Board must be held accountable
During the Nov. 19 board meeting, Board of Education president David Dickinson said he would present a plan that would prove former superintendent Carol Toth's paid administrative leave would be cost neutral. Cost neutral? This should be an interesting meeting on the 13th.

I hope Mr. Dickinson's crew doesn't have the audacity to tell the taxpayers and parents of Edison that, 'Oops, we miraculously found administrative fat that we were unable to find three months ago … before we cut sections of classes, before we cut courtesy busing, and before we went to war with Edison Recreation over the before- and after-school care programs.'

I truly hope that the residents of Edison stand up and fight this. This isn't about Ms. Toth or Mr. DiMuzio; this is about a hasty, fiscally irresponsible decision made by four members of the elected board, well past my bedtime. No matter how they make up the difference, the bottom line is, we will still be paying Ms. Toth to sit home. I would much rather see us use this new-found money to return services to the public that have been stripped away, or bring grade sections back so students and teachers have a more ideal classroom setting.

There are far too many issues facing this district to waste money on irrefutable nonsense. This will inevitably affect our kids, the truth is, it already has.

After redistricting, MLK was granted an additional section of second grade to appease the already upset parents by accommodating our children with smaller classes. One year later, they took that section away as the kids moved up to third grade, and created overcrowding where it previously didn't exist. Now, our kids would be better off where we started before the redistricting. When I asked both the administration and the elected board to revisit this decision, the answer was "due to budgetary constraints, we don't have the money," even though MLK has an empty classroom.

This is also about priorities. Who comes first? Obviously, priority has not been given to the students or the teachers. No wonder this Board of Education is looking to "generate income" instead of focusing on sound education policy, but that's another letter. Wake up, Edison, this town's only asset is spiraling downward! Let's encourage the Edison Township Board of Education to put this train back on track before it is too late. See you all on Dec. 13th at Edison High School, 7 p.m.

Alison McCarthy

Edison