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You should be ashamed of yourself Mia for endorsing Gerry McCann. Besides being a convicted felon, the man has tried to manipulate the BOE to serve his own personal business interests. And this goes far beyond "his personality". The man stole the votes of infirmed senior citizens to get elected the first time. How you choose to ignore McCann's continuing string of ethical misdeeds is amazing.

My 2 cents - Endorsements for BOE
In my 27 years as a homeowner and taxpayer in JC, I don't remember ever voting for a great candidate. It's always been trying to select the ones who will do the least damage, won't sell us out for a few bucks nor are beholden/ puppets of the County or know nothing. This election is no different. In these times of major cutbacks in state aid, which as an Abbott school district and an on-again- off- again Distressed City ( JC ), the stakes are high.

As the state has turned over jurisdiction of the JC schools back to local control, the unabated JC taxpayers are being forced to pay a greater share of the $619 million budget. For years activists such as myself have been complaining to the City Council to stop with the tax abatements since tax abated properties pay no school taxes and all monies go to the city, which has been squandered in uncontrolled patronage. We knew this day would come.

Our school taxes will be going up another 10% effective with the new school budget, which begins July 1st. The teachers have been without a contract since September 1, 2009. In light of state-wide cuts in state aid to schools, which impacted JC with a loss of $27 million and we were lucky, their demands are unconscionable. Demands for annual raises of 4.35 to 4.7% for a four year contract are unsupportable. This coming school year alone there will be over 350 layoffs plus a 10% tax increase. Governor Christie has stated that he'll cut state aid even further if contracts with greater than 4% raises are awarded. Now JC taxpayers only pay about 16% of the budget, which has been going up. The lion's share of the school budget is paid by the state. We can't afford to piss Christie off and quite frankly if other school districts are renegotiating their contracts and teachers are agreeing to a 1 year salary freeze, why can't Jersey City's? Are we richer than Montclair and other suburbs, whose teachers agreed to a 1 year freeze? These suburbs are pretty fed up with carrying the Abbott Districts like Jersey City.

We need board members who will stand up to the teachers' union like Jerry McCann (11A). By orchestrating the defeat of the contract, the teachers, under recently passed state law, will pay a measly 1.5% or on average $750 PER YEAR for their insurance but we save $4 million in health insurance costs! Listen I don't care for his personality either but these economic times demand tough people who can read a budget and financials.....

My second choice is Sterling Waterman (3A) who regularly attends Board of Ed meetings so he has some idea what's going on, unlike the other candidates. My only reservation is that now that he's supported by the Teachers' Union he is anti- school choice. The charter schools on average get about 67% of the funding we spend on regular (non-special ed) students. Many are doing a fine job.

As for third choice.... I'm torn.... Carol Lester (5A) is a former charter school board president but buckled too easily in her support of the teachers' union and no cuts in teachers. Admin cuts will not close the deficit. It's been repeatedly mentioned that over 1,100 teachers have no classroom assignments Plus the district spends over $30 million in consultants. Wonder how many of them are "rubber room" teachers who have complaints filed against them? Dr Epps is ultimately responsible for this.
Terry Dehere ( 4A ) voted No on the teachers' contract , which is good, but on TP when asked about Dr Epps's performance he thought he was doing a good job. I disagree and feel he should be replaced when his contract is up 6/30/2011. The teachers' contract and extending Dr Epps' contract are 2 issues that the next board will be voting on immediately.


The school board election is Tuesday, April 20th.... PLEASE VOTE! It's a LOW turn-out election so EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Last year only 5% of Jersey City's electorate voted.

The 2 BOE candidates shows are streaming off our website, which has been redesigned for easier viewing ...

Show Schedules: Jersey City - Comcast's public access Channel 51 - Mondays at 9:30 PM, Wednesdays at 8:30 PM, Thursdays at 7:30 PM

If you're a Verizon FIOS customer, see TP on Channel 38--- Mondays at 6PM, Wednesdays at 9:30PM and Fridays at 7PM!

OVER 60 of our shows stream off our website! Watch them any time, any where...... Check them out....

Additional Candidate Info
Check out the Jersey City Independent and their coverage of the forums and the candidate responses to the questionnaire they sent to all 16 candidates. Many never responded nor showed at a forum.

