Bertram C. Okpokwasili

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Bertram C. Okpokwasili

Prior offices

Jersey City Public Schools Board of Education At-large

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Education

Bachelor's

Tufts University

Law

Rutgers School of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Bertram C. Okpokwasili was an at-large representative on the Jersey City Board of Education in New Jersey. He was appointed to the office on April 24, 2014, to fill a vacancy created by board member Sue Mack's departure. He ran in the general election on November 4, 2014. Okpokwasili was part of a slate with Carol Harrison-Arnold and Monica Kress. Bertram C. Okpokwasili lost the general election on November 4, 2014.

Biography

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Okpokwasili earned a degree at Tufts University and worked in information technology. He went on to earn his law degree from Rutgers School of Law in Newark and became an attorney. He worked as a law clerk and mediator for the New Jersey Superior Court's Family Division. At the time of his tenure, he was an adjunct professor at Rutgers.

Okpokwasili's family includes his three children who attend district schools. He volunteers with the PTA and as a baseball coach for the Roberto Clemente Little League.

Elections

2014

See also: Jersey City Public Schools elections (2014)

Three seats on the Jersey City Board of Education were up for election on November 4, 2014. Incumbents Carol Harrison-Arnold and Bertram C. Okpokwasili sought re-election. Harrison-Arnold and Okpokwasili were joined on the ballot by former school board member Gerald Lyons and 2013 candidates Lorenzo Richardson and Gina Verdibello. Newcomer candidates included Dominique D. Lee, Monica Kress, Michael Reilly, and Joel Torres. Harrison-Arnold, Okpokwasili, and Kress ran as a slate under the committee called Parents for Excellence, while Richardson, Verdibello, and Lyons ran as a slate under the committee The Children First Team.

Results

Jersey City Public Schools,
At-large General Election, 3-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Lorenzo Richardson	22.1%	12,472
	Nonpartisan	Joel Torres	19.2%	10,854
	Nonpartisan	Gerald Lyons	16.9%	9,568
	Nonpartisan	Monica Kress	11.3%	6,383
	Nonpartisan	Carol Harrison-Arnold Incumbent	10.9%	6,133
	Nonpartisan	Bertram C. Okpokwasili Incumbent	10.7%	6,034
	Nonpartisan	Gina Verdibello	5.3%	2,999
	Nonpartisan	Michael Reilly	3.5%	1,988
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.2%	88
Total Votes				56,519
Source: Hudson County Clerk, "General Election November 4, 2014, Official Results," November 17, 2014

Funding

Okpokwasili ran as a part of the Parents for Excellence committee. The committee reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of October 15, 2014.

Endorsements

Okpokwasili had not received any official endorsements as of October 15, 2014.

Campaign themes

2014

Okpokwasili provided the following joint statement on his campaign website with Kress and Harrison-Arnold:

“	STRENGTHENING OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS As independent candidates, we are only beholden to the 28,000 students who depend on our schools for an exceptional education. We believe Jersey City Public Schools can provide an excellent education for every child, preparing them for college or a career. We believe the best way to raise student achievement is by focusing our efforts, and the efforts of the community, on better public schools. We must engage students and teachers and continue to focus resources on schools facing the greatest challenges. We will work hard to return Jersey City schools to local control. We believe in improving existing schools, opening new ones, and continuing to oppose the practice of closing schools. We support the district’s efforts to create more district-run high school choices for students and families. We believe in encouraging families to feel welcome and engaged in their children's education. As parents become involved in school, children achieve more. Therefore, we must proactively solicit the opinions of parents and teachers in making Board decisions in order to make the Board more receptive to community needs. We support the goal, laid out in the Mayor Fulop's transition report, to build a playground at every elementary and grade school, so every child has a safe place to play.	”
—Parent's for Excellence campaign website (2014)

Campaign advertisements

Parents for Excellence, "Meet The Candidates for Board of Education 2014," October 8, 2014

Parents for Excellence, "Vote November 4th for Jersey City Board of Education," October 9, 2014

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Bertram + Okpokwasili + Jersey + City + Public + Schools"

Bertram C. Okpokwasili News Feed

See also

• Jersey City Public Schools, New Jersey
• Jersey City Public Schools elections (2014)

External links

Suggest a link

• Jersey City Public Schools
• Office website
• Campaign website