The Jersey City Board of Education race this fall has a familiar ticket previously backed by the local teachers union, while a former trustee is seeking a comeback in a seven-person field for three, three-year terms.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
BOE President Noemi Velazquez, Vice President Christopher Tisdale, and Trustee Afaf Muhammed are running together again, as they did in 2022 when the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA) pulled of their third consecutive sweep.
This time around, their slogan is “Education Brings Solutions” and the JCEA has not formally endorsed anyone under their “Education Matters” banner as of now.
Former Trustee Lorenzo Richardson, also a former board president who lost a re-election bid without the union’s support in 2023 by just 303 votes, is giving it another shot as an independent candidate.
There are three other independent candidates on the non-partisan November 4th ballot: Sumit “Sam” Salia, who is running for a third time, along with two first time candidates – Brendan Doohan and Aimee Sharrock.
Doohan has served as a Democratic committeeman who lives in the Heights, while Sharrock is a former PTA president who works as a human resources professional for Zoom.
The November 4th ballot is going to be loaded in Jersey City, given that the mayor and all nine council seats will be on the line as well. Three full slates have been announced, with two others expected to be completed before next month’s filing deadline.