Sarah Bilotti, Principal of Greenwich Elementary School in Stewartsville New Jersey, has announced her bid for a seat on Easton Area School District’s School Board. Bilotti, a life-long Easton Area resident, will run for one of the two available Region III seats.Bilotti has lived in Region III her entire life. She grew up in Martin’s Creek before earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education from Penn State University. She then moved to Easton’s College Hill neighborhood and earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Lehigh University.
Sarah Bilotti feels that her experiences as a school administrator will give her unique insight into Easton’s budget and curriculum and will allow her to be a valuable member of Easton’s School Board. Bilotti was a Special Education Teacher before stepping into her current role as Elementary School Principal in the neighboring town of Stewartsville, New Jersey.
Instructional integrity and fiscal accountability are two facets of Bilotti’s campaign. She feels that Easton’s School Board needs to meet the needs of all students by upholding high standards for instruction while maintaining transparency and accountability within the budget and district spending.
Good luck, Sarah!
18 comments:
Go Sarah!
Not being a Vulcano or otherwise connected (as seems to be required in Easton), does she have any shot?
She seems much too qualified to serve on that body.
She is very qualified and I suspect anyone who reads about that will be favorably inclined.
Retired ASD teacher here.
There is a concern among a great number of citizens (not me, of course) that persons currently in position to accept salary from any school district (teachers/administrators)should NOT be accepted as members of local school board.
It would seem, the fear is such people would work to feather their own nest.
My view is different. Public education is a complex subject, has concerns that can never be understood by "lay" persons. I respect EVERYONE who chooses to do the thankless job of a school board member, yet I have hope every school board includes at least one person who lives that enterprise every day.
Whenever I choose to travel by air, I surely hope someone on the NTSB has direct knowledge as pilot.
Retired ASD, agreed w/ your comment for all businesses, not just education. And I strongly second your respect for everyone that chooses to run for election and sit on a school board - there are darn few more thankless jobs than that one.
That being said, I would challenge the thought that "lay" persons would not be able to get their arms around public education. I think we need people without preconceived notions to challenge what we do, how we do it, whether we need to do it at all and whether there's a better way.
Going in a different direction - we need to somehow get the most qualified people to fill these roles. From what I've seen on several school boards (and government councils), we have very well-intentioned people doing the best they can, but there are more effective candidates that for whatever reasons choose to not run.
How do we get the best people, not just the best people willing to run?
The Banker
She's hot... and has my vote
Unless she publicly commits to tackling entitlements i.e., salaries and benefits of both teachers and administrators, she can be as qualified as they come and it won't really matter. Her "Unique insight" into the budget isn't quite, "I'll get labor costs under control" now, is it?
I'm not in her district, but what happens in Easton will eventually be used as ammunition for the teachers and administrators in surrounding districts, and so on.
I'm not used to seeing this kind of interest in a school board candidate. That's good news for Sarah.
I don't know the current makeup of the School Board but must say I donot believe the answer is more educational inbreeding. Many Boards are overloaded with educational system lifers who have no concern for taxpayers.
Test scores drop, educational levels drop and school taxes go up and up.
These folks have no sense of reality.
Her "Unique insight" into the budget isn't quite, "I'll get labor costs under control" now, is it?
What that sounds like to me is, My kids are out of school already and I'm sick of paying the school taxes where I live, so slash the wages of the people who are trying to help our future because I already made and paid for my mark...and don't want to pay for your kid's education anymore.
Name a school or even a district in the Valley that isn't over-crowded, in need of more / better teaching supplies, books and computers and is exceeding the national average in both standardized test scores and percent of graduates attending college. Think I'm happy about the tax hike in East Penn where I live? No, but I also realize this will, in the long run, pay off for everyone with better educations for children and better lives for all.
Another School Teacher on a School Board. Big, Big, Big mistake. She has an inherent conflict of interest. The Board needs to be made up of people NOT involved in education.
For over 25 years the schools have monaed with just more pay and more and bigger schools we will have better education.
How has that gone? Enough with all the BS by teachers on this blog. Educatio, as it is in America, is a disaster and throwing more money at your salaries and buildings won't change that.
End the right to strike by teachers, ban teachers from running for office like civil service employees and even Hatch Act, due to federal funds.
Also current educational employees not allowed to serve on school boards.
Maybe just maybe the cutting down on nepotism, cronyism and inbreeding might improve the system.
A quarter of a century and we are going backwards, ARGGGG--Times up!
Retired ASD teacher here.
I never thought teacher-bashing took place at such a high level. Thanks for opening my eyes, Bernie!
9:25 #2 -
"What that sounds like to me is, My kids are out of school already and I'm sick of paying the school taxes where I live, so slash the wages of the people who are trying to help our future because I already made and paid for my mark...and don't want to pay for your kid's education anymore."
Nice try. I have three kids in school, the youngest in elementary.
You are right about the supplies, we're paying freaking gym teachers 80K plus all the other outstanding benefits, and one of my son's textbooks is literally falling apart. I told him to ask for a new one and he was told sorry, there are no more. He has to fight the damn book while studying.
No one said anything about slashing wages. Under control is not slashing, but that is the usual extremist teacher tactic. Much like, "If we don't get what we ask for, all the good ones will leave and the rapture will be upon us (Many of us are ready to call that bluff).
I simply suggested the candidate take a position that is more clear than "Unique insight". Hopefully, for the people who have to vote for or against her, she will do that.
The bank has been broken. Labor eats up way too much of our resources. "Shaping the future" arguments are specious. As another poster says, we have been throwing money at the "future shapers" for generations, and that hasn't delivered. There is an education system bubble, just like every other bubble. You can't spend forever just because the "future shapers" say they deserve it and the world will crumble without them. We've played it their way for a while now, let's take another approach.
It will be good to watch this candidate's campaign play out, to the extent that school director campaigns do, to see the specifics of her intent. My money is on more of the same "It is all the public's fault, they just don't pay well enough to attract and retain the best and brightest, blah, blah, blah...
Retired ASD Teach,
I did not expect to see a single comment here. it appears that some people are turneed off by a teacher/administrator who serves on a school board. My view is closer to yours. While it would be wrong to be a member of the board where someone is employed, Sarah is running for a board in a completely different state than the one where she teaches. Her experience as teacher and principal would clearly be an invaluable asset.
Bernie, school boards in this area can be more dysfunctional than Northampton County Council - and that's a pretty high bar. This is a hot topic in many minds.
We HAVE to upgrade the quality of our school board members.
The Banker
Yes the Easton Area School Board and brains are not one and the same. Teacher, Administrator or whatever, a smart, articulate individual with no hidden agendas would be a great thing for the current board.
If she can use her insight to reduce costs and LOWER taxes, it will be worth it. But I would ask that of any candidate.
Just like any other governmental entity, the school districts I have reviewed have an out of control spending problem.
The facts are shocking.
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