Brazile, Ricks seek BOE spots
'We need to continue to move forward' - incumbent Brazile
Incumbent Sheila Brazile and newcomer Jessie Ricks are running together for three-year seats on the Asbury Park Board of Education [BOE].
BOE elections are being held in November with the general election for the first time this year. Previously, they were held in April. Eight have declared candidacy for four spots on the nine-member board.
SHEILA BRAZILE
Brazile [pictured above, left] is currently finishing her first one-year unexpired term on the BOE. She moved to Asbury Park from Alabama in 1980, and graduated from Asbury Park High School in 1982. Her son graduated from APHS in 2010 and another son attended as well. Her daughter is currently in third grade.
Brazile has been active in the high school’s basketball and football booster clubs and she was chairperson of the parent advisory council. The Jeffrey Street resident is also a member of the NAACP. She works in customer support for people with disabilities in Tinton Falls.
“We’re moving in the right direction so we need to continue to move forward,” she said of her decision to run for a three-year term. “I still need to be there and make sure our kids get what they deserve for an education.”
In terms of benchmarks for progress, the middle school and high school met the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress [AYP] standards this year for the first time in recent history, Brazile said. She is also happy to see the district offering general equivalency diploma [GED] courses to parents, she said. She’d like to see the district re-institute the night school, which was around when she went to high school here.
Brazile first ran for the board because of what she saw when attending at board meetings.
“I saw disrespect at board meetings toward the superintendent and the parents and I said, ‘That’s not right,'” she said. She thinks the conduct at board meetings has improved now, though.
She finds it important to stay unbiased when voting and discussing board matters.
“When you’re at a board meeting, you don’t have friends,” she said. “A board meeting is a business. Don’t ask me if you don’t want the honest truth.”
JESSIE RICKS
Brazile and Ricks are the only two candidates running together on one ticket.
“I talked her into running with me,” Brazile said of Ricks. The former district employee “was always a positive influence,” Brazile said. “She is a good mentor and influence.”
A fellow southerner, Ricks [pictured above, right] grew up in Tennessee and settled in Asbury Park in 1968. She attended high school in the south but her husband graduated from APHS in the late 1950s. Her oldest son graduated in 1989, her daughter in 1992 and her youngest son in 1996. Her grandson is an eighth-grader in Asbury Park.
“The first day that I came to Asbury Park in 1968, I fell in love with Asbury Park,” Ricks said. “I’m committed to Asbury Park.”
Ricks worked for the district for the past 23 years, until her retirement earlier this year. The Fourth Avenue resident first worked as a secretary, then as a parent liaison, a truant officer and finally, a district-wide parent coordinator. She has attended BOE meetings regularly for the past 30 years, she said.
She currently serves on the city’s planning board and was also on the Asbury Park Housing Authority for 17 years.
As a BOE member, Ricks would like to focus on student drop-out prevention.
“I want to increase the graduation rate,” she said. “I think we need to work on some type of early intervention program.”
She’d also like to see a larger performing arts program in the district so students don’t have to attend Red Bank Regional High School for those classes, she said.
Mutual respect between the school district and parents is also important to Ricks. “A lot of our parents had bad experiences in school themselves,” she said. “We want to develop a relationship with the parents so the parents can be involved.”
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Six candidates are vying for three spots on the BOE with full three-year terms this year. Those candidates are Brazile, fellow incumbents Rev. Geneva Smallwood and Barbara Lesinski, and newcomers Ricks, Christian Hall and Talesha Crank.
A one-year unexpired term is also available. Incumbent Gerard Dalton and newcomer Qzeena Taylor are facing off for that spot on the board.
BOE elections take place along with general elections on Nov. 6.
