Explanation may have fooled board, shouldn't fool voters

According to the attorney from Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer, residency is where you place your head most often. The most important part of that description of residency is something the attorney never explained. Where you place your head most often only applies when you own or rent more than one home.

Amy Speizer owns one home, and that home is in Lumberton, Burlington County. Not one member of your Board of Education asked Ms. Speizer where she paid her school taxes last year or where she is going to pay them this year. I bet Lumberton isn't $36 million in a hole, overcrowded and unable to pass No Child Left Behind two years in a row. The third year means sanctions against your school system, which, in turn, could hurt your child's college applications.

It doesn't surprise me that this board can be fooled by a library card and not ask Ms. Speizer where she paid school taxes last year. This is the same board that states publicly that the voters of Monroe approved a referendum for a school in the park because it thinks you are too stupid to know the difference between voting for a school and voting for a land diversion.

This board is a reflection on you, the voters and parents of Monroe. You can continue adding money to your $36-million shortfall and your overcrowded school system that can't pass No Child Left Behind, or you can vote in April to change what's happening by voting in new people.

It doesn't matter to me because I have spent the last six months in upstate New York taking care of my sister who fell ill in July. This is where I place my head most often, and I have a New York library card, so I will be running for mayor of Amsterdam, N.Y. The fact that I don't own property or pay rent should not matter since my sister owns property. Don't worry - even if I win the election, I will still vote here because I won't change the address on my digital driver's license, vehicle insurance or credit cards for the next seven years.

That little dance the attorney from Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer did around residency wouldn't have fooled most first-graders, only your Board of Education.

Audrey Cornish

Monroe