Warren Board Of Education Profile: Eric Winch

WARREN, NJ — Warren Township School Board has five candidates vying for three seats in the upcoming election on Nov. 3.

Eric D. Winch is one of the candidates running. The other candidates include Christian Bellmann, Todd Weinstein, David Brezee, and Laura Keller.

Lori Ruckstuhl-Clar is also running for one, one-year unexpired seat.

Are you running for office in Warren? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Warren Patch.

Eric D. Winch

1. Why are running for Board of Education?

If working in higher education has taught me anything, it's that education is one of the keys to a better life. We all want the best for our children, and while we can't control the world around us, what we can do is make sure our children have all the tools they need to be successful and happy.

Today's world has shown us that we have to be able to adjust and adapt to ever changing and unpredictable circumstances. All the decisions made by our schools now can have lasting impacts on our children in the future. The mission of any educational institution, whether they serve kindergarten or graduate students, is to ensure that those students succeed and that they receive the best education possible. Professionally, I am guided by that mission every day. As a member of the school board, I would be able to apply that mission to our children and ensure that they all, no matter their background or needs, receive the high-quality education they deserve.

2. What are your qualifications for this position?

I have worked in higher education for most of my professional life. I began my career as an attorney, but soon after that I transitioned into higher education. I have held various positions across 4- and 2-year institutions, both public and private, and am currently the Chief Information Officer at Union County College.

3. The single most pressing issue facing our school district is ____ and this is what I intend to do about it:

In my opinion, in both the short and long term, the COVID pandemic is going to be the biggest challenge we face as board members and parents. In the short term, the obvious issue of getting our children back in school safely full time while also maintaining safety for school staff is a monumental challenge. I know many parents, including myself, and teachers are struggling with this remote/hybrid learning environment, and our children are struggling to adapt as well. I believe it is crucial that students return to the classroom because there is no substitute for face to face instruction. I know in our current environment that is difficult, and I appreciate the health and safety concerns in-class instruction brings. At the college level schools are struggling with trying to bring students back and keep everyone safe, and that is no easy task. I'm not suggesting I have all the answers, but there must be a clear path mapped out to return to full in-class instruction. COVID will dictate and change those plans, but workable and agile plans need to be made.

In the long term, I believe COVID will also lead to the biggest challenge for our district. This pandemic is creating financial crises that will last years and who knows what the lingering medical effects will be. But, even more critical, is what the long term effects on our children will be by not being in the classroom. These children, especially the younger ones, are missing out on a key time where they learn to interact and socialize with other children. That is not something that can be taught via Zoom. Children with special needs are missing out on key resources they desperately need by not being able to interact with staff face to face. It's easy to say everything will be back to the status quo once the pandemic is over and things are "back to normal, "but these issues can have long standing effects on our children. Right now we're so focused on the day-to-day events of the pandemic, and rightfully so, but at some point, we will need to take a step back and make sure we are ready to deal with the lingering unseen effects of remote learning.

I don't think anyone truly grasped how much COVID would disrupt our lives. Adults have a hard enough time dealing with the impact, but our children have to deal with all of this in their most formative educational years. With distance learning, wearing masks in school, social distancing, and other COVID policies, this school year will be unlike any other.

At Union County College I am on the COVID-19 Task Force that was formed when the virus in NJ was spreading at exponential rates. We had to discuss and answer the same questions being asked in our district. Questions like how do we offer high-quality education remotely, how do we offer high-touch student services in a virtual environment, how do we help students who have special needs when we can't see them in person, and how do we get our work done in this "new normal". We addressed all these questions and more, developed policies and guides, and then adjusted those policies as situations dictated. We learned to be agile and understood that not all questions had a clear right or wrong answer, so compromise and keeping student needs at the forefront were critical to moving in the right direction. I believe this experience would serve me well as a member of the Board, in today’s troubling times and in the future.

4. What are other issues you would like to see addressed in the school district?

With the pandemic at the forefront, the focus is on safety and procedures on a day to day basis. These times are unprecedented, so I don't necessarily believe that is an issue, but what can become an issue is if we lose sight of the future. Like I mentioned earlier, there will be long term effects from the decisions being made today. The board should also be looking at potential long term issues. Financial, physical, and mental health issues are going to be prevalent moving forward and the board should be at least brainstorming ways on how to potentially deal with these issues. We may not know what the specific problems are going to be a year from now, but plans should be made to deal with whatever problems can be reasonably predicted. In short, with all the short term issues the board and schools have to deal with in these unprecedented times, we can’t lose sight of the long term.