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City voters will cast ballots Tuesday for three seats on the Asbury Park Board of Education and to approve a $7,254,360 tax levy in support of the district’s $68,645,817 operating budget for the 2017-18 school year. This equates to a $29 increase for the average homeowner.

Vying for the three year terms are the following in order of ballot position and a brief statement on why they are running:

James Famularo, 51, of Park Avenue, is a lifelong resident who obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a former Board of Education [BOE] member who previously worked as an assistant city manager. Today he works as a substitute teacher. He ran for the state assembly in 1998 and in recent years to be re-seated on the BOE.  

“I believe for the school system to move forward, we need to approach it from a holistic point of view and not from a small point of view,” he said.

Eric Pinckney, 48, of Deal Lake Drive, is an 8 year long resident and Gannett New Jersey employee who founded the annual Pink Prom benefit in the city. He is an instructor with Young Publishers of Philadelphia, a program that works to develop literacy skills and promote student journalism.

“There are a lot of programs out there that students can benefit from,” Pinckney said. “I’d like to introduce those new programs and keep the current programs moving forward.”

Incumbent Felicia Simmons of Seventh Ave, is a lifelong area resident and current Rutgers University student studying political science and social work. Her mission, she said, is to foster parent involvement, transparency and student growth.

“We have a great community here,” she said. “Community participation is necessary. We can’t look for someone to save us, we have to save ourselves.”

Incumbent Stephen Williams, 33, of Central Ave, is a lifelong resident who obtained his sports management undergraduate and master’s degrees from Delaware State University. He is part owner in his family’s contracting business.

“I believe in giving back; I believe in paying it forward,” he said. “I believe in administering a great policy, I believe in a collective effort.”

Incumbent Carol Jones of Bond Street, is a 35 year long city resident and former Thurgood Marshall Elementary school nurse who helped coordinated the children’s after school music program. She said her job as BOE member is to ensure the children succeed.

“I want the kids to read on grade level, I want the kids to succeed and feel good about themselves,” she said. “I want them to know they can get into college and go to college if they want to. If they don’t want to go to college, I want to make sure they get an education where they can get a job with a good a salary.”

Joe Grillo of Cookman Ave, is an 11 year long resident who serves as chair of the Asbury Park Democratic Organization. He is Director of Development for the New Jersey Audubon Society, sits on the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, and is a member of the grassroots Complete Streets Coalition.

“We need to continue focusing on the opportunities that are there for our students,” he said. “We can’t get distracted. Right now we are on a great track.”

Grillo, Jones and Pinkney are running as a ticket on a platform that vocally supports Superintendent Lamont Repollet initiatives that has resulted in marked improvements to  literacy and test scores, as well as lower absentee and suspension rates.

“There is still a lot of really hard work to be done but we need to continue to move in the right direction,” Grillo said. “We can’t afford to fly back to the bad old days that led to the state monitor taking over the school board.”

The trio pledge to save taxpayers $50,000 by moving the elections back to November, which they say will also increase voter turnout. They aim to implement state energy audit guidelines to improve sustainability and costs, and expand on the Dream Academy program that offers qualifying students an associate’s degree at the time of their high school graduation.

Simmons, who is running by herself has said the pending Union County Prosecutor’s Office voter fraud case against her does not prohibit her from sitting on the board or running for a second full term on the board. Simmons, who was initially appointed to her BOE seat has served four years.

Her platform includes a five year plan to update the district’s facilities to improve quality of life for the district’s close to 2,000 students. She said she aims to not only foster community involvement but ensure fiscal responsibility of board governance.  

Famularo and Williams, who are running as a ticket, pledge 100 jobs for residents and parents and to build a new Obama elementary school, to bring back summer and night schools and industrial arts. Williams said he’d like to see a program in place that tracks a student’s success five years after graduation.

“You can’t measure success by standardized tests,” Williams said. “What Dr. [Lamont] Repollet is doing is great but he needs something to supplement that. We can measure our success by knowing what our kids are doing post graduation.”

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