The forum of candidates for the Bayonne school board set for November 2

The Bayonne Education Association will hold a candidates’ forum for the upcoming Board of Education elections before Election Day, according to BEA President Gene Woods.

TA Pinto Bayonne‘s Al Sullivan will host the event on Wednesday, November 2 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Alexander X. O’Connor Auditorium of Lycée de Bayonne.

Woods said Sullivan contacted each of the candidates running for office. As of Thursday, Oct. 20, all candidates have confirmed their attendance with him, Woods told the News from the Community of Bayonne.

New candidates presented themselves to stand for the next elections of the Rectorate of Bayonne. The election will take place on Tuesday, November 8 and four seats are up for grabs for a variable number of years.

Three seats are available for a term of three years each. The terms of directors Lisa Burke, Jan Patrick Egan and Denis Wilbeck are coming to an end and none are standing for re-election.

In addition to these three seats, there is another board seat available for a one-year term. Director Hector Gonzalez, Jr.’s term expires after his appointment in January of this year.

Gonzalez is running for reelection on the “Together We Can” list with former school trustee and former city councilor Mary Jane Desmond; Miriam Bechay, an NJIT junior majoring in biomedical engineering who has worked on political campaigns in the city; and William Young, financial services representative and registrant for the New York Life Insurance Company.

Candidates from the “Together We Can” list will compete against the “Voices For Progress” list, which includes: former Jersey City PS 17 candidate and educator Gina Irizarry; Angélique Jackson-Belle, businesswoman, community activist and president of the board of directors of the Maison des jeunes de Bayonne; Ali Hassan, who works in the financial industry as co-founder and CEO of Crescent Crypto Asset Management; and Saverio “Sam” Maggio, a retired Bayonne public school teacher.

Bechay and Hassan are seeking the one-year term while the others on their respective lists are seeking the three-year terms. Jahnbaz Almas, a board member of the Bayonne Foundation for Education, is running for a three-year term, regardless of a list on the “Education is Freedom” ticket.

So far, things have been largely calm ahead of the election. The only recent major event was Mayor James Davis choosing to endorse the “Voices for Progress” ticket, its first mention in a school board race since 2020, noting it was a top priority and one of his “first business orders” for his third term of mayor.

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