[The following is a message from BOE Candidate Joel Schwartz. All candidates are welcome to submit their messages to TLS]. As you may already know, I petitioned to be a candidate in the upcoming elections for BOE of Lakewood Township. The reason I threw my hat into the race was because I deeply care about our town, both, for our children and taxpayers alike.
Being a resident of Lakewood for the last 14 years, I’ve been witness to the tremendous population growth of our town. Many positive things have evolved during this period of time. Unfortunately, what I’ve also witnessed in the last 14 years was a major decline in our public education system as well as a sharp rise in our school portion of our property tax bill. Interestingly, these two facts don’t usually go hand in hand. When we put that much funding into our education system we at the very least, expect to put out a quality product, not a 37% graduation rate. When these two facts combine, it sends a very clear message that something is very wrong with our education system, perhaps it’s completely broken.
Over the last few years I’ve personally seen a grass roots effort by a few well intended and dedicated individuals who tried to right the ship, but unfortunately now without the support of a majority on the board not much more can be accomplished. My commitment to all of you as well as to our precious children from both public and private schools is to break those barriers, remove the dividing lines and work to ensure that these children are provided with a thorough and efficient education without having to rob our taxpayers of their hard earned wages. I strongly believe that this can and will be done, but only with your full support.
On April 17th, I ask that you go out and support my candidacy by casting your vote for me for a seat on the Lakewood School Board and together we will bring a brighter future to our children and residents of Lakewood Township.
Sincerely;
Joel Schwartz
good ,hope you can work to bring my taxes down ,they are spending an awful amount per child in the public schools ,private schools do a better job with half the amount spent
U don’t state anything convincing
Who’s your rabbi?
Are with the lac or on your own?
Specify some more points to get my vote
Thanks
Bill Coyle should come back to the Lakewood school district
Joel is a great person & truly a great candidate…
I wish him lots of luck!!
Joel is a sincere, caring, & honest candidate that isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. He gets my vote. I’m sure the rest of the 7:00 AM (Sharp) Minyan feels the same way.
Mr. Schwartz.
Have you attended or do your children attend public schools?
Do you have any specific plans to “right the ship”?
Will you look into attempting to consolidate private school busing routes which is the real and only reason the tax rate is astronomically high?
Thank you,
can we please get a little background information on mr. schwartz, like his history in public service. thanks.
who dis yoily?
from da zoning board? he is alright. ok ok I will vote for you. But the Australians got to stay in place.
I believe Joel was a member of the Planning Board and is presently a member of the Zoning Board. Joel is passionate guy who cares deeply about this Town/City. You can check his voting records in those areas and you will see that he caters strictly to the voters and not to the Politicians. He says what he does, and does what he says.
Why he needs all this agmas nefesh? I don’t know, but I do know, is that we can count on him to do the right thing.
Good Luck
So how exactly will you bring my taxes down?
Joel, excellent article. Well written. I hope you are able to carry out your intentions. Looking forward.
The school tax is so high because of the transportation part of the budget not the public schools. If you want the school tax to go down then eliminate courtesy busing and have the private schools (whether they be Jewish, Catholic, Protestant or non-religious affiliation) provide their own transportation out of their own pocket. Millions of dollars would be saved if this was done.
Joel you have my vote, you are always on target and not afraid to speak your mind . Chazak
I know this guy from the Zoning board…very up front not afraid to speak his mind… good guy but he wont be able to do it alone…. tough job!
to # 2- you bhave to be kidding me. The reason why someone should be running for the board is for the Children. Your comments are exactly why other board members are speaking out.
if we get more board members like Carl Fink the district will have a chance to succeed. Mr.Seitler and that yoni guy is out for the children. We thank them and it shows to us as parents
i am fortunate to have shared a few years in EY with Yoel, he is a compassionate and very open minded individual. My personal dealings with him back in Lakewood NJ further strengthens my opinion to what i wrote in the beginning
Regarding to question is motives on why he is getting involved with this mess, only he could really answer,, but knowing him he really looks for the the truth ( even if it hurts)
To # 12, thank you for keeping us safe, but lets be real no busing translates to thousands of more cars on our already clogged roads ( by the way i pay for private busing my kids go to deal NJ) that would create havoc ( we are not a small township anymore… IE Newark Camden have public busing)
regarding having kids in public school should not give someone the sole rights to run for the position, the situation in Lakewood is a Majority of taxpayers DO NOT SEND TO THE PS, we need to figure out why the Dollars spent to educate the CHILDREN are not panning out…..37% graduation rate in my mind is embarrassing
the two people who wrote that taxes are high because of bussing are obviously ignorant of the facts. and they don’t know the definition of courtesy bussing.
#17 – Courtesy bussing as a huge bill in Lakewood. That is a fact. Other school districts just provide bussing the 180 days that the Public schools are open. Even if the private schools are open, transportation is not provided. When you have to pay bus drivers for Sundays (overtime) and holidays (Thanksgivingand a pie) the private school bus runs add up. That also doesn’t include the fact that these runs go until 11 at night and well beyond the 180 days of the public school . Another HUGE line item is the amount of money that is spent to sent our non-public special education children private schools.The tuition is over $100,000 a year. This is included in the per student rate. Start looking at the agenda and the amount of money that comes in the front door and leaves out the back. All these expenses are included in the public school funds. The taxpayers also pay to send many families out of the state/country to visit their children at their private schools.
Really, Dovy?
Do you know how much money could be saved if even SOME children who lived within 2.5 miles of their school were no longer bussed? Do you know how many districts in the state have eliminated courtesy busing and late bus runs over vehement parent objections in order to save money? When there’s a candidate that shows that kind of intestinal fortitude then he will deserve my vote.
P.S. Before you call anyone ignorant you should check your own spelling and grammar.
he does NOT have my vote. He voted no when i went in front of the zoning board.
To #18 were you trying to expand your 3rd floor deck over your neighbors roof??
to Old Man; You stand corrected. It’s a 2 mile radius for grades k-8. The 2.5 mile radius applies for high school students only and since you know how much it will save us taxpayers please share it with us and maybe we can all convince the candidates that it’s worth the savings!!!. BTW Why is it only the busing that bothers you, why isn’t the cost of bi-lingual education an issue for you?
Joel is a straight shooter, honest and publicly-spirited, unbeholden to anyone but the children and the taxpayers. Still we need to see a more detailed platform. Please fill-in the blanks. How specifically will you reform and improve the Lakewood school district? It’s a Herculean task.
Joel, I understand you are a fair and intelligent person. You will have the teachers vote.
I do not understand why we do not deserve busing! We pay a fortune in taxes without our children even going to public school. The least they could do is provide busing!
Joel is not afraid to step up to the plate and says it as it is. iv’e known Joel for many years he is one individual that doesn’t buckle under pressure and that’s what the BOE is in desperate need of. Joel, the town needs you to follow through on your ideas our hard earned tax $$$$ are crying out to you GO! JOEL GO!
I am new to Lakewood. To the teacher in comment #25, I hope your teaching skills are better than your spelling. We are doomed with teachers like you. Now I wonder if I should trust your judgement in supporting Mr. Schwartz.