Thank you for your support, Friends! Rain or shine, please come out to Vote tomorrow!
“Tough to choose among 8 dedicated candidates in Jersey City ed bd race | Jersey Journal endorsements:
https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/11/tough_choices_among_8_dedicated_candidates_in_jers.html#incart_river_index
“Ioffe, a School 16 parent, has impressed us through the years with her dedication and creativity. Earlier this year, she and other members of the school parent council even traveled to Trenton to attend an assembly budget committee hearing on education.”
Thanks, Jersey Journal!
In the two years since I last ran for the school board my team and I have doubled our school’s non-profit revenues. And we are not about to stop.
My hope for change with return of local control is to have less bureaucracy and less complacency on district level, as well as increase in community partnerships when it comes to extracurricular programs.
***As a slight correction to my statement in this video I am not certain whether Hudson County succeeded in getting percentage of JC PILOT revenues through litigation or legislation during Mayor Cunningham’s time. The important thing is – they succeeded, and county schools benefited from it. Whether JCBOE would consider following this example by lobbying, or by suing the city for funding, like they sued the state, something needs to be done. Sometimes extreme examples prompt necessary action.
It’s not all about the money, folks. Academic excellence and passing on the drive to learn can be achieved in even the harshest circumstances and outside of comfort zones. As long as there is commitment to children.
Simple and free ways of promoting mental health and child safety in public schools.
Under my leadership our team has invested over $15,000 into the Arts programs that students receive free of cost. In addition to that we have engaged our public school arts teachers in our after school programs, providing them a platform for expanded teaching.
I am a parent volunteer and I bring solutions, not theories. Solutions that, if given the chance, can help all JC schools.
#ChooseKidsOverKickbacks
Every day our public schools are losing money because of stagnant bureaucratic policies. By comparing the approved “School Specialty” vendor prices and the free market prices I discovered that our schools are overpaying 50% mark-ups for all their supplies. With the help of active legislators we can implement a groundbreaking reform that will result in millions of dollars in savings for our schools, salvaging teacher jobs and programs for years to come.
These were my closing remarks at last night’s forum. I shared something personal thatI don’t often share in the context of these elections.
Creating a culture of success in every JC school so that each child, in every neighborhood can have access to the best education.
The ever contentious subject of charter schools v. public schools. My position hasn’t changed.
Candidates were asked who they’d like to be teamed up with, outside of the established brackets/slates. An impossible question to answer, because it’t not so much about who you chose, but who would be left out. I gave the same response I give to my children. 
Serendipity struck on Central Ave! 😉
On the campaign trail we gate-crashed Councilman Yun’s community meeting, where he very graciously allowed me to introduce myself to his distinguished audience, and we exchanged ideas about innovative strategies to improve the Jersey City Public School funding crisis without wasting resident taxpayers money.
(I told Councilman Yun that I’m a big fan of the ordinance he championed with #ChrisGadsden to share PILOT money with public schools. I hope those ideas can be implemented, because our schools certainly need it.)
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October 19, 7- 8:30PM – BOE Candidate Forum hosted by Civic JC, at the Hank Gallo Community Center, Lincoln Park
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October 22, 7:30- 9PM – BOE Candidate Forum hosted by Riverview Block Association & Heights Votes, at the Hope Center (110 Cambridge Ave)
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October 25, 7PM- 9PM – BOE Candidate Forum hosted by the DCNA (Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations), at the P.S.#16 (96 Sussex St)
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October 26, 6PM – BOE Candidate Forum hosted by B.I.T.E. at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church 140 Belmont Ave
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November 1, 6:30PM – BOE Forum Hosted by SEOC (Statewide Education Organizing Committee) at Mary Bethune Center, 140 Martin Luther King Drive
Please email: natalia@ioffe.net if you would like to put up a poster in your window. Thank you!
Natalia Ioffe for JCBOE 