Santos, Stevenson and Campbell win election

[Guest Guest]

Ginnie Santos, Dave Stevenson and John Campbell won the three spots on the Board of Education in tonight's election. The voters rejected Paul Castelli, his temper and his mouth.

Meanwhile, if you were relying on the Kearny Observer to give you some information, fuhgeddaboudit. They didn't even bother to mention that an election was coming up. Some "newspaper."

Good choice getting rid of Castelli. He was nothing but trouble on the Board and off.

[Guest Guest]

Ginnie Santos, Dave Stevenson and John Campbell won the three spots on the Board of Education in tonight's election. The voters rejected Paul Castelli, his temper and his mouth.

Meanwhile, if you were relying on the Kearny Observer to give you some information, fuhgeddaboudit. They didn't even bother to mention that an election was coming up. Some "newspaper."

Good choice getting rid of Castelli. He was nothing but trouble on the Board and off.

Good riddance to Castelli.

[Guest Guest]

The Observer is useless, true. But the opening page of KOTW has got it wrong, too. Campbell was not an incumbent. He was defeated last year. How he got in this year is a mystery.

Good riddance to Castelli.

[Guest Is it true]

Good riddance to Castelli.

I understand that the Observer's owners are friends of Castelli.

[Guest Guest]

Good riddance to Castelli.

Ditto!

[Guest Mr. Castelli is a good man]

Good riddance to Castelli.

If you had any sense, you would realize that Paul Castelli was the best thing for Kearny. He stood up to the tyranny that this town has know as the LaClairs. That in itself is worth merit. Secondly he was always around the high school sport event and it was a pleasure to see him there. I wish that I could see some of these board members at events, but I don't. So be careful that you wish him gone. Be careful what you wish for.

[Guest Parent]

I think we got the three best of the lot.

[Guest Guest]

If you had any sense, you would realize that Paul Castelli was the best thing for Kearny. He stood up to the tyranny that this town has know as the LaClairs. That in itself is worth merit. Secondly he was always around the high school sport event and it was a pleasure to see him there. I wish that I could see some of these board members at events, but I don't. So be careful that you wish him gone. Be careful what you wish for.

"The tyranny of the LaClairs." I love it. You got your asses kicked after you tried to throw the kid under the bus, so now the people who put you in your place and kicked them are tyrants.

Let's remember how all this started. Matthew LaClair recorded a teacher doing outrageous things. School officials refused to deal with it, so it became public. Members of the community fired back because they sided with the teacher. Matthew was ostracized, bullied and intimidated. The entire LaClair family was told to shut up and go away. That was the tyranny.

It didn't work. The family persisted and won.

Meanwhile, Castelli kept his ugly mouth shut until the settlement was done. The entire Board remained silent until then. If a Board member was going to go public on his own, the time to do it was before the settlement, when something could have been done about it. The only purpose to Castelli's comments was to rev up the bigots who didn't like the fact that their favorite teacher got caught. Castelli didn't do it for the community. He did it for Castelli. Well, it didn't work. He lost. Good.

People in Kearny tried to beat down a family that was standing up for what was right. That was the tyranny, only it didn't work. The family turned the tables and kicked your ass. It's over. Get used to it.

[Guest John Adams]

The Observer is useless, true. But the opening page of KOTW has got it wrong, too. Campbell was not an incumbent. He was defeated last year. How he got in this year is a mystery.

DA, He won the election ! I guess that was not in your plans.

[Guest Guest]

If you had any sense, you would realize that Paul Castelli was the best thing for Kearny. He stood up to the tyranny that this town has know as the LaClairs.

No. Standing up for the Constitution is not tyranny. Trying to squelch it and defending the actions of someone who not only used taxpayer money to endorse a religion, but repeatedly denied doing so despite irrefutable audio evidence is, if anything, a step in supporting a tyrannical theocracy in this country, which goes against everything the USA was founded on.

If you had any sense, you wouldn't be defending state endorsement of a religion and lying about it.

That in itself is worth merit. Secondly he was always around the high school sport event and it was a pleasure to see him there. I wish that I could see some of these board members at events, but I don't.

This has nothing to do with his capacity to be a productive member of the Board.

So be careful that you wish him gone. Be careful what you wish for.

You should be more careful not to endorse dishonesty in the future.

Also, I don't appreciate the implication in your "name" that I ever said he's a "bad man". I don't know anything about his personal life, but I do know he was on the wrong side of the LaClair issue, and is clearly incapable of seeing the bleeding obvious in that context.

[Guest Paul]

No one will be surprised that I am glad to see Paul Castelli rejected for another term on the Kearny Board of Education. He was publicly critical of the settlement we reached with the Board last year, which was appropriate, and he questioned our motives, which was not. I wouldn’t vote for him if he were the only candidate running. None of that is news.

What is news is what the community does not know. Shortly before he attacked us publicly last year, Mr. Castelli gave me a big smile, a warm handshake and his home telephone number. He shook my hand and invited me to call him at home any time. A few weeks later he was attacking me and my family publicly and personally in the local newspaper.

