January 6 2015 Reorganization Meeting Jersey City Public Schools

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Tension evident at JCBOE re-org meeting, JCEA sees opportunity to settle contract impasse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRY7GL03FJQ

January 7, 2015 - Jersey City, News - Written by Michael Shurin - no comments
Two months after their election victories, Gerald Lyons, Lorenzo Richardson and Joel Torres were officially sworn in at the Jersey City Board of Education reorganization meeting, which saw Vidya Gangadin and Marilyn Roman selected president and vice president of the board.
Gangadin, who was unanimously elected by her peers, thanked her family for their support in a brief comment after taking her seat as board president.
Things didn?t go as smooth for Roman, who was selected 5-4 along partisan lines that reflect the dynamic of the new board. Voting against her nomination were board members Micheline Amy, Jessica Daye, Ellen Simon, and former JCBOE President Sangeeta Ranade.
Amy, who participated in the meeting via teleconference, voiced her displeasure with Roman?s nomination, specifically doubting her ability to work with other board members, to the scorn of many in the crowd.
Roman spoke with Hudson County View after the meeting, saying the former majority on the board ?didn?t care? to listen to other people when they were in control.
Finally, with the teachers contract still unresolved, JCEA President Ronnie Greco agreed that the dynamics of the new board would help resolve the impasse in negotiations.


http://hudsoncountyview.com/tension-e ... -settle-contract-impasse/

Jersey City Board of Education names Gangadin as president

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/fu ... sident?instance=top_story

In the reorganization of the Jersey City School Board on Jan. 6, Vidya Gangadin was named as president to replace former President Sangeeta Ranade by a unanimous vote. Marilyn Roman was elected to vice president by a politically divided board 5 to 4.

Sworn in at the same meeting were newly elected Gerald Lyons, Lorenzo Richardson and Joel Torres were sworn in. These three shifted the balance of the board leaving Gangadin as the deciding vote between two political factions. She is seen as a compromise presidential choice although she sided with those who support Roman in her first official vote as president.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - Jersey City Board of Education names Gangadin as president

Niceties don't last long at first Jersey City school board meeting of 2015


http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... oard_meeting_of_2015.html

By Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal
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on January 06, 2015 at 7:13 PM, updated January 06, 2015 at 8:46 PM



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JERSEY CITY ? The first meeting of 2015 for the Jersey City school board was lighter than most, with political enemies exchanging smiles and handshakes and the new year getting off to a respectful start for this oft-bickering board.

The pleasant mood lasted for about 15 minutes.

After three new board members who won November's school election were sworn in, the nine-member board voted to elect new leadership, and the combative atmosphere normally seen during the monthly meetings returned.

Vidya Gangadin, who is entering the final year of her first three-year term, was unanimously elected board president. Marilyn Roman was elected vice president, but that vote was split 5 to 4. Sangeeta Ranade, Roman's 2012 running mate, voted against her.

The move stunned some of the roughly 100 people gathered inside School 11. When board member Micheline Amy, who wasn't present but participated via telephone, began to explain her no vote, the audience jeered her.

"I've worked with her for the last year," Amy said of Roman, "and unfortunately I have not seen the leadership potential in terms of collaboration."

In a short speech after she was elected vice president, Roman ? a former acting mayor and a retired Jersey City teacher ? said she "wouldn't dignify" Amy's comments with a response, but then she did indeed address them.

"I will be supportive when I can be supportive, but I will also continue to ask questions because it is our responsibility to ask them," Roman said.

Amy and Ranade were joined by Jessica Daye and Ellen Simon in voting against Roman becoming vice president, while Gangadin, Gerald Lyons, Lorenzo Richardson, Joel Torres and Roman herself voted in favor.

That voting pattern will likely repeat throughout the new year. Amy, Daye, Ranade and Simon are staunch supporters of Schools Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles, while Lyons, Richardson, Torres ? the three new members ? have been vocal critics of Lyles, as has Roman.

Gangadin is a wild card. She voted in favor of hiring Lyles but Gangadin told The Jersey Journal in November that she doesn't "think there should be sides."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

JCPS BOE Swearing in ceremony for Lorenzo Richardson, Gerald Lyons and Joel Torres

Tuesday January 6, 2015
6:00 PM

Martin Luther King, Jr. Public School #11
866 Bergen Ave, Jersey City, New Jersey 07306

Please show your support and join us for this important event.