This fall, four candidates are vying for three seats on the 9-member South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education: Trish Azeez, Liz Callahan, Kevin Diaz, and Will Meyer. Village Green is posting endorsements for candidates from current and former elected officials who hold or held townwide office or higher, as well as endorsements by local organizations. We ask that endorsers coordinate with candidates for full guidelines. Read more election coverage here.
Patricia Azeez
To Whom it May Concern,
I am excited to endorse Trish Azeez to serve on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education. I have known this outstanding leader for several years. In that time, she has consistently shown a propensity to ask tough questions and demand real answers. After serving for four years on the South Orange Village Council, I know how those types of leadership skills can positively impact our local communities. Trish has been outspoken, innovative, and solution-oriented from the moment I met her. Therefore, I sincerely believe she would represent the amazing students in our district very well.
Our original acquaintance came about because I was the track & field coach to both of her children. As the mom of two very young, first-time athletes, her Q&A sessions with me were priceless examples of her advocacy for children. While they might have made me sweat a little bit at times, the sessions were always fair because she simply wanted to hear my vision, test my plan for getting there, and hold me accountable along the way. Her willingness to extend that same support and problem-solving approach to all the students in our community for all the issues they face in our schools will benefit the kids in our school district immensely.
As someone who has been an economist, research analyst, and entrepreneur, Trish has the professional skills to address the wide scope of tasks necessary to succeed in a school board role. Accessing data, analyzing it, making adjustments based on information, and allowing the metrics to guide decisions are all important qualities she brings to this board. On a personal level, Trish has dealt with some of the challenges the district faces in choosing academic circumstances for her own children. Parents in our district need advocates who understand their fight and the district needs board members who have the professional experience to help create solutions. Both of those needs make Trish ideal for this job.
To test my own impartiality, I recently challenged Trish on her platform and confronted her with some of the rationale her detractors have used in opposition to her candidacy. Not knowing she was facing a pop quiz (maybe as a way to even the score from those earlier Q&A sessions when I coached her kids), she passed with flying colors and moved me to author this endorsement. As the former chairperson of the Recreation, Arts, & Cultural Affairs committee in South Orange, I was wowed by her analysis on field usage and maintenance. As someone who served on the Community Police Collaborative in South Orange and voiced several concerns on what “real diversity” means in our community, I was impressed by her approach to a more thoughtful, fiscally-prudent approach to school integration. Political platforms are important, but the actual people who bring them to life are even more important for our children.
My mother was a public school teacher and eventually a public school principal in the same school system for 41 years. On behalf of my mother posthumously, I wear that distinction with honor because I realize how many lives she positively impacted. Knowing Trish and hearing her vision for ALL the students who she would impact in her role on the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education, I have no doubt that Trish would similarly change students’ lives in a positive way. Hence, it is with the utmost pleasure that I offer this endorsement for Trish Azeez to serve our community in that capacity. In addition to fulfilling their civic duties on the national and state levels on election day, I urge your readers to vote Trish Azeez (4G) on their ballots to improve our school district.
Respectfully,
Bobby Brown
former South Orange Village Council member
