Downtown attorney appointed to Jersey City school board

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
April 25, 2014 at 3:57 PM

The Jersey City school board appointed an attorney and part-time law professor last night to fill the vacancy left when longtime board member Sue Mack stepped down last month.

The unanimous action came despite a concerted push by a group of local parents who lobbied the board to appoint Lorenzo Richardson, a district critic who failed in his bid to be elected to the nine-member Board of Education last November.

Instead, Bertram Okpokwasili, 44, of York Street, will remain in Mack?s seat for the rest of this year (her term would have expired in January 2015). He will be sworn in next month.

Okpokwasili (pronounced OAK-poke-wah-silly) said he's "humbled" the board chose him. Married with three children, two of whom attend School 3 and one enrolling in the public-school district this fall, he moved to Jersey City in 2006.

"I think that this board, the present board, they're just, they're amazing and I wanted to serve,? he told The Jersey Journal.

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