Dear Dana and Martin,
Good morning.
We are truly sorry to learn, on the night before the event, that you have decided not to attend the West Windsor Meet the BOE Candidates forum. We do not agree with many of the reasons mentioned inyour email (which was made an open letter). We would like to clarify as follows.
First, the purpose of the forum is to provide an opportunity forWW-P parents and residents to meet the BOE candidates and understand better their positions on various issues regarding our school district. It consists of a 25 minutes presentation with 5 minutes of Q&A, for each candidate. During the session for one candidate, no other candidates are allowed in the forum room. Suggested topics of discussion are the input of registered participants. They were forwarded to each candidate on Wednesday before the forum. Some candidates in the past have chosen toaddress other issues they deemed important and appropriate, which was perfectly OK.
This is the second year we host the forum. Last year's forum was pleasantly received by all candidates and the audience. We encourage you to watch the videos from last year’s forum ( to make your own judgement.You may also reach out to the candidates from last year to learn about their experiences.
As for the media release form, it is a standard form we downloaded from public sources that we use for not just this event but also the other lecture series we hosted. We work with each speaker on the detailed items on the form.Last year two candidates sent us revised forms with their specific requests on how the videos should be handled.It worked out smoothly. All videos were sent to the candidates for approval before they were posted. If you do not wish to publish your video, we would respect your decision.
Second, it is not uncommon that people have different opinions on some school district issues. As an organization,WWPESA does not endorse or oppose any candidate. However, each WWPESA member may choose to vote for any candidate as a personal decision. Their personal choices do not represent WWPESA and these two issues should never be mixed.It is not a secret that Dr. Ming Pan and Ms. Helen Yin have been on the WWPESA Board of Trustees since July 2017. It is also not a secret that some WWPESA members have expressed different opinions on school matters in the past. But WWPESA has also had some of your most enthusiastic supporters as our trial members who have participated in last year's forum and this year's forum. The Candidate forum provides a great opportunity for us to understand the perspectives of each other, and a great opportunity for you to directly communicate with community members.
As organizers of the forum we wereverydisappointedto receive your decline email on the night before the forum. Our organization runs entirely by volunteers who also have full time jobs.Our volunteershave prepared for this forum since August. In early August we sent you invitations,explained the format of the forum and you have both agreed to participate. Since then, we have communicated with youmultiple times regarding the date, time slots, and your biography. In early September, we sent you the event flyer and obtained your approval before posting it. We have actively advertised for the event since then. Many peoplehave registered for the forum. More than halfof the registrants are not WWPESA members.With so many volunteers putting in their time and efforts, we wish to be responsible for the audience who will show up in a few hours.
Last, we hope this message clarifies the misunderstanding. We sincerely hope you reconsider taking part in this forum.If you still decide not to participate, we will not read your letter during your time slots. It is your statement and you shall read it yourself. During your slots, we will post the list of questions collected from registration, to show respect to the registered attendants.
We wish you a good day.
Sincerely yours,
Board of Trustees, WWPESA
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