School board member is target of vandalism
Believes she's a victim of retaliation for her opinions on issues
BY BRIAN DONAHUE
Staff Writer

A swastika is seen among the squirtings from a mustard container on a minivan owned by Monroe Board of Education member Rita Ostrager.

MONROE - It started with paintballs shot at her house, and has continued with instances of beer bottles smashed on her driveway and flowers yanked out of her yard.

But the latest vandalism at the Briggs Avenue home of an outspoken Board of Education member was greater cause for concern. On July 18, after a meeting that found her on the defense regarding an e-mail report she distributes to members of the public, Rita Ostrager discovered a swastika drawn with mustard on her minivan.

That same night, Brian Hackett, a 19-year-old former board candidate who spoke in support of Ostrager at the meeting, found his parents' car smeared in ketchup, mustard and petroleum jelly while it was parked in front of his family's house.

"You might say, 'Well what's the big deal? It's ketchup, mustard ... flowers can be replaced. But it gets to a point where you say, 'They're sending a message, and they're going to up the ante until I shut up,' " Ostrager said.

Elected to her first term on the board in April 2006, Ostrager said her family, including her husband, a 12-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, have all been supportive and have never asked her to back down from voicing her opinions on controversial school topics. Her children, she said, have never said they were scared due to the vandalism.

"But when my kids are locking the gate to go for a swim in the backyard, that's telling me something," Ostrager said.

While she knew going in that she would be the target of criticism, Ostrager said the perpetrators have "taken it up a notch."

"You're doing this to little kids," she said. "There's something very wrong with that when you're supposed to be supporting a school district that's for the children."

Ostrager said her husband Robert is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

When asked if she knows who is responsible for the vandalism - which is now being investigated by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office as a bias crime - Ostrager said she has an idea, but is not certain. She believes it was someone who attended the last board meeting. Asked if she thinks any other board members are aware of who is doing it, she declined to comment.

Board of Education President Kathy Kolupanowich said she was unaware of any of the vandalism until a reporter called her about it on Monday. She said the matter is a legal issue that needs to be investigated by the police.

"They'll do their investigation, and we'll have to wait and see what happens, and take action if we need to at that time," Kolupanowich said.

Ostrager said one of her top priorities on the board has been to get information to the public, and to do so she has been e-mailing her reports of board meetings to those interested - now a group of about 150 people - since 2005, a year before she was elected. She said the newsletter has become a sore point among other board members, and an inaccuracy in her June newsletter was discussed at the board's July 18 meeting.

Kolupanowich said a member of the Monroe Township Education Association read in the newsletter that the board had approved a new stipend position for public relations, when the board had only voted to move forward with a proposal for a volunteer coordinator post. She said the union member was concerned that the board created

a position that would have to be

negotiated with the union.

Ostrager sent out a correction and an apology after learning of the mistake, but Kolupanowich said there were other more minor inaccuracies in the same newsletter.

"We were letting her know that it is very important that, if she is going to do that, to make sure that accurate information is being sent out to the community," Kolupanowich said. "She has every right to send [the newsletter] out, but it must contain accurate information, it cannot be confidential information, and it cannot be detrimental to the Board of Education."

Ostrager said she believes the board majority is keeping the public out of the loop on important issues.

"I feel like I've taken a position that the public needs to be informed, and that we as a board need to discuss the problems we have now and figure out what to do about them," she said.

Kolupanowich said that is obviously not the case, as all are free to speak at meetings.

"Anybody is able to speak their mind, and she does that," Kolupanowich said.

Ostrager said she wants the board to come up with an alternative plan for building a new high school in the event that it does not get permission to build in a section of Thompson Park. She said she hopes the high school will be built there, but feels that the board needs to be prepared if the necessary land diversion application is not approved.

She also complained that there has been "no discussion" of how the board is going to cover the extra $36 million needed to build the new high school, on top of the $82.9 million approved in a 2003 referendum.

"A lot of people say I'm opposed to building the high school in Thompson Park, but if we get title to those 35 acres, I will go out and work as hard as I possibly can to get the money needed to build that high school," Ostrager said. "But I believe that, in life, you should always have a contingency plan. We have a contingency plan in the schools for everything. We have fire drills, not because we think there is going to be a fire, but because we need to be prepared for one."

But the current plan is Plan B, Kolupanowich said, referring to an earlier referendum that was rejected by voters. And the decision to continue to pursue the land diversion so the high school can be built in Thompson Park was that of the board majority.

"She believes we should look for another piece of land, but it's not her decision, and it's not my decision. It's the board's decision," Kolupanowich said. "She has every right to express her opinion, but the board as a whole does not agree."

Ostrager said the majority of the township's schools are at twice their capacity under state efficiency standards, and the district is running out of room for classroom trailers. That predicament, and projections of greater enrollment each year, are the reason she has been pressing for alternatives.

"What I'm trying to force this board to do is look at the problems we have and discuss them, and try and come up with solutions," she said. "And it's important to have an informed public to participate in the discussion. After all, this is America."