CALL TO ACTION: Rally at 205 Claremont 6:30 pm June 13 (Tuesday). Council meeting at 7pm.

Please come. Demand the council sends PILOTs to schools!

and

Jun 13, 2023

Please join us TODAY, June 13, at 6:30 pm in front of the Montclair Municipal Building at 205 Claremont Ave. We will rally outside to demand the Township shares its PILOTs revenue with Montclair Public Schools.

Bring kids, friends, neighbors, and their moms too! We would appreciate your help to make a good showing tomorrow. Following the rally, we will attend the council meeting at 7 pm. We want to bring at least 100 people to the rally and council meeting tomorrow, but we cannot do it without you.

The meeting will start with proclamations, including one celebrating Glenfield's social studies teacher, Mr. Gill. Public comments will follow the proclamations. Please comment and ask your kids to comment to demand the council shares PILOT revenue with the schools.

What are PILOTs, and why do we want them? Please read all about it in our last post:

PILOTs to Schools

Mariana Horta, Lani Sommer-Padilla, and Lauren Berman

June 8, 2023

Read full story

Please also read Liz George’s story about your mayor and council members behaving like a posse of entitled children. You should read this story if you read nothing else about Montclair this week. Your council members attempted to impose Bob “will lie to your face” Benecke on our schools’ superintendent and business administrator. Having had the displeasure of meeting Benecke, we would never wish this experience on anyone else. The man is arrogant, will talk over you, condescend to you, and not only mansplain but also lie to you while condescending and mansplaining. When caught lying, he will double down on his lies.

The Mayor also copied his colleagues at the NJEA, inviting them to the meeting without first asking if Dr. Ponds wished to include them. Worse, he forwarded the NJEA’s questions about our schools’ budget to the superintendent. Will you join us in reminding the mayor he is not allowed to abuse his position as mayor of Montclair to muscle into our schools with questions from his day-job colleagues?

Spiller already lost a court case when he was ordered not to participate in the BoSE because he had a conflict of interest as an NJEA executive. He still has a conflict. Please demand that Mayor Spiller recuses himself from all discussions with or about our school district. Sign Lani’s petition urging Spiller to resign. Please also sign our PILOTs to Schools petition here if you haven't already. We are hoping to reach 2500 signatures by tomorrow. Can you help us get there?

Demand PILOTs for schools with no strings attached!

Have you already sent your postcards to the council? We have over a thousand “PILOTs to schools” postcards to share with you and your friends. The kids draw on the postcard’s front, and the parents write a message on the back. Then you can mail postcards, bring them to the council meeting, or ask us to bring them for you. Each household has four council members: your ward councilor, Mayor Spiller, and council members Yacobellis and Russo. Please send each of them a “PILOTs to Schools Now!” postcard.

Please use this form to order your postcards; we will drop them off at your doorstep!