Presenting Our Candidates For


NJMEA President-Elect NJMEA Election - APRIL 2013 - ONLINE!


It is that time again when we look to the future of NJMEA and elect our next President to begin serving July 1st, 2013 for a two-year term as President Elect, a two-year term as President


and a two-year term as Past President. Thie NJMEA Presidential Election will take place through an ONLINE BALLOT. Each NJMEA active member will receive the link to the ballot in a TEMPO Express email. Please clink on the link, put in your MENC number and select your Region, then vote for your candidate. The President Elect selection committee has asked our candidates to answer two questions that were posed to them. Hopefully their answers will give you some insight to how these candidates feel about issues and NJMEA’s role and not just their name and biography. Here are their responses...


for 29 years in New Jersey schools. He first attended Fairleigh Dickinson Uni- versity then transferred to Westminster Choir College in Princeton (now the School of Music at Rider University) and earned a Bachelor of Music Educa- tion. He continued his education with graduate courses at Teachers College of Columbia University, William Paterson University, Southern Illinois University,


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Western Connecticut State University and West Chester University and is currently working on a Master’s Degree in Music Education. He stud- ied voice with Marvin Keenze and trumpet with Larry Todd and James Burke. For the last 17 years, he has worked in the Waldwick School District, currently as Director of Bands in the middle school. Ensembles and classes he has taught include marching band, concert band, jazz band, chamber ensembles of all types, winter color guard, music theory and music appreciation. Mike currently serves as President of the North Jersey School Mu- sic Association and is a member of the NJMEA Executive Board. At the state level, he has been the All-State Orchestra audition chairperson since 2000 and was co-manager of the orchestra for the past two years. He has also handled auditions for the All-State Opera Festival since 2006. He has been a member of the state board for two other terms, one as a representative of the Orchestra Division and the other as the state collegiate student chapter president. At the county level, Mike managed the Bergen County Band in


1990, working with conductor Frank Levy from the Bergenfield School District. He was then recruited to handle auditions for the high school and Jr. HS Region Orchestras in 1996. Later, he became manager of the high school orchestra for nine years. He was elected to the Region Board as recording secretary in 2001 and then president elect in 2009. When not working on state or region events, Mike is a member


of several community bands. He is the conductor of the Bloomingdale Cornet Band, the Hawthorne Fire Department Band, and assistant con- ductor of the North Jersey Concert Band. He has performed with the Jefferson Community Band, the Franklin Community Band, the Ruth- erford Community Band, the Palisades Park Fire Department Band, the Jacksonville Chapel Concert Band and the Jefferson Community Chorus.


TEMPO 20


ichael Kallimanis has been teaching middle and high school bands


The American Legion sponsors a one week intensive program on


politics and government for high school juniors called “Jersey Boys State” and students are selected based on their character as well as school and community service. An important part of the program’s experience is performing with the band and chorus. Mike was selected to attend and has returned every year since high school and conducts both en- sembles. In 2003, the New Jersey Legislature passed a Joint Resolution recognizing Mike for his then 25 years of service to the Boys State pro- gram. He was also nominated as an Outstanding Educator, sponsored by the Nobel Family in 2004. Mike resides in West Milford with his wife, Janell, a flautist and Director of Bands at Sussex Middle School.


An issue among others I see as a challenge for our profession is


teacher evaluations that are based on student progress. Testing, 1,2,3! No, not microphone checks, rather the amount of standardized testing in our schools. These tests measure skills that students develop primarily in their academic subjects. The tide is changing and now the big push is to evaluate teachers on the progress of their students, maybe on a whim from the head of state? Regardless, show me a standardized test that will measure music learning and then I am willing to accept an evaluation based on student progress. However, our teaching area is affected by many contributing factors – home life that doesn’t allow for practice which sometimes can be construed as making a racket; the economic status of families unable to provide an instrument or private lessons, to name a few. But how do these factors enter into the equation? And which administrative group or individual will make this call and at what cost? Nerve-racking isn’t it? As an advocacy organization for music education, we already have


several lines in place to advance our cause. Our head of advocacy, former NJMEA President Nick Santoro, leads a tireless fight for us in keeping the various state agencies aware of the need for music in everyone’s life, as documented by scientific fact. We have to get the message across that it has been proven that involvement in music on a regular basis leads to sharpened reasoning and critical thinking skills, acceptance at first rate colleges, higher paying jobs, and many more benefits based on over- whelming statistics. Why then is it often the first area threatened to be cut? Because of a multitude of prejudices and attitudes to be sure, but most importantly because some believe that we will go quietly. We must be proactive as an organization in establishing evaluation criteria for teachers in the Arts. We must not allow an ad hoc panel of “educators” who may not even be music teachers, to set up evaluation procedures for our profession. We can open up panel discussions at both the NJEA


MARCH 2013


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