August 20th, Subject: Voters Approve School Funding

    I am amazed at the lack of knowledge that Monmouth County Republican Committeeman Michael Vitkansas has on the workings of the Middletown Board of Education. He seems to think that the only person running the Board is Pat Walsh. Doesn't he know that there are eight other members on that board? He thinks that this board is taking tax money from our pockets when, in fact, it is the voters that approve the funding of the school system.
    As a financial consultant and appointed member of the Middletown Community Affairs Council Mr. Vitkansas must surely know that there are many expensive details that go into educating the children of our town. If the parents did not agree with the spending plan approved by the entire board, they would not vote to pass the plan.
    The Board of Education had legal and contractual obligations to uphold while in litigation with the former superintendent and spent under $100k for work done on the High School North football field. If Mr. Vitkansas had done his research he would have discovered that by state law the Board of Education must accept the lowest bidder for a project and that it is not lobbied for.
    It appears that Mr. Vitkansas is just another Republican that enjoys spreading false information to the public for his party's gain. It is sad to see that the Middletown Republican Party can not effectively address an issue in our town. Instead, they attack and manipulate people into a believing a false sense of reality.

Paul J Jansen
Middletown, NJ