I have listened to the concerns of the public and have taken steps to address them, and I know that my fellow board members have as well.”
And she said, “While not every suggestion or complaint results in an action, we seriously consider all suggestions and concerns that are brought up and do our best to address them within the guidelines of fiscal responsibility and concern for the needs of all stakeholders.”
On taxes, she said, “No one is interested in raising taxes for taxes’ sake, including myself. As a lifelong resident of Park Ridge, I have seen many people run for office using a platform of reducing taxes. This has never come to pass.”
She explained, “Given the imminent development in Park Ridge, evolving state curriculum guidelines, upcoming teacher contract negotiations, and ever-increasing facility maintenance costs, it is unlikely that taxes will go down. I see the role of a board member as addressing these potentially costly trends in a fiscally responsible manner, to minimize the impact on Park Ridge taxpayers while maintaining the quality of education, which will in turn keep our property values high.”
Comeau said she enjoys collaborating in a group. “I have been active in public service in a variety of ways, including many years spent as a volunteer and president of the East Brook PTO. I was appointed to the Board of Education in May of this year.”
She called that tenure to date “a great and challenging experience. It has opened my eyes to how much I love giving back to the community that educated me so well. I hope to have the opportunity to continue working with the board for a full term to ensure that our schools continue to provide a safe environment for our students to learn and grow.”
John P. Bierotti Jr. and Joseph Bucco
This team said they’re running together (they’ll be bracketed on your ballot) as “Excellence Continued.”
They said “Park Ridge is a growing and close-knit community with an excellent school district. One of the most cherished attributes is that we are a standalone K-12 district, which is very rare in northern Bergen County. Over the course of the last few decades, our schools have flourished. The district continually makes upgrades to academic curriculum as well as addressing many other needs, such as, advancements in technology, facility upgrades, and extra care for parents that need it just to name a few.”
They said, “We want to ensure that our children’s educational experience continues to move forward on the right path, while still maintaining fiscal responsibility for the entire community and fulfilling the needs of the district.
The top two concerns they would like to address are safety and security, and overdevelopment.
“Safety and security has been a priority for both of us for over 20 plus years. As career public servants, we are well versed on the different issues that districts are facing in the wake of both physical security threats as well as health related challenges—all of which affect our children’s learning,” they said.
They added, “There have been physical security upgrades that have been made in the last few years. These upgrades are the building blocks on the overall security and safety of the students and faculty that we hope to expand on.”
They said “Overdevelopment is an issue that will undoubtedly pose a challenge to our district with both state housing mandates and previous development approvals within the near future. The size of our student body will continue to steadily increase over the years to come.”
In that light, they said, “Our goal is to continue to provide the level of education and student class size that Park Ridge is accustomed to, all while maintaining our promise to the taxpayers to remain fiscally responsible.”
They said “It is an issue that cannot be looked at lightly. There needs to be a balance of class size, which is building space, and keeping it fiscally responsible for the community as a whole, that we as potential board members will be a part of. It’s definitely a balancing game that is going to need constant attention.”
Pressed for a singular goal they’d like to achieve, they said, “To effectively serve our community, which has entrusted us to represent them and to leave the district better than we found it. During our term, we plan to keep the mindset of Excellence Continued. We will continually build on the excellence that has been established and what brought most of us and our families to this great town.”
Their assessment of this district’s responsiveness? “There are a variety of obstacles and challenges that are facing our district. As far as responsive vs. non responsive, it would depend on the issue. The board/district as a whole has been very responsive on some issues and sub-par on others.”
They said, “Any group that is made up of multiple people, all having different opinions and life experiences, will always have different priorities when it comes to hot topic issues. The most important thing is that every board member should work collectively without being guided by one individual’s influence. Board members are elected at large and it is imperative that they should be responsible to their constituents.”
On taxes, they said, “Being financially responsible to the community is of the utmost importance when making any large financial decision.”
One area that will require special attention: “The increasing class sizes with the looming development project slated to begin in the near future. People move to Park Ridge with their families or to start a family because we are a standalone district and we have manageable class sizes.”
They said the board of education “will be tasked with the balance of increased student population and keeping a heavy tax burden off of the community.”
Over the past three years, they said, the tax rate has remained steady, under the state 2% cap. “Financial stability is a good sign of fiscal responsibility. As the population increases, special attention will have to be made to keep the tax rate manageable.”
As a closing note, Bierotti and Bucco said, “We have been pubic servants our whole adult lives. Our community comes first, whether it be serving as police officers or coaching our children in PRAA sports.”
They said, “Serving our community is a privilege and responsibility that we do not take lightly. If re-elected/elected, we will continue to volunteer our time to better our school district for all of our children while balancing the needs of our community.”
LeeAnn Frank and Liza Falato-Lau
LeeAnn Frank and Liza Falato-Lau, running as a bracketed team, told us, “All students can achieve educational success in an environment that builds confidence, teaches critical thinking, and fosters emotional intelligence.”
They said, “We can accomplish this through better communication and collaboration between parents, students, and teachers — all of whom have faced many challenges in recent years. We are committed to getting every student back on track by bridging the gap between education and emotional growth.”
They worried about “significant learning loss” in the pandemic and said many students are struggling to catch up. “There is overwhelming evidence of mental health and social issues. The district has a responsibility to help the students get back on track by providing workshops addressing stress management, depression and social anxiety.”
Asked for the sole goal they’d be happiest accomplishing in their term, they said, “We plan to address many objectives through collaboration with parents, teachers, administrators, and other board members. We want all students to read at, or above, grade level. We want them to excel in STEM and history. We want more after-school programs that encourage creativity and a love for learning.”
In their view, “Unfortunately, we have seen too many kids grow apathetic towards learning. Students should be excited to come to school and feel success is within reach.”
Asked to rank the board’s responsiveness, they said “There should be more consistent communications from the board to the stakeholders, including a website full of information. If we over communicate with parents, they will feel more comfortable and confident with what their children are learning and where they are academically.”
On the budget, they said, “The district should spend every dollar on things that benefit students, such as building renovations, athletic equipment, special programs, and more. We need to look at wasteful spending, as well as spending on things ‘because we have always done it that way.’”
In final thoughts, they said in part, “We are not running for us; we are running for the countless parents and taxpayers in town who want a seat at the table and to challenge the status quo.”
