Assemblywoman Joan Voss Visits Kumpf Middle School

Assemblywoman Dr. Joan Voss, the Assistant Chair of the Assembly Education Committee and legislator representing the 38th Legislative District in Bergen County, visited Carl H. Kumpf Middle School last week. Assemblywoman Voss spent her 45 minutes giving the middle schoolers an overview of her career, discussing legislation she had sponsored, and answering countless questions from her engaged audience.

As part of the national “Legislators Back to School Program,” Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Knops arranged for members of the State Legislature to visit each of the four district schools. “Assemblywoman Voss had presented at Arthur L. Johnson High School last year, and she was extremely well received. I thought it would be nice to have our middle school students have the opportunity meet her and hear her speak,” Knops commented.

The program commenced with Superintendent Knops introducing the Assemblywoman. After waiting for the applause to die down, Assemblywoman Voss then embarked upon her presentation, telling her young audience about her roots in Fort Lee, where she was born and raised, taught for the Fort Lee Board of Education for 41 years, and currently represents the municipality in the 38th Legislative District of the General Assembly. 

Voss touched upon how after her retirement from teaching, she was approached about filling a vacancy that existed in the 38th District’s Assembly seat.  In her seven years in the General Assembly, the Assemblywoman has sponsored a number of child and school advocacy legislation, some of which she touched upon during her presentation to the seventh graders.  Among these pieces of legislation included bills that permit a child who moves out of a school district due to a family crisis to remain enrolled in that district until the end of the school year, requires the Department of Health and Senior Services to establish a "New Jersey Autism Website," provides that schools may be used as polling places only under certain circumstance, and the establishment of a grant program for school districts to develop in-district and collaborative special education programs and services to reduce need to place classified students out-of-district.

In commenting on the presentation, Superintendent Kenneth Knops commented, "It was a delight to see how receptive our seventh graders were to Assemblywoman Voss and her interesting and informative presentation. She held the audience of seventh graders in the palm of her hand throughout her presentation. All this occurred during the last period of the day on a Friday.  Assemblywoman Voss is a true educator and leader in every sense of the terms.”