Building Our Community

Last night, I was privileged to speak before the parents and children of Emerson Elementary School. I shared with them the tireless efforts in securing a new facility for them, and I was able to see the faces of those who use this school for its educational resources. The looks in their faces were that of pride, achievement, and self-worth! I explained to them that the drive and initiative that allowed our success in securing a new facility enabled the fostering of community growth and edification.

The city, Board of Education, and the Rutgers Law Center failed in returning our city to the status of an Abbott district. Upon returning to this status, there will be increased educational funding opportunities for our city and its children. The ability to allow this to come to pass came from the ardent support of members of the New Jersey State Assembly and Senate, who supported my efforts to return Plainfield and Neptune to the status of an Abbott district. I explained to them that if these final efforts were not successful, this was the LAST opportunity for Plainfield to benefit from Abbott dollars, yielding a benefit from the State of New Jersey of approximately $1 billion dollars. If this effort was not successful, then the tax payers from the city would have had to bear this burden.

This ‘freed’ funding also gives way to the opportunity to share in fiscal school construction resources, such as our capacity to build Emerson and fund major improvements to Clinton school. With last year's budget, I was able to secure, with the help and support of Senator Nicholas Scutari and Assemblywoman Linda Stender, $17 million dollars for improvements being made to Woodland Elementary School. This is a sound example of my effectiveness and ability to work with my fellow legislators and with the Governor’s Office to convince the state that Plainfield’s children deserve to be educated in quality facilities. This should also serve as an instance where in working with the state level, I was able to resolve issues pertaining to Plainfield WITHOUT adding cost to the city of Plainfield. The reception of state level support from fellow legislators proved more than encouraging and constructive, when local avenues were exhausted, proving to be ineffective in the accomplishment of these tasks.

Thus, when you have parents, children, neighbors, and teachers, looking at you with heart-warming gazes of appreciation and victory, victory in the success of securing a new facility and increasing educational funding for our community, feelings of pride in our community, and encouragement in doing our jobs runs through my entire being like fire in my bones! I have been stressing the necessity of teamwork and community, and this is a prime example of the fruits of OUR efforts! As we can ALL see, Together, EVERYONE truly does, Achieve, MORE!