John Lyons

1. Why do you want to sit on the Board? What is motivating you to run for this position?

I’m currently an elected member of the Board and seeking re-election. I’ve been on the Board for 19 years after first being appointed in 2003. In terms of my motivations and reasons for seeking re-election, it’s simple. I’ve been a part of so many good things here in our schools, I want to continue to improve education here and position our students to succeed.

2. How well do you feel like you know the town and the school community? In other words, have you lived here long? Did you attend school here, or do you have children in the community?

I’m pretty well plugged into things here in Hammonton. I grew up here and left for a short time during college. After I graduated HHS in 2000, I attended Stockton University and finished there in 2003. After that I made a choice to live in Hammonton and can’t see myself living anywhere else. My wife Adalgisa moved here in 8th grade, and once we got together and decided to start a family there was no discussion, Hammonton was the place for both of us. Fast forward 15 years later and we have two kids who attend Hammonton Schools, Selena who is in 6th grade and Michael who is in 1st grade. My wife is a 2nd grade teacher at WES as well. So as far as the educational community, and the overall Hammonton community, we’re as plugged in as it gets, and we are both thrilled for it. Aside from the work we do with the schools my family is plugged into other efforts here in Hammonton. I’ve been a member of the Hammonton Fire Department since 2002, and I’m a trustee at Saint Mary of Mount Carmel Parish. My wife is an active member of Alpha Delta Kappa and is active in supporting the Hispanic community here in town as well.

3. What qualities and expertise do you have to offer in this role?

So right now, I’m the most Senior member of the Board. I’ve served on every single board committee at various points and worked on several teachers’ contracts, superintendent searches and construction projects. In addition to that, I’m pretty plugged into the experience teachers face in the classroom through relationships I’ve developed over the years, and I’m also aware of the challenges faced by special education parents. My son Michael is autistic, and I learn more every day about the ways school districts can support special education parents. Professionally, I’ve been with the United States Treasury Department for 18 years. The work I do there is very rewarding due to its national significance, and in my most recent assignment I get an opportunity to support law enforcement efforts at the federal level to keep our country safe. Combined with my experience in the community I’ve gained from the Fire Department and other community volunteer work I have a really well-rounded set of skills that set me apart as a Board Member.

4. What is the Hammonton school district doing right for its students? Are there areas that may be in need of improvement?

I think we’re doing really great across the district. We’ve expanded programs at all levels, cut taxes and increased services. I’m extremely proud of the fact that the board is responsive to the educational community. Things we’ve done in the past couple years including adding the Turf Field, Lacrosse, E-Sports, AP Spanish and many others mirror the requests we are receiving from the educational community. During the pandemic, I think we did a good job of weathering the unknowns. I’m proud of how closely the board worked during that time, and the good choices we made to keep school open as long as possible. Once we re-opened, we took positive steps and continued to support learning loss and the emotional toll the pandemic had on our students. As far as what we can improve, there are always places where you want to be better or expand. In terms of specifics, I think we need to continue to innovate. I look at schools like ACIT and some private offerings and wonder why a Hammonton student would leave us to attend there. I think some of it is culture, but in some cases it’s different offerings. In short, we need to continue to innovate to make sure we are providing what our students are looking for and need.

5. Are you open to the ideas and suggestions that students at Hammonton High School can bring to Board of Education meetings? If so, do you believe student involvement will improve our education system and environment?

So, we have a new student Board representative, and she’s a good place to start in terms of hearing from students directly. The Board members are pretty well connected to the experience that our students have each day, but we don’t know what we don’t know. For me, I can think of several times where students reached out directly with a concern, we heard it, and acted to solve it. E-Sports was a student driven idea, and so was Lacrosse. For my part, I want to know from our students what’s happening each day and what they need. I pride myself on being accessible that way.

6. In your opinion, what are the most important skills a student should possess in order to be successful when they graduate high school?

Good question. I’ve been fortunate; I had great teachers during my time in Hammonton and a great education at Stockton once I graduated. In my service as a Board Member as well as my professional work the most important skill I think students need is the ability to communicate in person. Today, everything is text messages and emails. But there are many instances where you have to get up in front of people and communicate. That’s such a valuable skill. The ability to speak with poise, and confidence to communicate an idea is critical in so many different roles. You don’t have to be an elected official or a leader to be a good public speaker. But that’s a skill that can and will serve you throughout your life. In 1999, I took public speaking which was an elective at the time. We had to present on all kinds of topics, and it was awkward and sometimes difficult. But I learned a ton there, and still use some of what Mrs. Peretti taught us almost 25 years later.

7. Tell us about something in your life that fostered a passion for schools and education.

Look, I’ll be candid since The Devils’ Advocate holds a special place in my heart from the time, I wrote for the paper back when we had the printed version. Around 2002-2003 it was a bad time in Hammonton schools. Funding was short, and staff were being fired left and right to make ends meet. I looked at that as a college student and decided I couldn’t sit there and just let it happen. So, I jumped into my first election and got crushed. I lost like 3 to 1. A few months later, there was an opening on the Board after someone resigned. The then Board President Loretta Rehmann liked my ideas and got behind me. After I was appointed and ran and won in every election since. In terms of something in my life, or a moment that brought me here, that’s a pretty easy one. Election night, when I lost the first time, I was certainly upset. But it was at that point I decided that I would get back to work and continue to find ways to serve. I took the idea of losing and converted that into a challenge to win. I bet on myself and knew I could do it. I wasn’t content to let other people make choices for our kids, I knew that I needed to be in the room. And eventually I got myself there.

8. What do you plan to achieve as a board member? Why should voters vote for you?

So I’ve achieved a ton with the help of my fellow board members over the years. Once I win on election day, over the next 3 years the board needs to stay focused on its mission. That’s one of my goals, in the sense that the pandemic is over we need to redouble our efforts to providing a quality education. There’s so much noise around public education right now that comes from the left and the right. The board needs to tune that out and focus on our kids and what we need to do to keep things moving in the right direction. As for why someone should vote for me, it’s two reasons. I’m experienced, and I’m an innovator. Nobody should roll the dice with our students by electing Board members who lack the ability or experience to handle the challenges. With me, none of that’s a concern which is what sets me apart.

9. What are some issues and areas that you believe need improvement?

I sort of answered this in #4, but I’ll expand on that a bit. The Board needs to do a better job of listening and providing context. I think sometimes we forget that not everybody understands public education policy and without the background related to a decision it’s not fair to the public who may have questions. We need to offer more color or detail around why we do the things we do.

10. Is there anything else you would like to add or any other questions you’d recommend us to ask for in the following years?

I think that covers it; I appreciate the opportunity. I think the questions are spot on. As I said. I have a soft spot for The Devils’ Advocate. In 1999 while I was working on the paper, I wrote an article called “Athletes for sale” which focused on why our boy’s basketball team was unsuccessful. At the time several of our top players had transferred to other schools for better opportunities and I felt like people should know and understand why. At the time, The Hammonton Gazette wanted to re-print the article in the sports section but the administration would not approve that, so instead they printed excerpts. I remember reading my own words in The Hammonton Gazette and thinking about how amazing that was. That story reminds me of how powerful words can be, which is why I’m always pumped to see the content you all are putting out. Keep up the good work.