Asbury Park Sun special series: Meet the candidates
Carol Jones seeks one year BOE term as write-in candidate
The following “Meet the Candidates” series will spotlight individual residents who seek a seat on the Asbury Park Board of Education.
There are three three-year terms and two one-year terms up for contest on the Nov. 5 ballot, making a majority of the seats on the nine member board available. A total of nine candidates are in the running for the five spots. Full-term candidates are Connie Sue Breech, Arva M. Council, incumbent Nicolle D. Harris, Corey Lowell, and incumbent Qzeena Taylor. One-year unexpired term candidates are write-in hopefuls Calvin Anderson and Carol Jones, and incumbents Kenneth Saunders, Jr. and Felicia Simmons.
Today’s report features write-in candidate Carol Jones. Jones is running on the “Team Vitamin C” ticket with Connie Sure Breech, Corey Lowell and Calvin Anderson.
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Carol Jones hopes to be one of two write-in candidates elected to the Asbury Park Board of Education [BOE] this year.
Jones is a 35-year Asbury Park resident.
She grew up in Point Pleasant Beach before she moved to Long Branch, where she worked as a bedside nurse in Monmouth Medical Center. Eventually, she got tired of paying rent and started a search for a home in the shore area. She found an affordable one and settled in Asbury Park.
Jones remained at her post in Monmouth Medical Center until she got married, had a child, and moved on to a new job as a perinatal specialist for the State Department of Health. In that capacity she counseled soon-to-be-mothers about proper prenatal care and taught teachers how to cope with classroom children who were affected by drugs and alcohol.
Eventually Jones went back to school at Jersey City State University to get a full nursing certificate. She completed her practicum at Asbury’s Thurgood Marshall School and taught health education in the high school. When she finished the program there was an opening for a school nurse at Thurgood Marshall so she applied for the job.
In her tenure at Thurgood Marshall, she was “extremely active with the child study team,” she said. The team evaluates students who may have a learning disability or who may need medical follow-up after being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, among other ailments, she said.
“Socially and academically, kids can’t function if they don’t feel good about themselves,” she said.
Two years ago, Jones retired from her 14-year position. She now serves on the city’s zoning board and sits on the board of directors of the Phillips Seaview Towers. After she retired she began thinking about running for a spot on the nine member beard, now that she was no longer employed by the district and therefore eligible.
Jones major concerns include “negativities [associated with the district], a the lack of consistency within the schools, and a lack of support for the kids,” she said.
“Kids are being put into the alternative schools and are never being evaluated to see if there is a real problem,” she said. “Throwing them into the alternative school without support doesn’t help them.”
Parent involvement is also “a big part of the puzzle that is missing in certain situations,” according to Jones.
“I don’t think parents understand how important they are. It’s a big issue and it’s an important issue,” she said. Often times, today’s parents think if a child is acting up in school, it is because the school is not doing their job. To combat this way of thinking, Jones would like to see more parents working in tandem with educators to ensure their children achieve in school.
A district-wide behavioral policy is also on Jones’ list of top priorities, along with more tutoring programs and after-school programs offered throughout the year instead of just around exam time, she said.
She would also like to see added focus on the students in the lower grades to instill the importance of education while they are young with trips to colleges “to show them the goal that if they work hard, what is where they will go,” she said. More access to vocational programs that teach specific skills and job-training would benefit the students in the upper grades, she said.
Although Jones has not seen a write-in candidate win a seat on the BOE in her 32 years history in the city, she remains “very hopeful” she will get a seat, she said.
“I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t,” she said. “I’m hoping people remember me from my past work here.”
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