Mike Greco, Chairperson of the Jersey City Education Association’s Political Action Committee, announced today that the JCEA PAC has voted to endorse the Education Matters team of Natalia Ioffe, Younass Barkouch & Paula Jones-Watson in the 2021 Jersey City Board of Education race. The JCEA President Ronald Greco issued the following statement regarding the endorsement. “On behalf of the nearly 4,000 Jersey City Public School educators and school support staff, I am pleased to announce our endorsement of the members of The Education Matters team. These candidates have the proven track record of experience, commitment & advocacy needed during this time as we prepare to bring back our children at 100% capacity. Our kids will need all the support they can get to acclimate them to in-person schooling once again and to address their social and emotional needs and we are confident these candidates will help deliver the support that is needed.  Each candidate possesses the unique qualities we feel are essential for a productive and successful school board. Natalia has been a staunch advocate for her PTA and others around the district and has the experience of finding grants and nonprofits to get our children what they need.  Paula is an experienced, retired educator and administrator with decades of experience who knows what is needed inside our classrooms and our district and Younass is a recent graduate of our school system and of Rutgers University who adds a youthful perspective and whose goal is to implement a mentoring program in our district to help our students visualize a clear, attainable goal for their future and provide them with the  nurturing support to achieve that goal. Through their experience and actions advocating in their community, these candidates have proven to us that they have the commitment, the vision and the experience to become effective Jersey City Public School Board Members – and our membership will be committed to putting in the work to make sure they will have the opportunity to do so.”