Unfortunately, no. But I've had a couple of similar inquiries. Maybe we can schedule a screening between now and Monday evening. PM me if you're interested.

Is the rebroadcast available to view online? I don't have comcast.

I'm going to give this another try. The Webmaster removed both mentions of the following broadcast. One he said he removed because a link in the post did not function. I also started a new thread with this broadcast information - as a public service - and he removed that one too because it's not allowed to post the same information twice, he says.

Anyway, without any links that might be broken, and again as a public service, please note:

TODAY, SATURDAY, 4/17
One-hour broadcast of public forum with
ten of the sixteen candidates for
Jersey City Board of Education
from March 25 event hosted and moderated
by Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE).

COMCAST
Channel 51
3pm

Ah yes, that old cliche....figures don't lie, but liars can figure. Fits, no?

How come people accept the 373 number as credible? McCann pulled that out of his hat. First, there is nothing that mandates teacher layoffs make up any shortfall. The money could be cut from any number of areas and, in fact, could in theory be done with zero teacher layoffs. Secondly, 373 is such a precise number that would require the specific persons affected to have been identified (given different salary levels among teachers.)

Once again, McCann is manipulating the truth (packaged as "facts") for personal political gain. You have to question everything that comes out of his mouth and not accept any of it on its face.

90013th, thanks for the detailed answers and your inside knowledge on all previous explanations.

Color me skeptical, but Mr Valentin is endorsed by the teacher's union and probably because he is pro raises when there is a large budget shortfall. Is he even a property owner in Jersey City?(does not appear to be) Sterling Waterman is also endorsed by the union but he did say he was against the current budget I believe. Carol Lester is not endorsed by the teacher's union.

Why can't there be a temporary wage freeze where the average tax payer still gets soaked (the hole is so large it's going to happen) but not as much as before, and still incur some layoffs if there are hundreds of positions that are unnecessary, so the shortfall is smaller than 100+million?

I'm not sure the public wants layoffs... This is the first argument I've heard pro-layoffs - the usual message instead was that layoffs was bad for the children.

Given the precarious state of finances and the drying well of state funds (which will continue to shrink), it seems to me that doling out more raises will just put Jersey City on the path to bankruptcy, where there is the possibility these contracts and liabilities will be voided by a bankruptcy court, which frankly is bad for both the current union employees and the tax payers. Don't we want to avoid this path a few years from now by taking a more sound fiscal approach today?

RE: Mr. Valentin voting to "lay off teachers" because he voted for raises.

Please understand that the layoffs are actually what most of the public wants.

No mandated position will be laid off. For example, the federal IDEA law requires that there be no more than 8 students in an inclusion classroom. If there are 9 children, there will still be 2 inclusion teachers next year. That is a mandated position. The positions that will be cut are those "extra" positions that most people decry at public forums and on websites like this, those "fluffy" positions that do not directly service children, (like many of those at Central Office). Those teachers, because of seniority, will return to schools and go back to being classroom teachers. Yes, some of the new classroom teachers will be "bumped" out and laid off. If teachers received no raises, there would be 2 options: a) lay no one off and leave everyone in the positions they are in, including those fluff ones or 2) cut those fluff positions and have a whole bunch of extra people running around with nothing do to. Couldn't even send them all back to "new" classrooms, because where would you physically house those classrooms, and where would the money for the desks, bookshelves, curriculuar supplies, etc; come from?

Mr. Valentin did not vote to cut 373 teachers. Mr. Valentin is cutting extraneous positions and trying to keep JC's budget in check by making sure that the teachers we are paying are actually teaching kids, not hanging out at Central Office.

I suppose I have a slightly different view from others which is that to me, it is more about getting certain people OFF the board than getting other people on. So I will back a Fulop slate (i.e. including Valentin) if it means:

Dehere and McCann are out (someone CONVICTED of bank fraud shouldn't be allowed near $600 million budget)

I'll worry about picking off Valentin the next time. Slowly, but surely and one step at a time. For now I'll take the lesser of two evils. And to me anyone next to McCann is the lesser of two evils...

