Meet Ronnie Konner: Livingston Board of Education Candidate
LIVINGSTON, NJ — Meet Ronnie Ferber Konner, a current Livingston Board of Education member running for re-election on Nov. 6.
Konner, a 54-year resident of Livingston, is also a retired educator and community volunteer. She graduated from Livingston High School prior to attending University of Arizona Study Abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montclair State University and a Master of Science degree in education in teacher leadership from Johns Hopkins University. She has also taken more than 40 graduate-level courses in technology.
Konner and her husband, Alvin, have three children: Zanna, Alexis and Jarett, all products of the Livingston Public Schools system. Zanna and her husband, Scott Lantzman, have four children who were also educated in the Livingston Public Schools: Macen, a 2017 Livingston graduate currently attending Elon University; Zane, a junior at LHS; Kai, a fifth grader at Collins; and Hunter, a fifth grader at Riker Hill. Alexis and her husband, David Benbassat, have two children: Justin, an eighth grader at Millburn Middle School, and Alyssa, a fifth grader at Washington School in Millburn. Jarett and his wife, Maggie Cohen Konner, have two daughters: Brooke, a kindergartener at the Jefferson School in Caldwell, and Audra, a pre-school student in Caldwell.
Q: Why are you running for board of education? (Again, if incumbent?)
A: Education is my career and my passion. I want the very best education for each and every child here in Livingston. I have a vision that all children come to school each day excited to learn, engaged in their learning, prepared to work collaboratively and respectfully with diverse classmates. Our schools are strong! I want to be able to set policies to continue that forward movement over the next three years, to see the implementation of our Strategic Plan. I want to position our schools so that our children are prepared for jobs and challenges that are unknown to us today. I want to see them succeed academically with attention to their social and emotional IQ as well. They need to be safe and secure in our schools so that they can concentrate of their learning. They need to be able to pursue their diverse interests and passions, academic, athletic, technology, music or the arts. Livingston is a comprehensive high school. All of our programs need to embrace opportunities for our children to have real life experiences and mentorships as part of their learning. We need to involve our town members, our alumnae, our businesses as resources for our classes and programs. Every student should have an adult they trust as a mentor. Our guidance programs need to help them prepare for college and career. Our LHS graduates can serve a role in assisting current students in their preparation for college and career. Our retired teachers can also serve as mentors for our current staff, sharing their expertise with our many new hires. There are many exciting new opportunities to improve where we are and where we can go. I want to help take us there!
Q: Why do you feel you deserve the job? What qualifies you for it?
A: My unique combination of education background and experience in serving as a Board member prepare me as a “highly qualified” member. I have worked collaboratively and respectfully with many different groups. I have served as an advocate on behalf of the schools and community of Livingston. I have served in leadership roles within the Board and have helped bring our discussions to consensus. The past resolution of the ADA Compliance of our Board offices and the recommendation for Bus Parking is an example of a recent controversy that was resolved after input from many stakeholders and neighbors. I extend my learning by attending New Jersey School Board Association training to personally improve my knowledge of Board governance, attaining individual Board Certification. I not only worked to improve my skills but brought Board training to the entire Board when as President I proposed and all members agreed to engage in group sessions with NJSBA that resulted in Livingston becoming a Certified Board for the first time ever. In addition to working collaboratively with my Board Colleagues to identify District Goals, we also identified Board Goals, again attaining three out of four of those goals, including arriving at negotiated settlements with all of our bargaining units prior to the end of those contracts. I have the experience and the vision to move us forward, and with the collective unity of our community and school leadership can see Livingston not just be in the top ten, but become number 1!
Q: Apart from running for office, in what other ways are you involved in the town?
