Eight candidates have filed petitions to run in next month’s Board of Education election, an election that will feature much debate about the current search for a new school superintendent and local control of the school system.
Voters will have the opportunity to select three board representatives on Tuesday, April 17 to replace Pat Sebron, William DeRosa, and Sean Connors. Sebron and DeRosa have decided not to run for reelection. Connors was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly last year and took his seat in January.
The eight candidates running this year are Vidya Gangadin, Jayson Burg, Amanda Khan, Marilyn Roman, Frank Lorenzo, Gerald Lyons, Sangeeta Ranade, and DeJon Morris.
The three candidates who receive the most votes will each serve three-year terms on the school board, which has a total of nine members.
Next month, voters will also have the opportunity to approve the tax portion of the school board’s proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year, a budget that will be introduced later this month. Depending on the results of a ballot referendum this fall, April 17 could be the last time voters are given the opportunity to automatically approve or reject the annual school budget. This fall, voters may decide to move school elections to November, and would only vote on the budget if it includes a tax increase of more than 2 percent.
Big issues
The Jersey City schools were taken over by the state in 1989 due to poor performance, but are gradually returning to local control. Still, some believe that test scores need to improve further.
At present, the district is conducting a national search for a new school superintendent to replace Charles Epps, who was appointed by the state and who served for more than 10 years. He left the position at the end of 2011 and Assistant Superintendent Franklin Walker was given a six-month contract to serve as interim superintendent, through the end of June.
In January the state Dept. of Education appointed Cathy Coyle, a former district administrator, to oversee personnel and curriculum matters, a move some parents fear is an attempt by the state to ease her into the superintendent position. However, members of the current school board and the two firms conducting the superintendent search have insisted that Epps’ replacement will be made by school trustees, not the state.
At various public meetings over the last four months a number of parents have expressed their support for Walker and have stated they would like for him to be given the superintendent position permanently.
Voters will have the opportunity to select three board representatives on Tuesday, April 17.
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Rededicate schools to students, parents
Calling herself an “active parent,” Gangadin, who ran for the school board last year, said she is running again because the schools have lost their focus.
“There is no communication with the parents,” she said. “Parents do not feel engaged in the school district, even when they try to be active, many feel like their input is not welcomed. The priorities of the district are not what they should be.”
A parent of four children in the school district, Gangadin last year received the endorsement of the Jersey City Coalition of Parent Teacher Organizations.
Morris, a detective with the Jersey City Police Department, said he is running be cause he was “frustrated seeing the end results of a weak education system as a police officer. A lot of times, kids are having trouble in school and are creating problems there before those problems appear in the community on the streets. We need to find better ways to channel their energies and skills so that they are productive in their lives. We need more internships, training programs, summer jobs, so that our kids aren’t just hanging out on the streets after school.”
Unlike Gangadin, who supports the national search for a new school superintendent, Morris said he does not. He believes the district has enough experienced, well qualified candidates from which to select Epps’ replacement.
When asked what the school district and school board could do to improve failing schools, Burg, who also ran and lost last year, said, “We need to figure out, what are they doing well? What are they doing right? That needs to be duplicated throughout the district.”
No ‘reform slate’
The 2011 and 2010 school board elections each included candidates who ran together on a slate and who received the backing of City Councilman Steven Fulop. Interestingly, this year’s race does not include a Fulop-backed slate, although the councilman and 2013 mayoral candidate said he would support three candidates.
“I will be very involved in the election, as the schools are the key to fixing the city. Education is tied to crime, jobs, taxes,” Fulop said. “They are all rooted in what type of school system we have. The teams we have supported [in the past] have made real headway over the last few years, but there is more work to be done with a new super coming in. I don’t know how one cannot be involved in the schools and have a goal of improving the city, as the two are intertwined.”
He added that he will be supporting Roman, Ranade, and Gangadin in this year’s race.
Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, Fulop’s opponent in next year’s mayoral race, has yet to publicly endorse any candidates for the board of education.
Voters to weigh in on budget
In addition to selecting three board trustees, voters will also have the opportunity on April 17 to approve or reject the portion of the proposed 2012-2013 school budget that is to be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
The board will introduce its budget later this month, on March 26. The school budget for the 2011-2012 school year was $630 million and included a tax increase that added $32 to the annual tax bill for the average homeowner.
Last month the City Council approved a measure that will ask voters in November whether they want to keep school board elections in April, or move them to November, when other elections are typically held.
Comment at www.hudsonreporter.com. E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.