On Monday night, eight members of the Montclair Board of Education unanimously voted to appoint Dr. Kimberly Robinson Santos to the board. Santos, who previously ran for a board seat in the November school board election, fills a board vacancy left by Crystal Hopkins, who resigned in May. Santos was one of 11 residents who applied to fill the vacancy.
The Montclair Board of Educaton set an initial deadline of May 31 to apply. They later extended to June 7.
At Monday’s meeting, the board publicly interviewed 11 applicants, asking them four questions:
1. Why are you interested in joining the BOE?
2. What do you believe are the greatest challenges currently facing the school district?
3. What do you see as the Board’s role in addressing these challenges?
4. What is your vision of an outstanding school district?
Speaking on the selection process, Vice President Mfreke Inyang announced that each candidate would have 10 minutes to answer.
“The questions really cover the breadth of what they’re interested in accomplishing. They were given those questions ahead of time,” Inyang said. “Board members will not ask follow up questions.”
Serving Montclair’s Children
During public comment, a few speakers mentioned it was quite the task to volunteer to be part of the board. Board members volunteer their time and resources. Within the powers delegated to it by law, it is the policy-making legislative branch of Montclair Public Schools.
Addressing the board before it made a decision, Obie Miranda-Woodley said, “I just want to ask you to choose a board member who cares about all our students. Someone who cares about my children and students like them. I was highly disappointed to hear a candidate share her concerns about some children affected by the opportunity gap.”
“There was no mention of Latino students who are also greatly affected by the opportunity gaps,” Miranda-Woodley added.
Once public comment ended, board members returned to executive session to discuss the candidates.
Student, Teacher, Parent, Administrator
Santos is a lifelong Montclair resident and an educator for 25 years. “At one point or another, I have sat in every stakeholder’s seat for the Montclair Public Schools,” Santos said. “I know that experience also plays an important part in what I can contribute to the Montclair Board of Education.”
A former teacher at Buzz Aldrin Middle School who has also served as a vice principal in Newark Public Schools, Santos has a Masters of Arts in Education Administration and a doctorate in educational leadership.
Santos said having stakeholders feel their voices are heard and valued is essential.
A way to address these challenges, according to Santos, is “to create, sustain and revise policies and protocols so that they provide the support needed for the district.”
Speaking of her vision for an outstanding district, Santos believes it’s when the district does what’s best for the children. “An outstanding district has schools that are clean, safe and nurturing learning environments with teachers who provide best-practice, equitable, innovative and research based instruction and are intentional about positively shaping the hearts and minds of their students.”
“Diverse population of learners receive an education at the hands of a diverse population of educators in diverse fields of study,” Santos added.
Santos’ term will run until the annual organization meeting in January 2025. The position will be placed on the ballot at the annual election for November 5, 2024.
This is eminently qualified choice is my amusement for the day because we dusted off the appointment method we just shelved!
Ha, I just thought the same thing! But I guess that’s the process when a member steps down. With that, I was not a big fan of moving to elected board. And from the time perspective, I don’t see any improvement.
Also, I actually listened in on the meeting last night. I honestly don’t understand why BOE is continuing with the turf installation. There is so much evidence the stuff is bad and people put that evidence in front of them. Why do they insist on ramming it through? I really don’t get it.