Frustrated by constant bickering and citing a lack of support from the Fulop Administration, three incumbent members of the Jersey City Board of Education have decided not to run for reelection. To fill their seats, each for a three-year term, 13 candidates have filed to run for the board in a November election.
The current board is almost equally divided between those who support Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marcia Lyles and those who don’t.
Board members Micheline Amy, Jessica Daye, and Ellen Simon, first elected in 2013 with strong support from Mayor Steven Fulop, have decided not to run for reelection, with at least one of them saying the toxic atmosphere caused by the anti-Lyles board members is the reason. Amy, Daye, and Simon are considered strong Lyles supporters.
Simon has been particularly critical of the conflicts behind closed doors, during which Lyles has been verbally attacked. She said this nastiness has put in jeopardy plans for the state Department of Education to return local control of the school system to Jersey City.
“How can the state return control to a board that is so dysfunctional?” she asked.
“How can the state return control to a board that is so dysfunctional?” – Ellen Simon
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Although pro-Lyles supporters had hoped to field a ticket for this election to make up for the loss of the three incumbents, that move apparently did not happen.
Several organizers said they were concerned that the current field of candidates will not support Lyles.
Lyles was hired in 2012, largely as a result of the election of candidates supported by Mayor Steven Fulop.
But the board had a political falling out with Fulop a year later. Some members refused to go along with Fulop’s plan to rent Pre-K classroom space at above market rates in new developments after the mayor offered to sweeten tax abatements for developers who included classrooms in their buildings. This was partly to address a predicted district-wide shortage of classroom space.
In 2013, Fulop withdrew his support from those board members, allowing anti-Lyles candidates to be swept into office with the support of the teachers’ union, with whom she had been at odds.
A conflicted board
The board in the past has been in conflict over a number of issues, some partly related to Lyles. Many of these issues involved the teachers unions, including the use of substitute teachers. When named superintendent in 2012, Lyles brought in private contractor to handle assignments for substitute teachers. This started a conflict with union representatives. Prior to the firm’s hiring, substitute teachers were largely hired from existing teacher ranks as a kind of financial perk. Criticism of the firm became one of the chief conflicts in public and private meetings – especially after a newly-appointed board voted to terminate the contract only to learn the district owed the company more than a half million more than the original contract approved.
But a report said the substitute firm, Source4Teachers, filled roughly 95 percent of classrooms where the teacher was absent at a cost that wasn’t too far above what the district spent when it was handling subs in-house, and covered around 50 percent of absences.
“And the Source4Teachers often hired many of the same people we did, but required these teachers to follow the curriculum,” Simon said. “This was not the case prior to that.”
Teachers subbing often basically acted as babysitters.
Testing of lead in water sources in the district because an issue as well. Anti-Lyles board members claimed Lyles did not take the threat seriously.
But Lyles defenders said this was not the case, claiming the issue with lead was a known problem for roughly a decade before Dr. Lyles came to the District. She was the first district leader to test every point for lead and follow up in a systemic way, seeing that every point was labeled and re-checked, one official said.
But the biggest problem facing the district apparently came to light two months ago, when the board received notice that the state Department of Education may not hand over control of the school district after all.
Under Lyles’ leadership, Jersey City schools had met nearly all the requirements necessary to regain local control. The state took over control of the district in the late 1980s due to significant problems with performance as well as patronage.
Simon said the board received documents from the state suggesting that the board itself had become a roadblock to regaining local control. The state was concerned about a weak ethics policy that did not meet contemporary guidelines in areas of hiring and its nepotism policy.
Prior to the hiring of Lyles, board members often recommended the hiring of friends and family members in violation of state ethics policies.
Simon said unless the new board meets state standards on a number of policies, the district will not get local control back.
A wide range of candidates
With the exception of one or two candidates, most of those who filed in the 2016 election do not seem to have a pro- or anti Lyles agenda.
One of the most prominent names in the current election is Gina Verdibello, who previously said she was not going to run this year after losing three previous attempts. She has changed her mind and will seek a seat this year.
Earlier this year, Verdibello said she was disappointed at the results of the previous elections, but had always wanted to bring to the board a different perspective of a parent. The losses had discouraged her from running.
“I really want the chance to be on the board,” she said this week. “I came so close last year. I think the big issues are the student ratio formula and the overcrowding in pre-k and middle school.”
Another prominent name is former board member, Angel Valentin, who served on the board for 12 years until 2014. He also worked for Jersey City.
Dejon Morris, who ran for the board in 2013, and currently is an aide to Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, is also running.
Other candidates include Luis Felipe Fernandez, pastor at Jersey City’s Fountain of Salvation church; Dominique Lee chief executive officer at Brick Academy charter school in Newark; Mark Rowan, former president of the Jersey City Kiwanis Club; and Matt Schapiro, former president of the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association.
Schapiro is a known supporter of Lyles. Schapiro was also involved with Parents for Progress, an influential parents group that helped get a pro-Lyles board elected.
Others less well known candidates include Asmaa Abdallah, Mussab Ali, Kimberly Goycochea, Natalia Iofe, Thomas Sudhan, and Jose Vazquez.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.