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Me neither. Valentin voted YES on the last budget and supported even the higher version that failed.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ty_board_of_ed_fails.html
http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... -passes-2010-2011-budget/

The raises he's proposing mean more teachers laid off. Is this really the best budget we can get?

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Au contraire, Dan is also endorsing Stewart Waterman:

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Noone else has been mentioned. It would sure narrow things down. I'll probably base my decision from the Jersey City Independent interviews. And anyone who hasn't responded, too bad.

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Is Dan endorsing anyone else?

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I saw those signs all around Kennedy. I guess thats the only thing that makes me question her.

From Bob Ingle's column in today's Asbury Park Press:

"Consider this: You want change? If we reduced New Jersey's 604 school districts to one per each of our 21 counties (583 eliminated) and if the average superintendent made $150,000 a year, that would save $87.5 million a year in superintendent salary ? not including cars, clothing allowances and bloated staff the school boards give these people.

Having 604 school districts serves only the public trough swillers ? not education, not teachers. We have about 8.7 million population. Florida has 18.5 million, about 10 million more. Florida has 67 school districts to our 604.

Mark April 20 on your calendar, check poll times and plan to vote. Defenders of the status quo will."

This is where it has to start. Christie has given cover for populist rabble against the teacher's union. Those in bed with Epps (including two of the incumbents running in this election) never in a million years will talk about the very obvious cuts that need to happen if we are going to credibly pursue any other streamlining/cutting.

Isn't Patel aligned with McCann, a felon and Dehere, who is not too bright?

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I got this postcard at my new residence...in Bedminster. I guess I can still vote in JC! Sweet!

So I don't really know about Valentin. Don't see how he stands out from the crowd.

I'm kind of interested in Patel. I don't get her whole point about yoga in school and whatever but she talked about turning off the lights when school was not in session and switching to recycled paper. I don't really care about the schools going green, but those two things will actually save money.

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http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/ ... -face-off-at-naacp-forum/

http://www.electpatel2jcboe.org/

16 running in JC Board of Ed election
Voters also decide school budget on April 20

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer
Apr 11, 2010

Sixteen people are running in the Jersey City Board of Education election on April 20, but only three will prevail.

The election will fill three seats on the nine-member board for three-year terms. The responsibilities of board members include voting on school policy and approving the annual school district budget, which is proposed as $618.8 million for the next school year.

The 16 candidates running in this year?s election are: Kevin Armstrong, Sebastian D?Amico, L. Terry Dehere, Evelyn Farmer, Carol L. Lester, Gerald Maurice Lyons, Gerald McCann, June A. Mulqueen, John R. Muniz, Marimer Navarrete, Aura Ordonez, Hiral Patel, Anthony Sharperson, Angel Valentin, Sterling Waterman, and Arthur Zigman.

Dehere, McCann, and Valentin are incumbents running for another term.

Taxes up, 373 possible layoffs

Also up for a vote is the $618.8 million school district budget for the 2010-2011 school year, down 5 percent from $654 million for 2009-2010. The budget was approved by the Jersey City school board on March 29 by a 5-4 vote.
_____________

Also up for a vote is the 2010-2011 school year budget.
________

The public may give final approval to the budget, but some may have issues with it. It asks for Jersey City residents to contribute $102 million in taxes, a $9 million increase from last year.

The tax levy increase could result in a school tax increase this year of $148 per $93,500 assessed value of residential property. Residents pay an overall tax amount that includes that school tax, as well as taxes for the county and city.

Gov. Christopher Christie has withdrawn some state aid to districts across the state in an effort to plug a state budget deficit, and school districts are forced to make up the difference through taxes, layoffs, other spending cuts, or by using their surplus funds. As it is, the proposed budget is expected to lead to 373 layoffs of Jersey City teachers and other employees starting at the end of the school year.

If the public votes the budget down, it will likely be sent back to the board for even more cuts.



Who are the candidates?



