The “Education Matters” team pulled off another sweep in the Jersey City Board of Education election, steam rolling the competition in the nine-person contest.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Natalia Ioffe, Younass Barkouch, and Paula Jones-Watson had the backing of the Jersey City Education Association in their latest battle against the “Change for Children” team.
Both sides again spent six figures, largely due to the influence of super PACs, as they tried to win three, three-year terms on the board.
The new team, replacing Board President Mussab Ali, Trustee Marilyn Roman, and Trustee Joan Terrell-Paige, who all opted not to seek re-election, won in definitive fashion: Jones-Watson scored 12,485 votes, Barkouch earned 10,526 mand Ioffe notched 10,427.
Doris Toni Ervin, of the Change for Children team, finished in a distance fourth place with 4,653 votes and the three independent candidates were all a ways off from placing.
This is the second year in a row the JCEA-backed team won all three contested seats.