He didn't even have the integrity to say it to our faces. I asked Mr. Castelli, face-to-face, whether he had any criticism of Matthew, Debra or me. He indicated that he did not. A few weeks later we read his personal attack on us in the Kearny Observer.

As I told Mr. Lindenfelser to tell him, I do not like people with two faces. That is the part the community did not know until now. I chose not to disclose this information until now because I did not want to turn the election into a contest about us. However, if Mr. Castelli chooses to run again, next year or ever, I hope the community will be aware of and remember his behavior toward three of his constituents. A person like that should never hold a position of public trust.

[Guest Guest]

As I told Mr. Lindenfelser to tell him, I do not like people with two faces.

Really! Your son has two faces.

He acted nice to Mr. P. in class, acted like he was interested in the discussions, he stayed after class to talk to Mr. P and few weeks later his SECOND FACE came out.

I guess its OK for Mathew to have two faces.

Mr. Castelli stood up for what he thought was right, (just like you say you son did), the others folded like cheap chairs because you were a bully.

[Guest Guest]

Your son has two faces.

He acted nice to Mr. P. in class, acted like he was interested in the discussions, he stayed after class to talk to Mr. P

He WAS interested in the discussions, as he's freely stated several times--he just knew, like anyone with some sense, that a public school classroom was not an appropriate place for Mr. P. to be having such discussions. Also, he correctly predicted that nothing would be done about his actions unless he got evidence and went straight to the principal. Mr. P.'s repeated flat denial of his own recorded words is proof that Matthew judged him correctly. Don't be sore that he was one step ahead. Deal with it.

and few weeks later his SECOND FACE came out.

I guess its OK for Mathew to have two faces.

Matthew never made any personal comments about Mr. P. at all. Can you quote him doing so?

Mr. Castelli stood up for what he thought was right,

Even though it obviously wasn't.

(just like you say you son did), the others folded like cheap chairs because you were a bully.

No, they folded because they saw the error of their ways. Only an idiot would seriously think that it's okay for someone to be endorsing a religion while they're on the clock at a job that is paid with taxpayer money. Wake up.

[Guest Paul]

As I told Mr. Lindenfelser to tell him, I do not like people with two faces.

Really! Your son has two faces.

He acted nice to Mr. P. in class, acted like he was interested in the discussions, he stayed after class to talk to Mr. P and few weeks later his SECOND FACE came out.

I guess its OK for Mathew to have two faces.

Mr. Castelli stood up for what he thought was right, (just like you say you son did), the others folded like cheap chairs because you were a bully.

You're wrong on all counts, and here's why.

Mr. P was doing something wrong. In order to catch him at it and expose his behavior, which obviously was ongoing for a long time, Matthew did not let on that he had a problem with it. Instead, Matthew gave the outward appearance of doing what many other students do, appearing to approve of what Mr. P was doing. Matthew outsmarted Mr. P, which is exactly what someone in that situation should do. That is why Matthew's conduct was justified.

You don't like the fact that Matthew outsmarted Mr. P. In your eyes, Matthew should have been put in his place, but he wasn't. He came out the hero, and Mr. P came out not the hero, and let's leave it at that. That's why you're angry.

You keep calling us bullies and worse, but the Board "folded" because we were in the right under the law. You may never accept it, but it is a fact. We're not tyrants just because we used the power the law gave us.

Now you say Mr. Castelli stood up for what he thought was right. To a point, that's OK. If he wanted to vote against the settlement because he didn't think it was right, that is indeed his right - though it reflects the poor judgment that just cost him his seat on the Board. What is not alright is to act like my friend, then spit in my face. If we had been violating some law or the Constitution, as Mr. P was, then Mr. Castelli and the entire Board would have been in the right to use whatever means necessary to prevent us from getting away with it - but we weren't violating anything. Unlike Mr. P, we weren't doing anything we shouldn't have been doing, and there was nothing to be gained by Mr. Castelli's conduct. It was just duplicitous and dishonest.

That's the difference.

[wu-su]

Ginnie Santos, Dave Stevenson and John Campbell won the three spots on the Board of Education in tonight's election. The voters rejected Paul Castelli, his temper and his mouth.

Meanwhile, if you were relying on the Kearny Observer to give you some information, fuhgeddaboudit. They didn't even bother to mention that an election was coming up. Some "newspaper."

Good choice getting rid of Castelli. He was nothing but trouble on the Board and off.

Went looking for the results; obviously there was nothing in The Observer (expected), there was no reference on the Kearny Schools (BOE) web site, which isn't surprising, and of course, nothing appeared on the Kearny Town web site. I did find the results here; thank you.

[KOTW]

Went looking for the results; obviously there was nothing in The Observer (expected), there was no reference on the Kearny Schools (BOE) web site, which isn't surprising, and of course, nothing appeared on the Kearny Town web site. I did find the results here; thank you.

May I suggest the main page of KOTW Click here for Main Page of Kearny on the Web

KOTW