Midland Park February 15, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 The Midland Park Board of Education will continue to hold the annual school election on its traditional April date instead of moving it to November as permitted by state law. Board Vice President Bill Sullivan said there are too many unanswered questions at this time to make the change. “We’re being cautious. It’s best to sit it out this year and see how other districts do,” said Sullivan. In the Northwest Bergen area, Waldwick, Glen Rock, Mahwah, Saddle Trustees vote to keep school election in April River, Upper Saddle River, Ho-Ho-Kus, and Waldwick board have voted to make the change. Ramsey has decided to maintain the April vote. Other area boards still have the matter under consideration. Sullivan also commented that this being a presidential election year, the ballot can be expected to be very crowded and confusing. “No one has said where we’d be placed on the ballot. We can be viewed as being in line with one of the (political) parties,” Sullivan said. Midland Park school board trustee Ray Moraski resigned his position last week after a 10-year tenure. Although he will stay on the board until the April election, he said he announced his decision at this time to give someone else the opportunity to file for his two-year unexpired term in a timely manner. The filing deadline for the April 17 election is Feb. 27. Moraski said that he had been hesitant to run for the current term last year, but had done so “to assist with the transition that the district has been going through. Now that we have an administration team in place, that I believe is poised to take the district in a positive direction, I thought that my departure would give another community member an opportunity to provide input. I had also been leading the negotiations with the administrators, which we have completed, so it was a good time for my departure,” he explained. Moraski said that with his youngest daughter now off to Ray Moraski to leave school board college, he is able to consider and pursue other opportunities, and so needs to turn his focus elsewhere. “I have always viewed the role of trustee as a responsibility and honor entrusted to me by the community, and I am grateful for the support. I have enjoyed working with all the board trustees, administrators and staff over the 10 years that I have served on the board of education,” he added. A former U.S. Naval Officer, Moraski serves in a managerial position with Koestner Associates, a firm providing engineering services for residential and commercial real estate development. During his tenure on the board, he has served as president and has chaired the Curriculum, Public Relations, and Buildings and Grounds committees, and has served on the Personnel, Policy and Negotiations committees. He also participated in the community Strategic Planning process. Trustees split 7-2 on the issue, with board member James Canellas making the motion to change. “The best thing for the kids is to lock in the 2 percent,” said Canellas. “We’re not playing a game here to see whether the budget gets approved or not. We wouldn’t be running the risk of cutting items that affect the classroom,” he said. Governor Christie signed legislation on Jan. 17 giving boards the opportunity of eliminating the vote on the school budget if they move the school election to coincide with the general election in November. The budget would have to be within the state-mandated cap, which this year is set at 2 percent. The Governor promoted the move as a means of saving school districts money and increasing resident (continued on page 9)