Chris Woodward
I've lived in Highland Park since 1998 and a Board member since 2019. I'm currently serving as the chair of the BOE Personnel Committee. My previous volunteer activities for the schools include two years on the principal's advisory committee for the middle school; advisory hiring committees for administrative and teaching positions, and a second assistant girl's soccer coach at the middle school. My daughters Sophie and Julia are graduates of Irving, Bartle, the Middle School, and the High School in the Highland Park system.
As an educator at Rutgers I've taught mathematics at the college level for twenty-five years. I'm currently a vice-chair in the mathematics department, and I also served a year as acting department chair. As an administrator I always try to emphasize proactive communication with all parts of the community.
Priorities for the district should be ensuring that all children are safe, engaged, supported, and challenged in our system; parental communication is prompt and responsive; teachers and other staff in the schools are treated as professionals; students from all backgrounds have the resources they need to have an opportunity for success; and that the tax burden on the town is kept as low as possible by directing our scarce resources towards initiatives that have proven effects on learning outcomes.
