At the BOE meeting of Monday, January 7, 2013 those in attendance unfortunately got to see a political power grab and school governance in an ugly way. For about a decade and half the BOE had a unwritten tradition of rotating the the BOE president. Based on that tradition it was expected that Ms. Moredcai would become the BOE president. However, Ms. Casalino got a second term. Nothing was unlawful but it was not right. Braking the tradition makes things more political at the BOE: and in my view sets a bad example going forward. It would be hard for Ms. Moredcai not to see this as an insult. She has served since April 2010 and has often voted against the majority. It was a case of the majority which now includes newly elected BOE member Mr. Charles getting "political pay back" because Ms. Mordecai did not go along with the majority. The election prompted may citizen to complain of racism as Ms. Moredcai is the only person of color on the BOE. I will not say this was racially motivated as I have too much respect for Mrs. Lab, Mrs.Brill, Ms. Casalino and Mr. Charlse to call them racist and I can not go inside their minds and know what they think on the issue of race. However, these four individuals are capable of doing things for political payback. I will say it was ugly and political at the BOE. The BOE has to manage a budget of about $140 million and make sure about 7,000 student get and opportunity to have education, as well as manage over 1,000 employees. The political nonsense has to stop and the BOE needs to focus on what is important. While taxes are high and student achieve in test score is not at the level it should be the citizen of West Orange can't tolerate political game at the BOE. The BOE members need to get along with each other even if they don't agree on every thing all the time. Also the four other members need to realize that even if they don't agree with her position she won an election in a fair and square way and thus Ms. Moredcai should get her say and should get her turn to lead even if votes are four to one with her being the one. I have seen first grade students "play nice in sand box" it is a shame our elected board members can not do the same.
