Gina Irizarry
Gina Irizarry was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Bayonne School District school board in New Jersey. Irizarry was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Irizarry participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2016
- See also: Bayonne School District elections (2016)
Four of the nine seats on the Bayonne school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. The ballot included three seats with three-year terms and one seat with a two-year term.[1] Charles Ryan defeated John Cupo and Maria Valado for the seat with the two-year term. Incumbents Carol Cruden, Mary Jane Desmond, and Denis Wilbeck won re-election to the seats with three-year terms by defeating challengers Michael Alonso, Gina Irizarry, Leonard Kantor, Sharma Montgomery, George Vinc Jr., and John Sebik.[2]
Results
| Bayonne School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Denis Wilbeck Incumbent |
22.03% | 6,712 |
| Mary Jane Desmond Incumbent |
18.26% | 5,563 |
| Carol Cruden Incumbent |
10.14% | 3,089 |
| Gina Irizarry | 9.53% | 2,902 |
| Leonard Kantor | 9.23% | 2,813 |
| Michael Alonso | 8.93% | 2,722 |
| George Vinc Jr. | 8.27% | 2,518 |
| John Sebik | 6.80% | 2,072 |
| Sharma Montgomery | 6.67% | 2,032 |
| Write-in votes | 0.14% | 42 |
| Total Votes | 30,465 | |
| Source: Hudson County, New Jersey, "2016 General Election Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Irizarry reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission during the election.[3]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Gina Irizarry participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 20, 2016:
| “ | I hope to be an advocate for the community of Bayonne that has been kept in the dark about important decisions that I think are often made impulsively.[4][5] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in New Jersey. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Our district has a magnet program which is a school of choice that has an application process. I would say all of our 10 K through 8 elementary schools are consistent in quality.[5] | ” |
| —Gina Irizarry (October 20, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. There are many factors, particularly outside influences, that contribute to student achievement or lack of that need to be considered when comparing student progress. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Education is not one size fits all. The NJCCS are a good outline of academics markers but Common Core is too unrealistic. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. Teachers learn from other master teachers. They should be given an adequate chance to be mentored and develop their skills to a reasonable point. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Teachers perform a job as per any job with a description and expectations. The step guide is something to achieve and merits your investment in the district. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. It depends on the access or lack of access to quality education. All parents deserve the right to a quality education for their children. If your district cannot provide that then I see no reason to deny the community a choice if the district cannot effectively control their schools. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be in extreme cases where a students behavior affects the learning environment for other students. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Gina Irizarry Bayonne School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Bayonne School District, "Board Member Election Process," May 31, 2016
- ↑ Hudson County Clerk, "2016 (November) School Candidates," accessed October 9, 2016
- ↑ New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, "Public Information," accessed December 8, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Gina Irizarry's responses," October 20, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