A: Members of my family have always been involved in community service and I have just naturally followed that lead. In addition to my service as an elected Board member, I am involved in many township committees including HCHY – Healthy Children Healthy Youth, the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, the Livingston Advisory Committee on Disabilities, Livingston Municipal Alliance, L-TV, the Performing Arts Committee, Town-wide Safety Committee. A founding member of the Livingston Education Foundation, I was inducted into the Livingston High School Hall of Fame in 2013 as an educational leader. As part of my tenure on the Board of Education, I have served as Board President in 2017, as an appointed Board member to the Essex Regional Educational Services Commission, a committee member to the Board Curriculum Committee, District Health and Wellness Committee, DEAC (District Evaluation) and SEPAC (Special Education) committees. I also am a Board liaison to Riker Hill, Heritage, Burnet Hill, Harrison, and LHS, as well as PT Council. I serve as an advocate on behalf of Livingston at the New Jersey School Board Association’s Delegate’s Assembly, and at the Garden State Coalition, as well as the Essex County School Boards Association. I am also a life member of the National Council of Jewish Women and a member of the steering committee for the NCJW Back2School Store.
Q: Tell us about your other career.
A: I have taught grades kindergarten through graduate school for over thirty years, specializing in Spanish and technology. I began my teaching career at West Essex Regional school district in North Caldwell, returning there after my three children were in school full time. While teaching at West Essex I was actively involved in the Home and School Associations at Squiertown and Riker Hill Schools, and was elected to three terms on the Livingston Board of Education from 1983-1992. Seven years after I completed my terms as a BOE member, Livingston began their elementary school Spanish program in grades 2-5 and I decided to share my love of teaching to the youngest children in Livingston. I began teaching Spanish in 1999 at Burnet Hill, Harrison, and Riker Hill Schools. The program was expanded to grades K-5 and Ronnie was also pleased to work with children at Collins and Hillside Schools. With the change to the six-day rotation I taught more than 800 students at Burnet Hill and Riker Hill schools in grades K-5. On the graduate level I also worked as an adjunct professor at both New Jersey City University and Fairleigh Dickinson University.
I was also awarded numerous grants for my work in integrating technology in education including a Geraldine R. Dodge Team Award (Montclair State University Network in Educational Renewal), MSUNER Teacher Technology Study Group award, MSUNER Teacher Incentive Awards, and an AT&T Technology Grant. Sra. Konner was also recognized as a Teacher of the Year while teaching at both West Essex Junior High and at Riker Hill School.
I initiated a Sister School program between the children of Secular Primaria Gregorio Cruz y Rodgriguez in San José del Cabo, México in 2000 through 2014. The children of Gregorio Cruz wrote to their “amigos’ in Livingston with Sra. Konner transporting their letters. A number of my students, colleagues including teachers and principal also visited the school in Mexico, while there on vacation. We blogged with Peace Corps volunteers in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. My goal was always to expand my students’ learning beyond the classroom experience, to imbue them with a love of learning, and to encourage them to think globally in addition to locally!
Q: What should people know about you that they might not know already?
A: During my first three terms as an elected member of the Livingston Board of Education (1983-1992) I served as Board President twice and once as Board Vice President. During my tenure we hired Dr, Robert Kish as superintendent who remained here for a term of 12 years. Working collaboratively with a varied Board, we discussed and studied many topics taking into account stakeholder input and initiated a total grade re-organization creating 6-8 Middle Schools after intensive study in consultation with the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, moving our grade 9 students to a 9-12 high school, and subsequently adding All Day Kindergarten to our K-5 program. We began our Alternative School, created a highly successful Television Studio programs, began the Career Internship programs for Special Needs students, expanded our language offerings to include Chinese, installed a turf field at LHS, and passed a referendum to expand our facilities to include additional classrooms and an updated Media Center at LHS, to name a few. There were years when the Board was unanimous in its decisions and others when there was much constructive discussion, sometimes resulting in split decisions, but we always moved forward once the majority cast its vote. Frequently the town paper called me “the voice of reason” and a Board member who always did her homework and listened to community members, prior to making any decisions.
Livingston has been my community of choice for over fifty years. It is where my husband Al and I chose to raise my family, it is where my daughter Zanna and son-in-law Scott Lantzman chose to return to raise their family. We came because of the schools, because of the sense of community, because of our neighbors, because of the positive character and diversity of the town. We celebrate our unique town and I want to see the schools prepare our children for jobs that don’t yet exist, for them to follow their passion, for them to feel the satisfaction of contributing to this amazing community so that our children and Livingston both grow. We are LivingStrong!