The 16 people running for the school board are all Jersey City residents, a requirement for candidacy, and come from various backgrounds:

? Armstrong works as a driver for the U.S. Postal Service and also drives for the Hudson County Transcend program

? D?Amico is a retired employee of the Jersey City school district;

? Dehere, the owner of Sanai at the Summit House Restaurant in Journal Square and former NBA player, has served on the board since 2007;

? Farmer works for a public relations firm in Jersey City;

? Lester is both an established singer/songwriter of music for children and a yoga instructor;

? Lyons works at High Tech High School in North Bergen as a teacher, media specialist and supervisor;

? McCann, the former Jersey City mayor and current employee of the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, has served on the board since 2007;

? Mulqueen is a retired teacher from the Jersey City public school system;

? Muniz is a church pastor and college administrator, and works in management for the U.S. Postal Service;

? Navarrete is a journalist working in New York and serves in the New Jersey National Guard;

? Ordonez is the co-owner of a restaurant in the Jersey City Heights;

? Hiral Patel was employed until recently at CTB McGraw Hill in New York as an Implementation Specialist;

? Sharperson is a business owner, and a former substitute teacher and football coach in the Jersey City public school system;

? Valentin works as a special grants manager for the city of Jersey City, and has served on board since 2005;

? Waterman is the president of the Public School 16 Concerned Parents Association and has worked in accounting, administration and facilities fields;

? Zigman did not return a call for comment.

This year, the Jersey City Education Association (the school employees? union) endorsed Valentin, Waterman, and D?Amico while downtown City Councilman Steven Fulop has endorsed Valentin, Waterman, and Lester. Also, school board member Sean Connors, who has served on the school board since 2009, has endorsed McCann, Dehere and Patel.



Turnout usually low

With such a large number of candidates, that means more choices for the voter, but that does not necessarily translate into a large voter turnout. Last year, only 14,516 voters went to the polls, equivalent to 10 percent of the approximately 139,000 registered voters in Jersey City at that time.

Candidates find a way to differentiate themselves from the pack in order to pick up votes by getting endorsements from political groups or politicians.

Candidate forums



Which issues will the candidates tackle if elected or reelected to office?

Residents, especially parents of children in the school district, will find out at candidate forums organized by different groups across the city. The Jersey City branch of the NAACP held a forum on April 8, and two more are coming up this week: on Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Public School 16 Auditorium at 96 Sussex St., sponsored by the Historic Paulus Hook Association, and on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Public School 11, 886 Bergen Ave., sponsored by the Jersey City Families for Better Schools group and the Jersey City PTO Coalition.

However, some members of the public already know the issues they want to see dealt with.

?The proportion of failing students in this city is not acceptable,? said Mahaley Stewart Bowles, the parent of an eighth grader at Academy I Middle School on Bergen School and herself a substitute teacher in the Jersey City public schools. ?Whoever is elected to the board should hold teachers accountable to make sure they teach the curriculum that is present and anything else that is needed to help students pass.?

Bowles, so far, plans to vote for Valentin and Dehere, but is undecided on a third candidate. She said she will choose one after seeing how the remaining candidates conduct themselves at the upcoming candidate forums.

The Jersey City school system had been put under state control in 1989 due to due to failing test scores, and has been slowly coming off state control for the last several years. The public has been able to vote on the Board of Education budget since last spring?s election.

Here is the schedule for the remaining upcoming candidate forums:

Tuesday, April 13, 7 pm

The Historic Paulus Hook Association will host a forum in the auditorium of PS #16 96 Sussex St.
Thursday, April 15, 7 pm

Jersey City Families for Better Schools and the Jersey City PTO Coalition will host a forum in the auditorium of PS #11

886 Bergen Ave

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I am not teacher bashing, I am union bashing, 2 different things. My understanding is that Sterling Waterman has been endorsed by the union. Sorry, but that puts my voting for him out of the question. When I hear that someone comes from a "family of teachers" I worry also. I come from a family of teachers. They will all tell you they were never overworked. Some were underpaid, most were under appreciated, but made up for some of that with great benefits and a lot of time off. But that was a long time ago(8 years since the last retired in JC). Now even they believe that salaries are pretty good and benefits are still excellent, and there is still a lot of time off. Even back then the staffing was bloated, lazy and unproductive, and that has just gotten worse. Something has to give. Abated properties pay nothing to the schools, so any increase in tax is put squarely on the backs of property owners who are already choking on city tax raises.
Give me the guy who everybody hates, but who is trying to keep taxes down. If it takes a sc#&bag to get it started, then so be it.

