October 24, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 5 Glen Rock Board candidates differ on key questions by John Koster The five candidates for the Glen Rock Board of Education’s three seats agree on the need for a quality education, but differ on some of the ways to achieve that goal. Those candidates include Elizabeth Carr, Sean Michael Massaro, incumbent Barbara Steuert, incumbent Gene Calderon, and James Chung. “The salary for the last superintendent was way too high,” said Massaro, the 18year-old college freshman now running as a challenger for a board seat. Massaro said salaries for principals and vice principals were also too high and that money saved on top-level salaries might be better spent on teacher and program retention and internal teacher education programs. Massaro also said the Glen Rock schools need more diversity in the hiring of new teachers and a more aggressive anti-bullying program, and that the high school’s building security needed to be tightened. Calderon and Chung agreed that teacher diversity is a desirable goal. Calderon said his daughter was enjoying learning Spanish from a teacher who was a native of Peru. Chung said that understanding between groups was important and could help stop bullying. Steuert said, however, that lower administrative salaries were a bad message to send to future administrators, including the new full-time superintendent now being sought. She said it was a mistake to compare salaries of Glen Rock administrators with those in South Jersey and that the real comparisons were New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut. Steuert also said that quality in teachers is more important than deliberate attempts to achieve diversity. “Diversity is good, but quality is more important,” Steuert said. “Color and ethnicity don’t take the top spot. You’re looking for someone who is going to be inspiring.” “The first issue should be not achieving diversity, but achieving quality,” newcomer Carr agreed. Chung also agreed that lower school salaries were a bad idea. Chung also suggested that Glen Rock High School students have access to more academic competitions, particularly in math and chemistry, because this would help their college admissions profiles. While Massaro said that anti-bullying programs were important, the other candidates agreed that the state standards are already in place and Glen Rock is in compliance. The tacit assertion among incumbents appeared that more state impositions would simply mean more bureaucracy. Calderon and Chung both said anti-bullying should begin with the child’s education at home, and Steuert pointed out that the schools are already conducting anti-bullying programs in the elementary schools through the month of October. Calderon served for 23 years as a professor at Bergen Community College and is now a career counselor at the college. He has a BA degree from Fordham in business administration and an MS from the City College of New York. The candidate has two children in the school system, and was active in the Byrd School Home & School Association and the Federated Home & School Association before joining the board five years ago. Calderon said his assets include his knowledge of state regulations and laws concerning local schools, and his skills in counseling. Carr, a certified school nurse now employed in another district, has two children in the schools. The candidate is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta with a BS in business administration, has an associate degree in nursing from Bergen Community College, and has a certification in nursing from Caldwell College. She has been active in Central School activities and the Newcomers and Neighbors Club and has served as a member, second vice president, and lieutenant in the Glen Rock Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Carr said her ability to communicate and ask relevant questions, which she honed as a nurse, would be an important asset to the board. Chung, a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, moved to Glen Rock in 1990. He and his wife have three children. He is the director of a college counseling service in Paramus and is also a private college consultant. He said he wanted to return something to Glen Rock for the excellent educational opportunities his children had received, and said that he could be useful in explaining the latest trends in what top colleges seek in admitting high school graduates. Massaro, who attended the Glen Rock schools, is a graduate of Bergen Tech and is now enrolled in a nursing program at Caldwell College. He has lived in Glen Rock for 16 years, was active in Boy Scouts, and helped form anti-bullying programs at Bergen Tech. He said his assets include knowledge of schools as an insider and the ability to talk to students. Steuert has lived in Glen Rock for 41 years and holds a BA in political science from Wellesley College and an MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has been a member of the Glen Rock Board of Education for 25 years and is a former president of the Byrd Home & School Association and the Federated Home & School Association. She is the (continued on page 25)