Below are excerpts from the statement given by Ronnie Ferber Konner at the December 9 Board of Education meeting and shared with the West Essex Tribune.Tonight as I sit at my last public meeting as an elected member of the Livingston Board of Education for more than 16 years, I want to share some of my reflections as well as some advice.I started out as a Board watcher more than 40 years ago, when Squiertown School, my oldest daughter Zanna’s school, was slated to be closed in the early 1980s. After attending meetings every Monday night, I decided to run for the Board when it was proposed to close both Harrison and Burnet Hill Schools because of a drop in enrollments. I was elected from 1983-1992 for three terms, serving twice as Board president and once as vice president.My overriding concern was and still is to put the needs of our children first. As I sat at Board meetings, my own children, Zanna, Alexis, and Jarett, played “Meeting” and “School” at home, lining up chairs with their dolls or baby brother to serve as students or community. My husband, Al, and my parents, Bea and Marty, were always available to help out as I spent many hours participating in school, Board, and township sessions.Some of the memorable programs I worked to introduce with my Board colleagues were: all-day kindergarten, the expansion of Livingston High School, the LHS TV Studio, the Alternative School, our first turf fields, the change from a junior high to a middle school configuration, a monthly Listening Post, and the nurturing and hiring of an extraordinary team of administrators and staff from outside that included Dr. Robert Kish, while also developing our staff internally with members such as Bob Grady.We adopted a supervisory structure to address the fact that when students entered middle school they had all had very different programs at the six elementary schools. We also hired an individual whose primary purpose was to support our teachers with professional development programs. Major changes took place in our schools.I joined the Livingston teaching staff in September, 1999, after the district implemented an elementary Spanish program, one of my dreams for the district. I was privileged to teach Spanish to hundreds of K-5 students for 15 years.While attending a BOE meeting to honor retirees, two Board members announced their retirement and people at the meeting encouraged me ...
