Charles Thomas Epps Jr. (June 13, 1944 – March 20, 2015) was an American
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
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politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
, who served in the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...
from 2006 to 2008, where he represented the 31st legislative district, having taken office on January 10, 2006. Epps was elected to the Assembly on November 8, 2005, filling the seat of fellow Democrat
Anthony Chiappone
Anthony Chiappone (born November 13, 1957, Brooklyn, New York) is an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 31st Legislative District from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2008 unti ...
, who lost in the primary in his bid for re-election.
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
. (UPDATE JAN 2012: under substantial criticism from the public and from the elected Jersey City School Board, he is being paid one year's bonus salary of his contract in exchange for a agreement to resign without recourse. He also received great negative attention for allegedly unilaterally ordering the removal of the massive bronze statue of the city's founder, Peter Stuyvesant, from its place of honor in the heart of the site of the city's founding as the village of Bergen in 1640) Epps defeated the incumbent Chiappone in the Democratic primary with the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
Epps served in the Assembly on the Environment and Solid Waste Committee and the Health and Senior Services Committee.
In 2000, the State Board of Education approved Epps as the new State District Superintendent for the
Jersey City Public Schools
The Jersey City Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to ...
. Epps, who had served as the district's Associate Superintendent for Community and Support Services since 1998, was recommended to the board by Commissioner David Hespe. Epps has dedicated his entire education career to the Jersey City School District. Since joining the district as a teacher of grades six and seven at the Whitney M. Young School in 1967, Epps has worked his way up through the ranks of the district as a teacher, supervisor, principal of adult evening programs, and director of funded programs.
Many of Jersey City's record nine Best Practices awards received from the
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
in 1998-2000 were for programs overseen or founded by Dr. Epps. He took a leadership role in the district's efforts to reduce the drop-out rate, which had fallen from a high of 14.6% to three straight years at 10% or lower, starting in the late 1990s.
Epps has served as Chairman of the
Hudson County Community College
Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is a public community college in Hudson County, New Jersey.
Locations
The school's main campus is located in Jersey City, with several institutions tapered throughout Journal Square and nearby Bergen Squar ...
Board of Trustees, where he helped establish the Opportunity Knocks scholarship program allowing graduating seniors in Jersey City to attend Hudson County Community College tuition-free.
Epps has long been active in the community and serves on several advisory boards, including the National Conference on Community and Justice, the Hudson Cradle advisory board, the Hudson County Schools of Technology advisory board, and the Jersey City welfare board. In 1999, he was recognized by both the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
(Outstanding Educator award) and the
National Urban League
The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...
(A Man for All Men award) for his contributions to Jersey City and its public school system.
Epps received a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in Education at
Bishop College
Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, in 1881 by the Baptist Home Mission Society. It was intended to serve students in east Texas, where the majority of the black population lived at the t ...
in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, followed by a master's degree in education from
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...
and a doctorate in education from
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
.
Epps died after suffering a heart attack on March 17, 2015.
Criticism
There is much criticism of Mr. Epps's pay as superintendent (over $240,000 annually), particularly because Epps also is a member of the
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
($49,000 annual pay) and the Jersey City Public Schools is one of the lowest performers in the state.
As the ''
Trenton Times
''The Times'' is a daily newspaper owned by Advance Publications that serves Trenton and the Mercer County, New Jersey area, with a strong focus on the government of New Jersey. The paper had a daily circulation of 77,405, with Sunday circulati ...
'' editorialized about Mr Epps in an unsigned attack on double-dippers in state government: "Assemblyman Charles Epps Jr., D-Jersey City, spends at least two days a week at the State House, which is time when he's not back home running the troubled Jersey City school district, for which he receives $240,022 a year as superintendent."
In May 2006, Epps fell under attack by Assembly colleagues after the
New Jersey 101.5
WKXW (101.5 FM, "New Jersey 101.5") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. It is owned by Townsquare Media. Its studios and offices are located in Ewing and its broadcast tower, which is shared with WPRB, is l ...
radio station reported on lavish expenses incurred by Epps on a trip to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
—including a $500+/night hotel room—all paid for by taxpayers. A number of politicians called for his resignation as evidence of his fiscal irresponsibility surfaced.
The number (and salaries) of administrative staff housed at the Jersey City Board of Education has increased substantially in the 10 years since Epps became superintendent. Executives on the 8th floor of the Board of Ed Building on Claremont Ave. are notorious for not coming to work before 10 am and leaving early. While the school district is faced with budget cuts, hundreds of teachers received pink slips in April and May, while very few administrators or executives have been laid off, especially Epps's hand-picked assistants. Epps was ousted from the position.
In April 2011, Epps came under criticism for denigrating his constituency in an address to the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Jersey and Vicinity. In his speech, he referred to the young females in his district, as his "worst enemy". He then elaborated, "The young girls are bad. I don't know what they're drinking today, but they're bad." ''Time to Demand Epps' resignation
Jersey Journal
''The Jersey Journal'' is a daily newspaper, published from Monday through Saturday, covering news and events throughout Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Journal'' is a sister paper to ''The Star-Ledger'' of Newark, ''The Times'' of Trenton and ...
'', April 18, 2011. Later, he thanks corporate volunteers for having "signed up to help even the dirty, nasty, bad kids."
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...