Hillsborough Board Of Education Profile: Ann Harris

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough Township School Board has six candidates vying for three seats in the upcoming election on Nov. 3.

Ann Harris is one of the candidates running. The other candidates include Cynthia "Cindy" DeCavalcante Nurse, Benjamin Wilson Kidd, incumbent Judith C. Haas, incumbent Dr. Lorraine A. Soisson, and Paul Marini.

All of the candidates are running for the three, three-year seats on the board.

Are you running for office in Hillsborough? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Hillsborough Patch.

Ann Harris

1. Why are running for Board of Education?

Serving on the board is a way to give back to the community that I have lived in for 33 years. I have been a board of education member for three years now. There were initiatives (especially for sustainability) that I began working on but they were cut short by the pandemic. I have enjoyed living here and serving the community in many capacities in my church, school district and community. My husband and I raised our family here; both my son and daughter went through the Hillsborough school system. I was a teacher in the district for 23 years.

Serving on the Board of Education is a position which requires many hours of committee work that no one really realizes are a part of the elected seat, there is no pay involved; it is truly serving the community from the heart. I have always enjoyed the challenge of trying to problem solve to make the school district the best that it can be.

As a board member one needs to be a good listener, an independent thinker, and respond with truth, integrity and transparency; sometimes that is difficult to do when social media spins a different perspective without really knowing the background or the factual information. This community has always been a kind and caring place to live; combating misinformation and building effective communication still need to have more work and established guidelines to ensure success. I hope to continue on the board to achieve more in the pathway to that success.

The work of the board guides the community as a whole through educational policies and decisions for student achievement. Hillsborough Township School District is noted for its excellence in education; the teachers have always provided an atmosphere of caring and commitment to their students and the community, I know this first hand. Informed parents are very supportive community members, as well; I have enjoyed being inspired by some of them. Representing all of the stakeholders in the community is something board members are committed to, always weighing the pros and cons to each decision. It has been an honor to serve thus far.

2. What are your qualifications for this position?

• Taught in the Hillsborough Township Public Schools for 23 years

• Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Administration and Supervision

• Hillsborough Sustainable Steering Committee Member for 12 years

• Rutgers Environmental Steward

• Actively participate in Parish Community of St. Joseph Church serving on several committees and chairing the CCD Advisory Council

• Member of Kappa Delta Pi and Golden Key International (educational honor societies) and ASCD – Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development

• Manuscript Reviewer for Pearson Education

• Educational Consultant and Researcher

• New Jersey Performing Arts Center – Audience Ambassador

3. The single most pressing issue facing our school district is ____ and this is what I intend to do about it:

The single most pressing issue facing our school district is ensuring the health and safety of our students and staff as they come back to school gradually through a hybrid model during COVID, combined with budgeting when the state continues to cut aid to the district … this is what I intend to do about it: First, as a former teacher in the district, having worked in seven of the nine building extensively, there were concerns about the air quality because none of our buildings are exactly new. These concerns were immediately addressed by our administration and buildings and grounds staff. They ordered fans and air purifiers for rooms with no classroom windows. Classrooms with windows were checked and corrected for ease of use to open and close for ventilation. Ceiling fans were cleaned and air filters were replaced in every unit throughout the district, exhaust fans were being checked and repaired. All of this work was being done through the summer months thanks to our building and grounds staff to make sure that the district was compliant with the state for a safe return to school. A large amount of all of this work was generated by the administration and the DRC ( District Recovery Committee). If I were a teacher returning to the classroom, I would feel safe knowing the extent of work done, wearing a properly fitted mask that covers nose and mouth, washing hands frequently and social distancing when possible. No one can predict how this COVID pandemic will proceed so everyone should be prepared to use caution, not let down their guard and proceed knowing we have to be prepared for anything at this point. Our district was fortunate to invest in technology early on so that we didn’t have that as a high hurdle to learning like some other districts. Although the virtual learning has not been perfect for everyone, it has taught us all some things about ourselves and our children’s learning styles we would never have experienced before the pandemic. I think parents now have a new appreciation for the teachers in their child’s classroom.

The township continues to build housing complexes increasing the number of students, some builders are given abatements which does not help the school district. The state also has continually decreased the budget for Hillsborough funding over the past several which has led to making some very difficult situations like the loss of courtesy busing for some high school and middle school students and the added need for pay to play, as well as the loss of some 56 teaching positions (some of which were retirement positions not replaced; leading to 37 actual lost positions). These disruptions were the result of a failed referendum in 2018 which included a full day kindergarten proposal. Full day kindergarten needs to be revisited as this is the very basic foundation of all schooling where habits are established, social and emotional learning begin taking root, and time on task is allowed to expand thus increasing learning capabilities if a full day schedule could be provided. I believe more information needed to be provided to the community as a whole on this issue, it was perhaps not presented with the clarity needed and misinformation once again prevailed in the public. Establishing a full day kindergarten program would help increase some funding as our kindergarten students are only counted as half day and not full day students resulting in half of the funding for kindergartener students.

If the school district could partner and collaborate with the township effectively to increase public transportation and sustainability efforts, for example, running several electric buses for public transportation in our township…then our students would be able to have more choice in their transportation needs, especially for after-school activities. Our town could also be a model township for the state if we were to work together to accomplish this and other Sustainable Jersey initiatives as a whole community preparing for our future. In a town of 54 sq. miles, with increased housing constantly popping up, we need to have a better vision of our future for the schools, its increased population and the township as a whole.

4. What are other issues you would like to see addressed in the school district?

There are several issues that have come to the forefront recently:

• One priority, from serving on the operations committee, is to ensure that the work planned out in the recently passed December 2019 referendum ( a planned two year: 2020-2022) building improvements package throughout the district, is completed with efficiency and carried out completely to upgrade our buildings as per plans; utilizing all provided resources available.

• Secondly, I have served on the education committee where student achievement is the focus. We are always looking with the administration at what best serves the needs of the students through curriculum reviews, board and community input, parent, teacher and student suggested considerations and the mandates of the policies generated by the NJDOE. I would like to see more increased options for student learning opportunities: perhaps increased summer sessions, better utilization of our outdoor classroom areas, more academic clubs, year round robotic and STEM activities, filling any gaps in athletic programs. My professional wish for the community, as an educator would be to have 100 percent of our students graduate, although we currently have 98 percent graduation rate and that is commendable in the state of New Jersey where our education system is ranked as number one in the nation. The biggest obstacle to this wish list of increases is always the budgetary constraints.

• A third initiative would be to try and improve the communications to the community through various professional means since not everyone uses the same format to gather their information. The district website is a start, but it is not as frequently updated as board members would like (sometimes during COVID information has been revised or changed too rapidly to keep informed without more staffing to provide updates on the website). Residents without children in the district schools need additional ways to receive district information that is of interest or concern to the community.

• A fourth and final initiative I would like to see is a more collaborative effort to work together in this community, without making everything a political battle or a condemning social media blitz. It is disappointing to experience the lack of unity. All leaders are hopefully working to make the community the best it can be, but more could be accomplished through a collaborative effort, not individual egos.

This article originally appeared on the Hillsborough Patch