“My name is Doug Meyer. I am running for the Dunellen Board of Education for one of the full 3 year terms. My wife Karen and I moved to Dunellen shortly after our first child was born. We have raised 4 children in Dunellen and watched them grow and learn in the Dunellen Public Schools, from Kindergarten right through DHS, where our youngest son is now a junior. I have spent more than 30 years teaching in public schools in 3 states, and in 4 counties in New Jersey. I have taught music at every grade level since 1983, and taught computers before that. I believe in public education. It is the great equalizer and, other than providing for our safety, it is the single most important obligation a democratic government provides its citizens.
However, I must also say that I have seen a great deal of change, especially in the two decades since I earned the first of my two Masters degrees in education, and very few of these changes have been good. Our schools have been under attack from profiteers and their state and federal politicians who promote testing and accountability, quantitative data gathering and data sharing, and who require more and more of students and teachers while providing them with fewer and fewer resources, all in the name of improving “achievement” (i.e., increasing scores on standardized tests, created by for-profit test companies and paid for with our tax dollars). I believe strongly that in the current environment, the same old same old is no longer sufficient. Our Board and administration, as well as boards and administrators across our state, desperately need a fresh perspective and new ideas to steer our responses to these increasing and destructive demands. If you share my concern for the public education we offer our children, I urge you to come out and vote. I also ask you to cast one vote for me, Doug Meyer, and one vote for Faith Thompson. Thank you.”
Doug Meyer, MEd