“It’s time we have truth and honesty in the North Bergen school system. We currently have board members that are involved for the wrong reasons,” says Larry Wainstein in a new ad for the April 25th Board of Education election. “They shouldn’t be on the government payroll and they shouldn’t be reporting to boss Sacco.”

The videos were posted Monday April 10th from Wainstein’s YouTube account. In total, 8 videos were posted half in English and the others in Spanish.

The three candidates backed by the millionaire are Viviana Salcedo, Jose Santos, and Rene Hidalgo-Gatty.

“The reason I am running…I’ve been here for the last 20 years. I grew up in North Bergen. I first saw how the education failed me – as a student,” says Salcedo. “I had difficulty actually when I went to college – with the math and writing.”

“Coming to North Bergen for the last two years, I’ve been teaching (martial arts) voluntarily. I want to see kids to be successful,” says Jose Santos. “I’ve been watching the school system and talking to the parents. And things are not going well. The kids need equipment, and new books, and we need to expand the school….they are not using the budget correctly”

“I graduated from North Bergen High School in 2010 – not that long ago. Then I went to Rutgers University, a public school that was very competitive. I graduated with a lot of my friends that came from North Bergen High School,” says Hidalgo-Gatty. “We were all placed in lower level classes…it irritated me because kids from other schools were so far ahead of us. I just wish my high school provide that type of education.”

The election is April 25th from 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

I am sorry that Ms. Lynch, President of the North Bergen Federation of Teachers, misunderstood my letter to the editor concerning the reaching of an agreement between the teachers and the Board of Education. Of course no one individual can take credit for bringing the contract negotiations to an end.

As Ms. Lynch points out in her letter, contract negotiations began in January, 2016 and for more than a year the teachers worked without a contract. Also the NBFT reached out to members of the public by handing out flyers to inform the public of the situation of working without a contract.

As a member of the public, I not only received the information contained in the flyers handed out by the NBFT, but I also received requests from untold numbers of teachers as to the conditions facing our teachers and students and requesting that I, as a member of the public, attend the February school board meeting.

The NBFT requested help from the public and, as a member of the public, I responded. I attended and spoke at the February meeting of the Board of Education, on behalf of the teachers, students and the people of North Bergen.

I also wish to reiterate that I sincerely believe that the members of the Board of Education owe their loyalty to the students and teachers and not to a 35-year-old Sacco political organization.

To Ms. Lynch, I say I am sorry you misunderstood my position and I wish you and the NBFT continued success.

Larry Wainstein, North Bergen