On the evening of Wednesday, September 1, while Livingston was getting battered with rainfall that the town has rarely seen, the Board of Education made a crucial and eagerly anticipated vote. The Board has weighed the pros and cons of expanding its members from five to either seven or nine at some meetings over the past year. There was a public discussion a few months ago, and members offered periodic updates on the research the Board members have done into the subject during some subsequent meetings.Initially, a vote on whether or not to expand the Board was set to take place on June 21, but it was pushed to a special meeting on September 1, two days before the deadline that a question could be placed on the November election ballot. Board members said in June that the vote was delayed to give them and the community time to reflect on the decision and the information pertaining to it.But the writing appeared to be on the wall at that time – that a vote to put a question on the ballot did not have the necessary support – and no additional relevant information was shared in the intervening two and a half months to suggest any changes were occurring, such as an additional public discussion.And so, on September 1, the Board voted, four to one, to not let the community vote on expanding the Board. Board member Vineeta Khanna, who supported expansion of the Board while campaigning for a seat in 2020, was the lone dissenter.We are disappointed in how this has played out. We would have liked to see this vote be placed in the hands of the community, to let the voting public make the final call. Instead, the Board has decided for itself that they alone are good enough for the community. We also wonder, if this was going to be the end result, why not simply vote on it in June?Now that we know that this Board will remain at five members, we hope to at least see additional steps taken to better involve the public. This could include opening up committees to accommodate some public participation on certain matters. The Board could also make a point to release agendas sooner than the morning or afternoon of that evening’s meeting, as other township boards do. This would provide the public more time to see what will ...
