John Leo Jr. Endorses Sai Akiri
I love disagreements. Nothing could be more fruitful than that middle ground where two people don’t completely agree or vehemently disagree.
Disagreement can yield results. It’s the playing field of productive discussion. The people I support for leadership roles usually fall in this category. Because I know I can challenge their ideas and they can challenge mine. Productively.
This is why I endorse Sai. She helped me very much in a past campaign (mostly being critical) and at the end, we disagreed about some things. But I know that I can tell her “no” and she can do the same and it wouldn’t change a thing.
She persisted as a vocal opponent to a very secretive BOE and I disagreed with her approach there too. But Sai persisted and remains the only real person challenging those charged with making our schools successful.
Her candor and ability to understand my differences is unmatched. It’s rare. People may find it difficult because it forces them to work. Or they just don’t know how to have the debate. No leader with such influence on the future of my children should ever be allowed the path of least resistance. Or make decisions in a silo. Or ignore the resources of parents or a community that hold a lot of the pieces of the puzzle of success for our school districts.
Sai must be re-elected for board of ed. Her ability to challenge people and ideas is something my kid deserves and so does yours. There is no perfect solution to our district’s problems and there certainly is not a good solution that hasn’t been challenged. What I mean by that is the more perfect some proposal sounds, the more I want people challenging it. Things go largely unchallenged right now without people like Sai. I support Sai in her work to continue to challenge and hold accountable our board of education.
John Leo Jr.
Sai has been invaluable to Berkeley Heights BOE. She has been asking the questions that needed to be asked and has been pushing for more transparency so the Parents can see what is going on!