Board official seeks to censure member over post on Jews

JERSEY CITY >> The president of a New Jersey school board whose member questioned whether the shooters of a kosher supermarket had a point in attacking Jews said Wednesday he will seek to censure her and obtain her resignation.

Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas said in an email that he will introduce a resolution at Thursday’s meeting censuring Joan Terrell Paige over the online comment she made about the Dec. 10 fatal attack at the JC Kosher Supermarket. He will also request her resignation at the meeting, he said.

“I have come to this conclusion after a lot of review ... but importantly in the continuum of the strong sentiments expressed by the elected political leadership across Jersey City, Hudson County and the State of New Jersey,”

Thomas said.

Emails seeking a response were sent to Paige.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Mayor Steven Fulop have already said Paige should resign.

“There is no room for any kind of hate or bigotry in Jersey City,” Thomas said.

Paige commented on another person’s post about the Dec. 10 fatal attack that left a police officer and three civilians at the JC Kosher Supermarket dead.

Authorities said the attack was motivated by anti-Semitic and anti-law enforcement attitudes.

Paige’s post said that members of the black community had been threatened and harassed to sell their homes by “brutes of the Jewish community.” She went on to question whether the attackers, both whom were killed in a shootout with police, may have had had a message to send.