Dear Editor:
The JC Board of Education shamefully and undemocratically voted in a caucus meeting, before its advertised general meeting on Aug. 26, against naming PS 34 after the clear choice of President Barack Obama.
Thanks to your reporter Al Sullivan for exposing this outrageous injustice in his Jersey City Reporter excellent front page story, “Name school after board members instead of Obama? – School board votes against naming school in black neighborhood after prez”.
The students and parents of PS 34 overwhelmingly and passionately want our president’s name for their Greenville school instead of a little known board member, who arrogantly voted for herself, and who was once an interim mayor by default for four months.
I attended PS 34 and was shocked to arrive at the open meeting and learn they had a caucus vote before listening to public speakers and had ignored the school’s Renaming Committee’s recommendation.
I call upon caring citizens to vote against any Board of Eduction candidate who doesn’t support Assemblywoman Angela McKnight’s resubmission of the president’s name at the Thursday Sept. 15 6 p.m. meeting at 886 Bergen Ave. I again call on Miss Roman to withdraw her name, or to recuse herself from the vote. The school board members are pledged to do what’s right for students, and the students want an inspirational name for their school.
Sam Pesin