The “Leadership That Delivers” Hoboken Board of Education (BOE) slate pulled off a clean sweep at the polls last night, winning all three seats up for grabs in a six-person field.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The Leadership That Delivers team – Antonio Graña, Leslie Norwood, and Lizy Velez – is deeply honored that Hoboken voters have placed their trust in us to serve our community and the children of the Hoboken Public School District,” they said in a statement
“We are grateful that our message of transparency, community engagement, and excellence and equity for every child resonated so strongly. We will work as hard over the next three years as we did throughout this campaign to deliver on those commitments.”
They also commended each candidate who put their name on the ballot, as well as everyone who supported their candidacy.
Graña and Norwood were seeking re-election, while Velez was a political newcomer running for the first time.
The BOE trustee she was looking to succeed, Alex De La Torre, endorsed her and her running mates, which was no surprise since he ran with the two incumbents three years ago.
That came after five trustees, the majority of the volunteer school board, endorsed Laura Block and Tim Smith, who ran under the “Hoboken Brighter Future Together” banner.
They ended up coming in fourth and fifth place, respectively, while independent Russ Koyfman finished last.
Norwood led the field with 6,305 votes, followed by 5,838 for Velez, and 5,770 for Graña.
Your resounding victory is surely a repudiation of your Board “colleagues” who tried to oust you. Talk about “mean girls.” Like a HS clique not wanting you to sit at their lunch table. Very disappointed in them… and the two Board members who backstabbed Emily to endorse Russo? Are they looking for a job in the Russo administration? Mike is transactional that way, Emily is not. But I digress…
Wishing Team LTD all the best, working on behalf of Hoboken district students and our schools!
the 2 board members struck a backroom deal with Russo. The Russo family history of grifting off the. public schools is no secret, nor is the Russo mantra: you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your’s. What a Russo admin will get them is anybody’s guess.