SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES TALK PARCC, COMMUNICATION AT FIRST FORUM

The five candidates running for three seats on the Board of Education met in the first election forum Tuesday night at The Baird and discussed issues that included board communication, PARCC testing, achievement gap and foreign language classes.

Those in attendance were incumbents Johanna Wright and Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad and challengers Anthony Mazzocchi, Susie Adamson and James Davis III. Incumbent Beth Daugherty has chosen not to run for re-election.

The event was sponsored by the South Orange-Maplewood Cares About Schools Facebook group.

Mayor Vic Deluca and South Orange President Sheena Collum served as moderators.

See the candidates' opening statements and their response to a question about what is the district's biggest strength and biggest weakness below:




The candidates were also asked about what the district should do to counter mandated PARCC testing and its ongoing communication problems. See those responses below:




The entire debate was also recorded by SOMA TV and can be seen HERE.