School Board Ballotpedia

CLIFTON — This year's school board race has five candidates: three incumbents with years of experience and two Generation Z challengers. The five are vying for three three-year open seats. The incumbents are Judy Bassford, Lucy Danny and Alan Paris, and the Gen Z challengers are Cameron Hebron and Alias Ragsdale. Bassford has been on the board for 13 years and has served four terms. She has served as vice president of Communities Against Substance Abuse, which organizes Project Graduation, and works for Public Partnerships' Personal Preference Program. She was named the New Jersey School Boards Association member of the year in 2019 and is an avid advocate for students with special needs.

Danny has served on the board for 13 years and four terms and is the board's current vice president. She also served as board president. She has been a world history teacher for 23 years in Paramus. Danny is a Fulbright scholar and a published educational author. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and has received numerous New Jersey school board certifications. She participated in revamping the state's educational evaluation system.

"All this helps me make decisions on the board," she said. IMPORTANT NOTICE: A-5117, a bill that increases the number of signatures needed on a nominating petition for a board of education election from 10 to 25 signatures, has been signed by the Governor on... 3, 2025. The requirement is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025. and all future elections would need to include 25 signatures.

We encourage candidates to read the full language of A5117 Board candidates are reminded that some county clerks require the use of a county-specific nominating petition and other forms. Candidates should contact their county clerk for details concerning the proper form(s) to use for candidacy in the November 2025 school board elections, and for details about filing procedures and any new developments in... NJ-County-Clerk-Contact-Information. The deadline for submission of the 2025 November school board election nominating petitions to the county clerk for both individual and joint filings is the last Monday in July, 7/28/25. Sample Nominating Petition Individual Nov.

2025 Sample Nominating Petition_Joint_Nov_2025 According to our research, nearly half of the 80,000+ school board seats across the country are up for election over the next two cycles. These include seats representing many of the largest school districts in the country such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas and more. From banning cellphones in school to managing up to 10 billion dollar education budgets, elected school boards play a pivotal role in the future of our schools and the well-being of our teachers and... And, despite the vast majority of school board races being classified as "nonpartisan", outside spending and political endorsements for these contests are on the rise as more partisan fights are taking place at the...

Ahead of these contests, here are 10 facts about upcoming school board races that you probably didn't know. Plus, stay tuned for a new election calendar dedicated solely to the schedule of open seats at the school board level which our research team is tracking. The school board consists of lay representatives – people who live in the community and are selected by the community (or, if it’s an appointed school board, selected by either the mayor or county... They’re your neighbors: parents, grandparents, local business owners, retirees – ordinary citizens. They are non-partisan and they receive no pay or benefits for their public service. The school board has a dual role: To represent the concerns of the citizens, taxpayers and parents to the school administrators, and to represent the needs of the students and school district to the...

The school board does not operate the district on a day-to-day basis; that is the job of the superintendent, who is the district’s chief executive. Rather, the school board sets the policies, goals and objectives for the district – and it holds the superintendent responsible for implementing the policies and achieving the goals. Maybe. We recommend working up the chain of command. For instance, if a parent has a problem with a teacher, the parent should first address it with the teacher and, if the issue is not resolved, the parent should turn to the principal... State law requires a public comment period at board meetings.

Boards are allowed to establish reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of public comment. For instance, school boards typically set guidelines on the length of an individual’s comment (e.g., a certain amount of time per person), so no one person dominates the meeting. There is no required format for public comment; some boards have one public-comment period in the middle of the meeting, some have two public-comment sessions during a board meeting. Comments from citizens generally go through the chair at the board meeting, usually the board president. Boards use the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter into a question-and-answer session or a “cross examination” between the public and individual... Be aware that not all issues brought before a board meeting will be resolved that evening; boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the...

While public education can be an emotional issue, and understandably so, the board will strive to maintain a certain level of decorum at the meeting. Many meetings are recorded or televised, and students often attend or participate in the meetings. As such, citizens are expected to maintain tone of courtesy and civility.

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