CBS PLATFORM

Coalition for Better Schools

Three years ago, Christian Estevez and Martin Cox ran together for the Plainfield Board of Education because they shared the belief that our schools needed major improvement and they also shared a common vision on how to improve them. While there is still much more work to do, significant progress has been made. Some of the major improvements include:

• Improved Our Schools by converting our elementary schools from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade to K-6 and K-8 Centers. Also created the Plainfield Academy for the Arts and Advanced Studies (7th-12th Grade).

• Established Mandatory School Uniform Policy in all of our schools from Kindergarten to Grade Twelve.

• Increased Family and Community Involvement through town hall meetings, increased support to school-based Parent Teacher Organizations, and bilingual written and phone communications.

• Improved Safety and Security—Our high school was taken off of the state’s list of Persistently Dangerous Schools.

Estevez and Cox have joined with Mary Burgwinkle and Carmencita Pile to form the Coalition for Better Schools because we all share a positive vision of the future for Plainfield’s Public Schools. The Coalition for Better Schools will work together to:

• Focus on the Improvement of our High Schools: We will focus the Board’s attention on developing strategies to improve the learning environments of our high schools. We will ensure that opportunities for rigorous academic experiences are available to all of our students.

• Develop a Comprehensive District Wide Curriculum: We will put our school district on a 5 year cycle for continuous curriculum review. Each year the Board of Education will focus on a different subject area (i.e. math, reading, science, social studies). This approach is practiced by many other school districts throughout New Jersey. It is time for Plainfield to adopt this best practice.

• Develop creative solutions to problems posed by the state’s drastic budget cuts: We will direct the administration to seek out operating efficiencies that do not have a negative impact on direct student services. We will continue to advocate on the state level for sufficient funding for our school district.

For more information call (908) 643-9116 or send an e-mail to: Coalition4BetterSchools@gmail.com.