On Thursday, September 28, the League of Women Voters hosted a Candidates Night at the Livingston Senior/Community Center. The debate featued two candidates – Fang Gong, and Harsh Raju – who are currently competing for a seat on the Livingston Board of Education. The seat is currently held by Board president, Vineeta Khanna, who is not seeking re-election.The two candidates discussed their perspectives on various topics throughout the night, including public questions that were collected by the League. Many of the questions pertained to issues brought up by residents and Board members at previous Board of Education meetings, including ones focused on book bans, student populations, bus systems, and incentives for teachers and faculty.Student PopulationWhen discussing the growing student population, Gong said that the annexes at Hillside and Burnet Hill are great short-term solutions to ".ll in the gaps,” but are not the long-term answer to student overpopulation.“We need to think ahead of time, and be proactive,” she said. “I don’t have the budget details or data to enable me to make some feasible solutions for now, but I’m ready to dive in and bring some ideas about the resources; existing and exploring new resources we need to modify and maximize our existing space, merge with the strength of online and traditional classroom teaching, and push the limits of digital resources,” she stated. Gong also wants to hire more stau, teachers, and tap into community partnership, “My goal is to maintain small class sizes and keep our education level high.”Raju agreed that space was limited for students, but commended the Board for their euorts to ensure that there is adequate space for students.He suggested “working with the Town Council using common re- sources and ovce spaces that have been underutilized, and use them to make space for schools.” He agreed that the annexes were not adequate long-term solutions.Retaining TeachersKeeping teachers in schools has been an issue worldwide, and Livingston is no exception.Harsh Raju stated that there was a lot of pressure on teachers during the COVID pandemic, which is the root cause of many of their concerns.“I think the gold standard of achieving strategic engagement and the steps involved are to attract, recruit, immerse, develop, and empower our teachers,” he said. “Another thing that we could do to get new recruits is to mentor high school students, and show them the importance of getting into a teaching profession, along with ...
