Schools
Meet the BOE Candidate: Mary Ann Bageac
Among Bageac's concerns: whether revenue-generating initiatives are truly doing so, and if it meant education initiatives took a back seat. Bageac says more accountability is needed.
Toms River Patch to each of the eight candidates running for the school board of Toms River Regional Schools. Seven responded to the questionnaire, where we sent each candidate identical questions on who they are, why they are running and what issues matter most to them and what they’d hope to accomplish if elected..
Here is the candidate profile of Mary Ann Bageac, MD:
1. Please give us a brief bio:
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Mary Ann Bageac, 50, of Cranmoor Drive, Toms River. Married with 2 children.
My son graduated High School South in 2010 and is attending George Washington University and my daughter is a sophomore at South.
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Bachelor of Science, Fordham University; Medical Degree, State University of New York, Stony Brook; Master in Health Care Administration, Seton Hall University.
2. Please briefly explain what professional and civic/volunteer experience you have. Feel free to include job experience, awards, or schooling.
Physician, Board certified in Emergency Medicine. I have held staff and/or administrative positions in various hospitals in the area including Community and Monmouth Medical Centers. Currently employed by Toms River Cardiology overseeing cardiac stress testing.
Some of your Long time member and past president of Extended Arms, an affiliate of Open Arms, raising funds for Ocean Harbor House and Contact of Ocean and Monmouth Counties.
Most recently involved in a community effort to maintain Green Acre status for the entire 41 acre Brown’s Woods property when a proposal was put forth to divert a portion of the property for continued office space use by the county. Also actively working with Barnegat Bay Partnership and the Township in organizing a clean up of the site on April 16.
Questions 3, 4 and 5: What are your key concerns about the school district? What issues do you hope to address? What do you think should be done to resolve those issues?
The general lack of accountability, superintendent to board and board to community, is a glaring concern. With a new superintendent and new voices coming to the board there is an opportunity to address this. However accountability is only possible when there is transparency in the decision making process. The administration and the board need to be willing to explain how decisions are reached, be more open to the public by announcing meetings on line and well in advance, provide for more timely provision of Agendas and Minutes of Meetings. A board accountable to the community should be more visible in the community, for example, at PTA meetings and homeowner association meetings. Not everyone will agree with the process or the answers given but they should have at least the sense that their concerns are heard and considered.
Hiring practices in the district have been up to question. It seems qualification or district need did not always dictate hiring. This needs to be addressed by having good evaluation protocols in place and supervisors in all departments need to have the ability to take corrective action with employees without fear of having someone higher up reverse their efforts. Addressing this is good for the students and for the morale of the staff.
Parity in the financial support of the various schools and programs needs to be stressed. There has been a sense, and my own observations support the impression, that some schools and programs have been favored over others. Within the last year I have worked with the board as a concerned parent to address the need for long overdue improvements in the Media Center at High School South. The Board should be more proactive in addressing needs at our older schools.
6. What motivated you to run this year?
Over the last several years it seems that there have been many distractions that have taken the focus off the primary role of the district, which is the education of our children and support of what happens in the classroom. Starting in 2004/2005 when I witnessed the effect Toms Riverfest on the completion of Intermediate South and then in 2006/2007 the discussions surrounding a proposed Wellness Center and purchase of Camp Albocondo and more recently the decision to self insure for healthcare and the opening of Partnership Health, it seems that there has been a continual effort to expand into areas outside of education. The cost savings or revenue that was thought to be possible and on which the Board likely based their decision of support was overstated at best. Significant money was spent on initiatives that had little if any positive impact on the classroom and yet over the years we have seen comparative cost per pupil data that showed our cost to be 20-25% below the average for similar districts. That leads me to wonder if we have not under funded the classroom over the years.
7. How do you plan to serve the board and the residents of Toms River Regional School District in a meaningful way?
We need to refocus all decisions based on the impact on the educational effort in the classroom. The district has certain assets attained over the years, that while they may have been controversial, have to be managed now in an effort to see the type of profitability that was promised, such as with the entertainment and community use of the Poland Spring Arena, a better and more strict accounting of monies collected at the Arena and the Bubble as well as a full review of rental agreements at 1144 Hooper Ave and 54 Washington St. We need to also review the various service contracts and purchasing agreements we have and utilize our significant purchasing power based on the size of the district to obtain the most competitive pricing. In this way we can redirect existing monies to the classroom rather than expecting or seeking yearly increases in the tax levy. Increasing property taxes are not just a senior citizen issue, they impact the affordability of the community for all residents.
8. Anything to add:
These are not simple issues. They will require a board that can ask the right questions, insist on and recognize the full unfiltered information needed to make informed decisions and build some consensus among 9 members of various opinion and background, to move this district forward. It is a sea change for the culture that has developed in the district over the last 18 years but it is one that needs to happen if we are going to put the education of our students first.
My educational background and medical training provide me with the ability to look at the big picture, acquire all the facts and information needed to make informed decisions and work within the framework of a team to achieve the objective which is a thorough and cost efficient education for all our students so that they are able to reach their highest potential. I look forward to the opportunity to take part in what I see as a renewal of the district.
Here are the links to the other candidate profiles:
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