“I want to make sure that Verona offers education experiences for all the children in town,” DiNapoli says. “To all kids regardless of their aptitude. I want to see them all treated fairly and given the same chance to the great education that Verona provides.”
DiNapoli is one of four candidates running for two seats in the Board of Education election. The ballot includes incumbents Glenn Elliott and Michael Unis, and fellow challenger Jim Day. The election, which is the first contested BOE board vote that Verona has had in many years, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 5.
DiNapoli says she’s fully prepared for handling the referendum that the BOE is planning for next spring: She was the district’s business administrator when the last referendum was approved and helped oversee the large school construction project that resulted from it. She stresses that she intends to be “effective but efficient” with the money that the BOE is given to spend. She wants to increase the BOE’s communication with both school parents and residents who no longer have children in school, and make sure that the Board is accountable and transparent.
“I need to be there because people now can no longer vote on the budget directly,” DiNapoli says.
DiNapoli is equally direct about addressing the legal impasse she finds herself in with the district. In 2011, she was laid off from her job as assistant business administrator. New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education determined that the BOE erred in its so-called “reduction in force” because she had tenure. The Board appealed that decision in June 2012 and oral arguments on the case were held in March of this year. Despite that, there still is no decision, and DiNapoli has no idea why. “One way or another, I would like to get it out of the way,” she says of the case.
“It’s not that I’m at odds with the Board,” says DiNapoli. “What I did was file for my statutory right for tenure. I didn’t do this out of spite. I did this because I needed income.” She has recently found employment in another district, which she declines to name. “In the interest of the taxpayers they should make an end to this,” DiNapoli says.
For her part, DiNapoli is focused on beginnings, like running for election and volunteering in town. While unemployed, she joined the Verona Rescue Squad (she had served on its predecessor, the Verona Ambulance Unit, many years ago.)
“School board members need to aggressively hold themselves accountable to ensure that an honest, selfless, and genuine commitment to a district’s education system is in place,” DiNapoli says on her campaign Web site. “Experienced board members are a great asset to have but, there comes a point in time when they will need to be replaced by new members.”
