October 31, 2019

Mr. Allen Ashby was born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. He attended East Orange Public Schools at Washington Academy of Music and Cicely Tyson High School of Performing and Fine Arts. Upon graduation, Mr. Ashby attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey. His plight has always been to give back to the community that instilled so much into him as a youngster. The East Orange School District is not only a place where he works, but it is home.

This year marks Mr. Ashby’s tenth year as an employee of the East Orange School District. Mr. Ashby began his career at Washington Academy and currently works at Cicely Tyson Elementary School, where he has worked since its inception in 2009. He has worked in a variety of educational capacities such as Building Base Substitute Teacher, Special Education Teacher Assistant, and currently serves as a School Counselor & Anti-Bullying Specialist (ABS). During his time as a Teacher Assistant Mr. Ashby served as President of the boys mentoring

club “Boys Today, Men Tomorrow” for four years, and volunteered coaching the Elementary and Middle school basketball teams at Cicely L. Tyson Elementary School for 5 years.

In 2015, Mr. Ashby then transitioned into the role of School Counselor/ABS at Cicely Tyson Elementary School. Since becoming the School Counselor, he has received numerous awards and accolades. In 2016 in collaboration with the Performing Arts

and Support Service team, Mr. Ashby helped Cicely L. Tyson Elementary School receive the LAW DAY Assignment Judge Award. In 2017 Mr. Ashby and his Anti-Bullying Task Force were awarded the Anti-Bullying Award for maintaining the highest overall score in the East Orange School District. In 2018, he, alongside former East Orange ELA teacher Ms. Sahkeenah Wallace, entered students in grades 4-5 in the East Orange School District’s annual spelling bee and won first place. Additionally in 2018, Mr. Ashby was the recipient of the EOEA Pride Award. More recently, in 2019 he received the Governor’s Educator of the Year award (Support Service

Member). However, his work stretches beyond accolades and achievements. Mr. Ashby is also one of the founding members of the group Y.P.P. (Young People for Peace), where students in grades 3-5 created a song about peace and shot a music

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Unleashing Your Greatness: October Staff ProfileMr. Allen Ashby, School Counselor/ABS Cicely Tyson Community Elementary School

Superintendent’s

October 31, 2019

video with Grammy award winning artist Vinny from Naughty by Nature. Y.P.P. has performed at a variety of venues such as The 24 hours of Peace pep rally in Newark, N.J.; East Orange’s 4th of July Celebration, and the East Orange Hall of Fame in 2017. Additionally, when the music video was released on the East

Orange School District’s website the video received over 50,000 views on YouTube!

Mr. Ashby is currently one of the Assistant Boys’ Basketball coaches for East Orange Campus High School and also serves as Co-Commissioner for the East Orange School District’s Middle School Basketball League. Mr. Ashby finds time to work outside of East Orange as well, working as a Volunteer Mentor/Prison Ministry for the Youth Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Moreover, Mr. Ashby continues to expand his reach in his community. The summer of 2019 marked the first summer of Mr. Ashby's Infinity Basketball Academy. In only one summer, the Infinity Basketball Academy was home to over 50 plus students and was a camp geared to teaching elementary students the game of basketball while fostering positive relationships amongst students within our community.

To serve the community of East Orange in the capacity of an educator has been a tremendous honor and privilege for Mr. Ashby. He figured out early on in life that his purpose is to work with children. He feels blessed to be able to stay in his hometown and give love, hope, and opportunity to students that he has impacted over the years and plans to continue as he moves forward in his career.

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