Seven candidates are vying for three seats on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education in the Nov. 5, 2024 election. Village Green invites voters to submit Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. See guidelines below.
As an environmental lawyer and former classroom teacher, Paul Stephan has the vision, temperament, listening skills, and negotiating experience necessary to figure out solutions to the environmental and other issues confronting our district. I hope you will give him your vote.
Paul Stephan understands that staying proactive on climate issues not only will create a better learning environment for all students, but also will save our district money, leaving us more for teacher salaries and other priorities.
Paul knows that modest, strategic investment in facilities and infrastructure can increase resilience. Now, excessive heat and ongoing problems with school building flooding disrupt learning, threaten our budget, and damage parts of our community. We need a BOE willing to write policies requiring contractors to preserve trees and prevent soil compaction – costing almost nothing and mitigating heavy damage. Some of our district schools lie at the foot of steep hills with compacted and impervious surfaces uphill, and risk flooding in heavy rains. We need plans, such as those Rutgers has developed for other districts, to divert and absorb stormwater, using green infrastructure including swales and rain gardens. Reducing utility costs is one of the few ways we have to get control of our operating budget. Strategic tree planting near schools can reduce building utility costs up to 30%. We need a plan to achieve this.
As a former teacher, Paul knows a connection to nature enhances student learning and student mental health. Natural landscapes on school grounds have been shown to reduce student stress, improve concentration, increase empathy and generosity, improve math test scores across all demographic and socioeconomic groups, increase graduation rates, and increase the percentage of students planning to attend 4-year colleges.
Climate change and environmental issues, often sidelined, remain central to our lives and to our local BOE election. Climate change is not convenient. At times it requires difficult choices, including a willingness to reevaluate past Board decisions. Paul Stephan is the person for the job.
Jane Conrad
Maplewood, NJ