Jersey City Board of Education President Noemi Velazquez and Trustee Afaf Muhammad were re-elected last night, with former Trustee Lorenzo Richardson spoiling a sweep by the ticket backed by the teachers union.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Velazquez, part of the “Education Brings Solutions” team was the top vote getter receiving about 17 percent, 17,522 votes, in the seven-person race for three, three-year terms on the volunteer board, based on preliminary tallies from the Hudson County Clerk’s Office.
Richardson, part of the “For Stronger Schools” team, finished second with 16,004 votes, while Muhammad, a running mate of Velazquez, came in third with 15,735 votes.
This is the inverse of what happened last year, when the For Stronger Schools Ticket only had a two-person slate – Matt Schneider and Tia Rezabala – who won, as did Trustee Natalia Ioffe – who was backed by the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA).
Richardson’s running mates, Brendan Doohan and Aimee Sharrock, came in fourth and fifth place, while Vice President Christopher Tisdale – the third member of the Education Brings Solutions team – came in sixth.
The Stronger Schools slate had the support of four mayoral candidates: Ward E Councilman James Solomon, former Gov. Jim McGreevey, ex-Board of Education President Mussab Ali, and Council President Joyce Watterman.
The only independent in the race, Sumit “Sam” Salia, came in last place in the race to serve on the nine-person school board.