I agree, Mccann is a piece of work who needs to be voted off. a polarizing man who isn't polarizing for the sake of a noble cause, but just likes being a jack**, like hearing himself speak, and seems to be in it for little more than self interest.

I agree also that from what I've seen so far, Lester and Waterman seem at least like candidates who are looking out for communal interests.

however, as candidates who are new to the scene, are also "blanker" slates.

On about 3/12, on JC List, I asked School Board candidate Mr. Waterman the following:

?your position on 1) school vouchers
2) tenure
3) merit pay
4) changing pension system to 401K
a) for current teachers
b) for new hires
c) for part time workers
5)premiums on health benefits -- how much?
a) for retired teachers
b) for current teachers?


A few days later, posting 3/14-- Sterling Waterman responded to my questions regarding his positions on the teacher retirement system and health benefits with the following post:


"I have no problems answering any questions as I have stated when I initially introduced myself and my candidacy.

As for your current crop of questions, I am against vouchers. My answer to the rest would be irrelevant because of the current structure and responsibility of the BOE. You see, the state still has control over the Instructional and Personnel functions of the schools, of which tenure, new hires, and the rest of your questions fall under.
Dr. Epps and his lawyers make these decisions only. ?




Basically, a way to not take a position. Yet, now, all of a sudden, we are to understand that issues like teacher retirement and health benefits are stuff that the board members do deal with?? Which is it??

From what I understand the teachers union, the JCEA, has officially endorsed Mr. Waterman. What are his positions, exactly?

Do teachers realize that he is now saying that the pension system and their health benefits should be changed? Or did he say something different to the union to get their endorsement?

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Teacher-bashing is a pretty popular sport these days and some of the criticism is warranted. But make no mistake, the issue of raises is just a distraction. If Gerry really wanted to cut costs, it's in teacher's benefits that real savings can be found. As candidates such as Sterling Waterman and Carol Lester have mentioned, once on the board they will carefully consider raises so long as meaningful concessions are made by the teacher's union on health and retirement benefits.

This is something that will have to be coordinated at the state-level as well since those benefits are partly or wholly administered from there.

You think Gerry McCann can play nicely enough long enough to coordinate anything with anybody? I think it's a mistake to assume this guy will accomplish anything more than the nothing he's accomplished over the last 3 years. He knows just as well as anyone that it's the benefits that matter. Yet he's all too happy to ignore the real issue in favor of blowing with the political breezes by bashing and bashing the teachers.

One has to strike a balance and shouldn't be too cozy with the NJEA, but a virulently anti-teacher politician should not be running the school system.

That's one reason why I support Sterling Waterman and Carol Lester. They will do the right things on the REAL issues like cutting administrative bloat: the principal driver of costs in the $600 million budget. I haven't heard Gerry McCann say a word about that. Wonder why?

I am a lifelong JC resident and I personally cannot stand McCann, at his best he is a jacka**. However, he voted against the new teachers contract that gave unaffordable raises of over 4% per year for 3 years to the union. He also voted against the budget, given that we will be getting less state aid next year. Dehere voted the same way. Patel has indicated she supports renegotiating the contract and cutting costs at headquarters. So as much as I can't stand Jerry on a personal level, I will hold my nose and vote for him. Otherwise the School Board will become a part of the JCEA.

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Do you mean board committees? I couldn't find a comprehensive list but, based on the current members' bios, the active committees are Finance, Legal, Affirmative Action, Educational Programs, and Special Education (but they may have others).

(And I don't know much about the return to home rule but my understanding is that it's still pending. The main difference will be the board's transition from approving state-developed policies and budgets to actually developing their own policies and budgets (and then approving them).)

I heard there are six sections to the board. Not sure but I think it might be: finance, hiring, not sure what else; anyone ?? When the state of N.J. took over the J.C. district the state assumed all 6 areas of the board of education. What are they ? Also I heard that Jersey City has been given back some control but not all. What areas did J.C. get back.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/

They are posting answers to questions from each of the candidates in an ongoing series.

I got the ballot for the election to select members of the Jersey City Board of Education. But where do I get information on the background/positions of the candidates.

I could be voting for the worst candidate and not know it. Where is the transparency?