Trapp on Seitz Contract: 'We Are the Winners in This Deal'

Editor's note: Patch continues its weeklong series of Board of Education candidate profiles with a look at Carol Trapp. In case you missed it, here are profiles on , , , ,  and .

With the status quo of the Parsippany Board of Education in flux this year, says her experience as an educator could help contribute to the debate about how to provide students with the best education per taxpayer dollar.

“It seemed like an opportunity to join the election process,” she said via email.

Trapp, 68, who would only answer questions through email, taught high school English for more than a quarter-century. She moved to Parsippany from Troy Hills more than 30 years ago.

She believes that Superintendent LeRoy Seitz has done an excellent job and that it was in the best interest of the school district to renegotiate his contract and lock in his services for the future. She said that over the past year, Seitz has managed to handle substantial losses in school revenue without increasing class sizes or cutting key programs for students.

“Faced with the severe reduction in state funding (about $8 million), Dr. Seitz was able to preserve class size, full-day kindergarten, current elective and athletic programs, while authorizing unwelcome cuts in staff, eliminating one-half the elementary media specialists, one-third of faculty cuts by attrition along with 30 classroom teachers, six secretaries, one administrator and a number of custodians,” Trapp wrote.

Trapp said that two years ago, Seitz balanced class sizes in two middle schools, cut energy costs and kept integrating technology in the school system.

“Superintendents should get the credit for rescuing a school system when times are tough,” Trapp wrote. “Dr. Seitz absorbed the shock of losing about $8 million in funds from the state and, after analysis and consultation with all concerned, he continued to maintain all programs, retain faculty while incurring only a .8 percent tax increase this year. These management skills justify renewing his contract.”

Trapp said she supports Seitz’s contract and believes the board set a good precedent for locking in the services of a skilled administrator at a good price.

“We are the winners in this deal!” she wrote. “We retain a talented, experienced administrator with a proven record!”

Trapp said that while she believes it’s the high quality of the school system that makes Parsippany such an attractive destination for young families, she understands that those families need livable tax rates in order to stay. To that end, she said she would work tirelessly to make sure that taxes are kept at the lowest level possible while still providing the best affordable education.

“The taxpayers can be reassured that I would continue to promote the programs that have, up to this point, provided the excellence in education that has attracted families to Parsippany over the years,” she wrote.

Trapp touted her experience as a teacher, grant writer, curriculum specialist and facilitator as the assets she would bring to the board.

"The issues of budget versus program excellence would engage my attention through first-hand perceptions and result in realistic solutions based on my background on all sides of the education question: e.g. curriculum, technology advancement, vital electives, teacher professional development, etc.” she wrote.