Meet Audry Yule, Running For Secaucus School Board
SECAUCUS, NJ — Seven people are running for Secaucus school board this fall; voters will be asked to choose three.
Patch asked all seven candidates the same set of questions, and all seven responded. We are publishing the candidates' answers in the order they were received.
Can you give a brief bio on who you are: How long you've lived in Secaucus, your career experience, where you currently work, your age.
Hello! My name is Audry Yule, and I have been a resident of Secaucus since 2014. I am 43 years old, turning 44 on December 9. I have been married to Timothy Yule for 19 years. We have a 12-year-old son, Jacob, who attends Secaucus Middle School, and a 3-year-old dog, Oakley.
I was born and raised in Hudson County and am proudly the daughter of parents who came from Puerto Rico in the 1970s looking to build a better life for our family. I am fluent in both English and Español and love my Latino culture.
I have an M.B.A in Management of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in business management. I have been volunteering in the Secaucus community since 2015. I coached town soccer for three years, volunteered in town Little League, was on the board for Huber Street PTA, and Clarendon PTA, was board vice president for a nonprofit organization called Team Quest that raises money for youth sports, and am currently on the Secaucus Middle School PTO.
I have been a marketing professional for over 20 years and am currently the Director of Marketing & New Business Development in a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company. I have management experience working in both union and non-union workplaces. My professional qualifications include project management, budget management, data review, personnel (hiring, training, developing, disciplining, and replacing), negotiations, procurement, goal setting and execution.
I had my own marketing consulting business for eight years where I helped small to mid-sized businesses with various tasks, such as email marketing, trade show planning/execution, loyalty programs, and digital marketing campaigns. I also started a not-for-profit baseball team for young athletes, giving many young Secaucus residents the opportunity to experience travel baseball. Through research, communication, and much diligence, I am able to get funding to purchase team uniforms and reserve the fields necessary for team practices and games.
My favorite title in the world is Mom.
Do you have kids or had kids in the Secaucus school system? Have you served on any prior school boards, or worked in education?
My son currently attends Secaucus Middle School and is in the 7th grade. I have not served on a board of education. My experience with the children of Secaucus has been through various youth programs that help develop children, and through my service within the PTA, PTO and working directly with staff members on school events.
What do you think have been the biggest mistakes or failures made in the past four years on the Secaucus school board/in the district? How would you have done things differently?
Without being on the inside and having full disclosure of what is going on behind the scenes, I can only answer this question from what I observed as a resident of Secaucus and the parent of a child who attends the Secaucus school district. From an outsider view the biggest challenge of the Secaucus school board has been their management of the superintendent position. If I go through the different superintendents that have been active during my son's tenure in the school district, I will say that I viewed Dr. Riser positively and believed she was doing a great job as the acting superintendent and might have deserved the full-time position. I say might because again without having all the facts, I can't give a definitive answer here. She took over the role as an acting superintendent in a very volatile time in education overall when a pandemic consumed our lives, and we didn't know what to expect from day to day.
As 1 of 10 candidates for the SBOE in 2021 whose main motivator was the lack of communication and transparency during COVID, I can say many people probably felt the same. Dr. Riser's communication strategies in my opinion were an improvement from Ms. Montesano's. She welcomed parent questions via an online form found on the school district website and posted answers weekly, which were posted online and emailed to district parents.
Another issue, in my view, is having staff members in crucial and demanding positions within our district take on dual roles.
If redistricting is again brought up — a proposal last year to put K-2 in Clarendon, and 3-5 in Huber — how would you vote for it? Yay or nay?
I would be lying if I said I could answer this right now. If you ask me whether I believe that the main principle behind redistricting makes sense, then I would say yes. However, would I vote yes for redistricting in our district right now? The answer is no. I couldn't say I would vote yes for redistricting now knowing some of the current obstacles in our town/district.
Would I be able to see a DOT (Department of Transportation) report and how it would impact traffic in our community? Can the district afford the busing required to get the students to their designated schools? Do we have the number of bus drivers needed to operate all the buses needed? Do we have enough research showing whether it would be cost effective to our community or not? Are we set up effectively and have all the tools in place for the redistricting to take place and benefit the students? Do we have the specialized staff expertise in certain areas, such as special needs, to ensure success? My point here is that just like any project I run in my corporate career, I wouldn't just say yes or no without having all the data, reports, etc. needed to make the decision I believe is best for our stakeholders.
Where are Secaucus schools doing well? Where can they be improved?
Secaucus has wonderful teachers and principals and that by far to me is what as a district we are doing well. I believe communication can be improved.
What do you see are the biggest issues facing the Secaucus school district in the next 2-5 years How are you going to prepare for them?
I believe the biggest issue currently is having no leader in the district. I don't believe you can have a successful team without a good leader. The continued construction of residential buildings in town will become an issue. While the schools aren't currently overcrowded, new buildings such as that going up in Exchange can create an issue in numbers.
Not having a leader for our special needs students is a problem. Having some very important staff members wear multiple hats is a big problem. Another challenge I see is our district not being properly equipped with a good ESL (English as a Second Language) program for the growing number of new students speaking many different languages.
I don't have all the answers that I can assure you, but I can confidently say that I, along with my running mate, Valerie Giraldo, will work tirelessly with the elected board members to get the issues we can solved efficiently and with the best results for our community. The easy answer for anyone is to just complain or move; however, I can wholeheartedly say I love being a Secaucus resident. I prefer to work hard along side other members of our community that care to find solutions and make this school district great as the community deserves.
Yule is running with Valerie Giraldo and their slogan is "Community Winning Resolutions."
Who's running for Secaucus school board this year: 7 candidates, 3 seats.
Meet Melissa Howard, Running For Secaucus School Board
Meet Jamie Fisher, Running For Secaucus School Board
Meet Valerie Giraldo, Running For Secaucus School Board
Meet Tatiana Geller, Running For Secaucus School Board
Meet Monica Berckes, Running For Secaucus School Board
The election will be Nov. 5, but you can vote early in person at the Secaucus Rec Center from Oct. 26 - Nov. 3. Hours will be Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary. And there is also mail-in voting.
There is a candidates' forum scheduled for Oct. 24 at the high school PAC, moderated by Secaucus Spectator publisher Don Evanson. Evanson says it will be recorded so people can watch later. Patch will be there covering it and attempting to livestream it. Nearly every candidate said they will be there on Oct. 24.
