In a move that interested parties saw coming weeks ago, the Jersey City Education Association has formally endorsed the Education Matters team of Joan Terrell-Paige, Mussab Ali and Marilyn Roman in the local Board of Education race.Â
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“These candidates have proven track records of advocacy and have demonstrated a
commitment to the students of the Jersey City Public Schools as well as the community at large. Each possess unique qualities we feel are essential for a productive and successful school board,” JCEA President Ron Greco said in a statement.
“ … Marilyn, Mussab and Joan are community-minded individuals with both short and long-term goals of making the Jersey City Public Schools a model district for the state and nation. Given the impending cuts to school funding, we need board members who can work in a cooperative and cohesive manner.”
Hudson County View reported back in June that Ali and Roman, two of the three incumbents seeking re-election on November 6th, were expected to again have the support of the JCEA.
A month later at the filing deadline for petitions of nomination, Terrell-Paige, Ali and Romano filed under the Education Matters banner, which has been the slogan of the JCEA-backed ticket for years.
Despite that fact, members of the JCEA leadership insisted that no concrete decisions had been made yet.
Since then, two of the 10 candidates that originally filed have dropped out of the race and Roman, Terrell-Paige and Ali pulled 1, 2, 3 at the ballot drawing.
They will still face a test from the “Preparation, Community, Sustainability†team, which consists of Trustee Vidya Gangadin, Neil Abadie and Dominque Smith – who are both first time candidates.
Asmaa Abdalla and Natalia Ioffe, who both unsuccessfully sought seats on the board in 2016, are both also running as independents in the race.
