>Currently up over at MiddletownPatch is an article which profiles the three individuals, Leonora Caminiti, Allen Burns and Ernest Donnelly, that seeking to be elected to the Middletown Board of Education to fill the 1 year unexpired term left by Dan Skelton, who stepped down from the board earlier this year.
The profiles are pretty straight forward and standard, nothing controversial but gives each’s position on a couple of topics. So, If you weren’t able to attend one of the four BOE Candidate Forums that were held over the past two weeks, these profiles may be able to help your decision making process for whom to vote for.
I attended the Candidate Forum that was held on April 14th at Harmony School and out of these three individuals, I was most impress Ernest Donnelly (Caminiti was a no show). He seemed to has a clear notion of what was needed to ensure that the schools ran properly and efficiently and as a former educator and superintendent himself, he knows what to look for when hiring a new superintendent in Middletown.
Allan Burns did not impress me at all, his stances on some of the issues seemed naive and his outright refusal to approve any budget in the future that included a tax increase was unrealistic in my eyes and came across as pandering.
But go over to the MiddletownPatch website and read the profiles anyway and read for yourself, you may walk away with a different opinion.
Also, remember that I have posted audio from the April 19th Candidate Forum that was hosted by the Middletown Republican Party at the Lincroft Inn.
While the forum was not a great venue for the candidates to express their views (questions where directed at individual candidates only, others could not comment) and it seemed somewhat biased, you can hear Burns and Donnelly speak.
MiddletownMike 
>I agree with your overall stance on Burns and came away with the exact same feeling. Something that you said, though, struck me as interesting:"… his outright refusal to approve any budget in the future that included a tax increase was unrealistic in my eyes and came across as pandering." I agree with your comment, but thought it was mildly hipocritical for you to say that now as that is the EXACT sentiment Pat Short campaigned on when he ran for the TC and won his seat … and you supported him 100%. I have always said thank you for providing your blog forum, Mike, and I repect our different viewpoints on many issues, but I have to say that I am a little disappointed in you for forgetting this, Mike. aNON
>When does it stop? I may be unrealistic but my point is every aspect of the budget and spending has to be explored before I vote or support future tax increases. We need to look at all the options. Allan Burns
>aNON,The difference between Pat Short's pledge to not vote for a tax increase and Allen Burns's stance or as different as night and day.When Short made his pledge he pointed out mismanagement and excesses that had lead to entitlement and vanity spending that increased the municipal tax rate. And when he pointed out numerous areas where savings could be achieved, he was ignored.Allen Burns on the other hand, has made his pledge without knowing where there are potential budget excesses or areas of mismanagement that have contributed to BOE budget increase.It's easy to blame teachers and administrators like Christie does but it doesn't solve the structural problems.It has come out that next years school budget is already structructurally $3M short, so to dismiss a tax increase at this stage of the game is not prudent, it's political pandering.
>Allan,Thanks for reading the blog.If your leading question to me is "when does it stop?" That's an indication that you don't give a damn about the 10+K students that go to school in Middletown, you only care about how much you have to spend to educate them through you tax dollars.As a board member you are suppose to be an advocate for the students, NOT the taxpayers.You should be talking about how you intend to turn around the failing schools in Middletown such as HSN.
>Mike,I agree with you completely. As a tax payer I want my tax dollars spent wisely. I expect the BOE to spend our money as if it were their own but focus on the best quality of education they can provide. That does not come cheap.On the other hand, the TC has shown they do not know how to manage a budget and the waste is deplorable.If we could vote on the municipal budget, it would fail.
>Allan,I think you have a pretty good shot at winning with your platform of "refusing to approve any tax increase". It seemed to work for the Tea Party in the last election and it worked for Pat Short when he ran. Maybe you should put out "Tax Revolt" signs 🙂 aNON
>The last thing we need on the school board is another angry taxpayer. If we want academic excellence in our schools, we have to be willing to pay for it . Fiscal mismanagement must be addressed, but if that is the only concern of a candidate, the school board is not the place to vent their anger. Rest assured our taxes will continue to rise no matter who is elected- but will anyone family with children want to move to Middletown if its schools are viewed as poor?
>Win or lose I will continue to read your blog, and I will never hide from my stance or my beliefs. As far as not knowing, the budget does anyone? I’m running because I think we can save, within that budget, without raising taxes or cutting services for our kids. I have stated that we need to review the budget, negotiate better deals, look into shared services, and at look at the contracts and commitments we are agreeing to. I can’t vote to raise taxes, or throw my weight behind tax increases without everything being explored that’s my point. Property taxes in this town are driving home prices down and seniors out. I know this because I work with a lot of buyers and sellers, and the sellers are out weighing the buyers. We need to cut taxes or keep them at current levels. We have to fight for this because every year, there looking for increase. I also think that we need people on the board that will challenge administrator budget, aren’t they on the other side of the tax payers? Don’t they have a vested interest in the contracts they are negotiating?Again, I respect your views just want you to hear mine…Allan Burns allandburns@gmail.com