Jersey City Public Schools elections (2015)

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2015 Jersey City Public Schools Elections
General Election date:
November 3, 2015
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
New Jersey Jersey City Public Schools Hudson County, New Jersey ballot measures Local ballot measures, New Jersey

Three seats on the Jersey City Public Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. The seats of incumbents Marilyn Roman, Vidya Gangadin and Sangeeta Ranade were on the ballot.

Ranade did not file to run for re-election, guaranteeing at least one new member would join the board. The race featured incumbents Roman and Gangadin and challengers Reichart and Gina Verdibello. Roman, Gangadin and challenger John Reichart won the election. They ran together as a slate called "Education Matters."

See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section.

About the district

See also: Jersey City Public Schools, New Jersey

Jersey City Public Schools is located in Hudson County, N.J.

Jersey City Public Schools is located in Hudson County in northern New Jersey. The county seat is Jersey City. Hudson County was home to approximately 669,115 residents in 2014, according to estimates by the United States Census Bureau. During the 2012-2013 school year, Jersey City Public Schools was the second-largest school district by enrollment in the state and served 27,028 students.

Demographics

Hudson County performed similarly to the rest of New Jersey in terms of education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 36.3 percent of Hudson County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 35.8 percent for New Jersey as a whole. The median household income for Hudson County was $58,442, compared to the state average of $71,629. The poverty rate in Hudson County was 16.8 percent, compared to 10.4 percent statewide.

Racial Demographics, 2013
Race	Hudson County (%)	New Jersey (%)
White	66.1	73.4
Black or African American	15.1	14.7
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.2	0.6
Asian	15.0	9.2
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.2	0.1
Two or More Races	2.5	2.0
Hispanic or Latino	42.9	18.9

Presidential Voting Pattern, Hudson County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	153,108	42,369
2008	154,140	55,360
2004	127,447	60,646
2000	118,206	43,804

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information

The Jersey City Board of Education consists of nine members elected at large to three-year terms. Three seats are up for election every year in November. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 3, 2015.

School board candidates had to be U.S. citizens and residents of the school district for at least one year prior to the election. They also had to be able to read and write and be registered voters. They could not hold another elected office in the same municipality as the school district, such as mayor. To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their nominating petitions with the Hudson County Clerk's Office by July 27, 2015.

In order to vote in this election, residents of the school district had to be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old. They also had to have lived in the district for at least 30 days prior to the election. They had to file their Voter Registration Application and Party Affiliation Form with the Ocean County Clerk's Office by October 13, 2015. Photo identification was not required to vote in New Jersey.

Elections

2015

Candidates

At-large

Vidya Gangadin		Marilyn Roman
	Incumbent Member from 2012-2015 Financial analyst and operations manager Member of "Education Matters" slate		Incumbent Educator Member of "Education Matters" slate
John Reichart		Gina Verdibello
	Director of operations Member of "Education Matters" slate		Graduate, Rutgers University Realtor

Election results

Jersey City Board of Education, At-large, General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Marilyn Roman Incumbent	27.3%	6,728
John Reichart	25.7%	6,356
Vidya Gangadin Incumbent	25.6%	6,324
Gina Verdibello	21.4%	5,277
Total Votes		24,685
Source: Office of the Hudson County Clerk, "General Election Official Results," accessed November 23, 2015

Endorsements

Incumbents Vidya Gangadin and Marilyn Roman and challenger John Reichart were endorsed by the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA). Roman and challenger Gina Verdibello were endorsed by Jersey City Board of Education member Lorenzo Richardson.

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2015

Candidates received a total of $22,099.00 and spent a total of $3,864.59 in the election, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Vidya Gangadin, Marilyn Roman and John Reichart (slate)	$20,649.00	$3,864.59	$16,784.41
Gina Verdibello	$1,450.00	$0.00	$1,450.00

School board candidates were required to file a Certificate of Organization and Designation of Campaign Treasurer and Depository form if they received a contribution of any amount, including their own funds. They filed this form with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Three reports were required from candidates who received contributions: the 29-day pre-election report, the 11-day pre-election report and the 20-day post-election report. Contributions received between October 21, 2015, and November 3, 2015, required 48-hour notice reports.

