Doreen Mariani

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Doreen is known for being authentic, honest, and caring. She grew up in Little Ferry, New Jersey, and attended Bergen County Technical High School. She married her high school sweetheart Frank and just celebrated 38 years of marriage. Doreen and Frank have been Wyckoff residents for over 21 years, raising three children who attended Sicomac School, Eisenhower Middle School, and Ramapo High School. Doreen and her husband also have two grandchildren with number three on the way! 

Today, Doreen is a fulfilled homemaker who instilled strong family values in her children and supported them in their endeavors. She has served our community for many year as a member of our PTOs, passionately volunteered at Oasis - a haven for women and children and does ongoing volunteer work for Wishlist by AM's Annual Night of Fashion and Fun events benefiting the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation, which funds Arteriovenous Malformation research.

Always a people person, Doreen loved her career as a hairstylist as well as her time spent as a companion to seniors in her community. Before moving to Wyckoff, Doreen's husband served on the South Hackensack Board of Education. Having experienced the value of serving on a local school board, Doreen knows the importance of supporting her community, which is one of the reasons she ran for the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education. This, along with a strong desire to ensure that her grandchildren and all the children in our community have the same quality education that her kids experienced, is what gave her the motivation to serve.

Doreen believes a community is as strong as its next generation. This means ensuring that our local schools maintain a strong focus on academics and making sure our tax dollars are invested wisely and in the best interest of our children. Doreen says, "Education should focus on quality, fact-based academia that promotes respect, compassion, and equality for all and preserves the individual freedoms and rights of all students, parents, and teachers."

My mission from day one on the board, and what I will continue to pursue when re-elected, is to use my God-given gifts to support and serve my Wyckoff community through exceptional volunteer service, steadfast commitment, and uncompromised conservative values and integrity.

Doreen has served 3 years on Athletics, Arts Extracurriculars and Communications, serving 2 terms as its Chair. She also served for two years on the Policy and Negotiations Committee, where she played a key role in successfully negotiating the contract with the RIHEA in only a few months which was far outside previous negotiation norms.

She aims to continually raise the bar to improve academic performance and provide the necessary support and resources to enhance educational standards.

Achievement highlights include: 

✅ Protecting Parental Rights: Successfully repealed Policy #5756. This policy allowed students to change their gender identity at school without parental notification. Repealing this policy ensures that you, as a parent, are notified and involved in all of your children's decisions.

✅ Commitment to Academic Excellence: Refocused our educational priorities on core Academics over Social Engineering. I've advocated for fundamental basic skills, aiming to reverse declining academic trends and better prepare our students for graduation and beyond. 

✅ Ensuring Student Safety and Well-Being: State-of-the-art security measures, including armed resource officers and AI-enhanced video surveillance systems with special firearms detection, making our schools safer than ever.

✅  Strategic Leadership: Fought to bring stability to the district by hiring a highly qualified superintendent. It took three votes to simply hire the HR firm, and a series of challenges to ultimately hire a top-tier Superintendent and align our district's goals with community values, focusing on exceptional educational standards. The increase and improvements in test scores is just the beginning! 

✅ Fiscal Stewardship:  Supported a renewed pattern of excellent fiscal oversight including ensuring the 2024- 2025 budget adheres to the 2% tax levy cap while fully funding all vital resources that support student instruction and special services. 22% or your tax dollars go to our regional high schools. Our strategic financial decisions have led to a significant increase in interest income and a decrease in tax levy rates since 2021! We maintain a robust and fiscally responsible financial position that ensures long-term stability and security for our district.

✅ Infrastructure Development: Advocated for infrastructure projects that enrich instructional delivery, athletics, arts, and school wellness programs, including but are not limited to, renovation to the family and consumer science rooms, Thrive wellness rooms to support mental health, athletic locker and trainer rooms, a new Indian Hills concession multipurpose facility, HVAC system upgrades, roof repairs and prioritizing additional safety and security measures.

✅ Communication & Transparency: As Chair of Athletics, Arts, Extracurriculars & Communications committee and in response to community complaints, spearheaded the full redesign of our district website and launching RIH Highlights and Happenings community newsletter. Collectively improving communication and transparency for parents and community members. We also proudly approved new sports teams like RIH Dance Team and Mountain Biking Team. She also fought for and achieved hiring the districts first Communications Firm, followed by the hiring of an in-house communications specialist. 

Let's build on the strong foundation we've established, preparing our students for success and ensuring long-term district and fiscal stability while prioritizing the best interests of OUR children and respecting the strength of conservative family and community values! Vote Doreen Mariani!