Rodas, Alcantara won’t run on Roque-backed West New York BOE ticket

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West New York Board of Education Trustee Steven Rodas and Town Hall employee Jose Alcantara won’t be running on the Children First BOE ticket backed by Mayor Felix Roque, despite already being promoted as members of the team.

Steven Rodas (left) and Jose Alcantara (right) will not be running on the Children First West New York Board of Education ticket this year. Facebook photo
Steven Rodas (left) and Jose Alcantara (right) will not be running on the Children First West New York Board of Education ticket this year. Facebook photo

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Alcantara confirmed that he was no longer on the ticket, even though the three-person slate, which included BOE Vice President Damarys Gonzalez (as well as Roque), hosted an event for school district employees at Lusso’s Bar & Grill on June 20th.

He declined to get into the particulars of the situation, but said he would still be seeking a seat on the board as an independent.

“I just submitted my petitions on Friday. The administration decided to move in a different direction. However, I felt that I owed it to myself to run again given how close I came last year,” Alcantara, who was a big part of the movement that pushed for an elected school board in 2013,  said over the phone.

“I want to continue to give back to my community in whichever way I can. This school district made me the man I am today and I want to equip our faculty with resources and give our students the best education possible.”

Alcantara missed a seat on the board by just a measly 10 votes last year, where he ran on the Children First ticket with Board President Adam Parkinson and Trustee David Morel.

Rodas did not immediately return inquiries seeking comment, but sources close to the situation said he was removed from the ticket shortly after $1.5 million of shared services with the town were voted down last month at a meeting that the trustee did not attend.

Those same shared services were approved at a subsequent special meeting the following week.

The same sources said they did not expect Rodas, a former board president who was elected in 2014, to run as an independent.

The replacements for Rodas and Alcantara are currently unknown, but all board of education candidates must submit their petitions for nomination to the Hudson County Clerk’s Office by 4 p.m. tomorrow to be on the ballot.


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3 COMMENTS

  1. You really need to be a loser if you can’t get on a town backed ticket. I guess Alcántara drug use and Rodas $1 million unpaid fines makes them losers.

  2. From what I have seen and heard from the vast majority of West New York’s Board of Education candidates, students have a dismal future ahead of them because most of these candidates are barely literate. Then again, this is Hudson County where politics rules and children’s education really doesn’t matter..

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