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2014 See also: Jersey City Public Schools elections (2014) 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 2013 See also: Jersey City Public Schools elections (2013) Jersey City Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Jessica Daye 21.1% 9,351      Nonpartisan Micheline Amy 17.7% 7,879      Nonpartisan Ellen Simon 10.6% 4,702      Nonpartisan Lorenzo Richardson 10.2% 4,511      Nonpartisan Gerald Lyons Incumbent 8.9% 3,950      Nonpartisan Gina Verdibello 7.6% 3,383      Nonpartisan Kevaan G. Walton 6.2% 2,770      Nonpartisan Denise Davis 4.8% 2,137      Nonpartisan Dejon Morris 4.3% 1,914      Nonpartisan Carol L. Gabriel 2.7% 1,214      Nonpartisan Josephine Paige 2.2% 982      Nonpartisan Susan Harbace 2.2% 961      Nonpartisan Telissa E. Dowling 1.4% 608      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.1% 44 Total Votes 44,406 Source: Hudson County Clerk, "Official Election Results," November 14, 2013 Jersey City Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 1-year unexpired term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Angel Valentin Incumbent 54.1% 7,698      Nonpartisan Carol Lester Incumbent 45.7% 6,506      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 26 Total Votes 14,230 Source: Hudson County Clerk, "Official Election Results," November 14, 2013 2012 Jersey City Public Schools, At-large General Election, 3-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Marilyn Roman 20.5% 4,501      Nonpartisan Vidya Gangadin 19.2% 4,220      Nonpartisan Sangeeta Ranade 17.1% 3,762      Nonpartisan Gerald M. Lyons 13.5% 2,968      Nonpartisan Frank Lorenzo 11.3% 2,490      Nonpartisan Amanda Khan 10.8% 2,370      Nonpartisan DeJon Morris 5.6% 1,233      Nonpartisan Jayson H. Burg 1.9% 415      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.1% 20 Total Votes 21,979 Source: Hudson County, New Jersey, "2012 School Board Election," accessed October 28, 2013

What was at stake?

2015

Election trends

See also: 2013 school board elections and 2014 school board elections

With three seats up for election in November 2015, one-third of the Jersey City Board of Education had the potential to change hands. The two incumbents who ran for re-election successfully won another term, and a newcomer took the open seat. The 2015 race attracted fewer candidates than in recent years, with an average of 1.33 running per seat.

Newcomers were more prevalent on the board preceding the 2015 election. Three new members were elected in 2013, and another three non-incumbents were elected in 2014. Three incumbents ran for four seats in the 2013 election, but two of them ran in a special election for a one-year term. Angel Valentin defeated fellow incumbent Carol Lester to win that seat. Gerald Lyons, the other incumbent up for election that year, was defeated, receiving the fifth-most votes. An average of 4.33 candidates ran per seat in that race.

Lyons returned to the board in 2014, taking the third seat up for election. He and the two newcomers elected to the board that year defeated two incumbents and three fellow challengers. An average of 2.67 candidates ran in that election. That average was higher than the 2014 state average of two candidates per seat in New Jersey's largest school districts.

Issues in the district

After deliberation, Islamic holiday not added to calendar

After four hours of debate, the Jersey City Board of Education decided not to add the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha to the school's calendar in a split vote on September 17, 2015. The vote came after Muslim community members started circulating a petition in June 2015 that said it was discriminatory to not offer Muslim holidays. On September 10, 2015, the city council voted to include both Eid Al-Adha as well as the Hindu holiday of Diwali as city holidays. The school board, however, ultimately decided not to include Eid al-Adha, which occurred on September 24, 2015, on the 2015-2016 district calendar. They were concerned parents would not be able to find childcare on such short notice.

"Doing this at this point on six days notice for this upcoming holiday is going to cause undue hardship on 5,000 to 10,000 people who are going to have to scramble to get coverage for their children," Board Member Gerald Lyons said.

Despite voting down the new holiday, Jersey City Superintendent Marcia Lyles said the board "expressed a commitment to pursuing ways to demonstrate how much we respect all of our cultures." She added:

“	I believe the discussion re-affirmed our commitment to recognizing and honoring the rich cultural and religious diversity of the Jersey City community. As I stated following the public voices, no matter how the Board ultimately voted, we will continue to engage the entire Jersey City community in this important conversation.	”
—Jersey City Superintendent Marcia Lyles (2015)

During the debate at the school board meeting, some Jewish community members expressed feelings of discrimination since the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were also not included in the school calendar. After voting against including the Muslim holiday, the board reminded those at the meeting that students were allowed skip school for religious reasons without any penalty. They also said they would revisit the school district's holiday policy again at a later date.

Regaining full control over district

The Jersey City Board of Education regained more control over the district in the spring of 2016. It had been run by the New Jersey Department of Education at least in part since 1989. The portions of control that were given back to the district were operations and personnel. Curriculum and instruction was the remaining portion of control the district needed to regain full control.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Jersey City Public Schools election in 2015:

Deadline	Event
July 27, 2015	Candidate filing deadline
July 31, 2015	Objection to petitions filing deadline
September 4, 2015	Candidate withdrawal deadline
October 5, 2015	29-day pre-election campaign finance report due
October 13, 2015	Voter registration deadline
October 23, 2015	11-day pre-election campaign finance report due
November 3, 2015	Election Day
November 23, 2015	20-day post-election campaign finance report due

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: New Jersey elections, 2015

The Jersey City Public Schools election shared the ballot with New Jersey General Assembly elections for District 32, District 33 and District 35. A number of other school districts within Hudson County also held school board elections on November 3, 2015.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Jersey City Public Schools' New Jersey. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Jersey City Public Schools elections (2015) - Google News

See also

Jersey City Public Schools	New Jersey	School Boards
Jersey City Public Schools elections (2014) Jersey City Public Schools elections (2013) List of school districts in New Jersey	New Jersey school board elections, 2015 Public education in New Jersey Local ballot measures, New Jersey	School board elections, 2015 School board elections, 2014 School board election data analysis, 2015 School board election data analysis, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Jersey City Public Schools
• Hudson County Clerk's Office