BTW, for those of you that don?t know Sue Mack, she is been on the board for 5 terms and running for her 6th. She is often an only vote their of reasonability. She has been a tireless advocate for special needs children as she herself is the parent of child that required special needs. She is responsive to the community and a professional

I just want to share with you some information on the Board of Education upcoming election this April. It is a hugely important race as the majority balance of the board will be based on this election. Last year our team swept all three seats with Carol/Sterling/Angel breaking every BOE election turnout record in the history of the city and our hope that this year we will change the dynamics to meaningfully start to look towards education reform. I am very proud and excited about the three candidates we have and I am even more excited about how they were selected. My hope is that you will have the chance to meet them all (if you have not already) and consider lending your support


The process for candidate selection: I wanted to change the political dynamic whereas most teams throughout Jersey City are selected by a politician/political bosses that ?select? his/her favorite candidate and then people follow. I wanted to change this and create a bottom up approach that the selection comes from the community with the ONLY criteria being smart capable dynamic people that are in this for no political gain but rather to meaningfully change the schools. So.. it was quite clear to the 60 volunteers from last year?s election which volunteers did the most work on the campaign for Sterling/Carol/Angel.. It is no surprise that the people who did the most work were actually parents with children in the schools that were working on the campaign for the right reasons. So this year? I pledged that I would support the direction of the team. A Committee of 10 community people that did the most in last years election- mostly parents (many on this board) created a questionnaire and then an interview process for any potential candidate. We have close to 15 responses of people wanting to run and some of the responses were up to 25 pages long as it relates to plans for the schools. The committee then interviewed as a whole each candidate and selected the three that they thought would be best for this year. I will say it was terrific group overall


Last night we had a kick off for our team and nearly 200 people attended at Zeppelin Hall. I couldn?t be more excited about the three candidates I am working for in this election. It is a diverse group from across the city with common thread of all being very capable and extremely bright. While I am sure you will have the chance in meet and greets/conversations to really get an idea for views I figure I would post some basic info on each. While nobody will ever agree with every candidate 100% of the time I think we have some great talent that we are working for to get elected


Marvin Adames ? Head Prosecutor for City of Newark appointed by Mayor Booker, 20 month year old son that will be attending JC school system. Rutgers Law School, College of NJ Undergrad, Grew up in a very tough environment originally from the south ward of Newark. Come terrific non for profit volunteer work in mentoring


Carol Harrison-Arnold ? Graduate NYU undergrad, University of Virginia Law School, Former President Lincoln High School PTO, HS Chair Hoboken Charter School, President Monticello Community Development, Director Jersey City Episcopal, 2007 Jersey Journal ?Everyday Hero?,


Sue Mack ? Most of you know of course and needs little introduction?

This election is important to say the least and I couldn?t be more excited about the future

- Steve