Roque critic stuns mayor-backed West New York BOE slate in tight race

Ron Scheurle, an outspoken critic of West New York Mayor Felix Roque, stunned the Children First Board of Education team by being the top voter in an eight-person race, with at least one of the other three-year terms on the board completely up for grabs.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“This is all due to my team Melinda [Saunders], Alex [Navas], we worked very hard for the people of West New York. These people [currently on the board], don’t care about the kids of West New York, but we do,” Scheurle, who scored 2,578 votes at the polls, told Hudson County View over the phone today.

Scheurle, who recently took the Roque administration to task for having ex-Deputy Mayor Silvio Acosta (who opted not to seek re-election on the BOE) take over as the local crossing guards supervisor, appears to be in the clear regardless what the vote-by-mail and provisional tallies say.

BOE Trustee David Morel, who was appointed to the board in May, is also more than likely in a safe place by notching 2,428 votes at the polls.

However, his place still isn’t guaranteed and the waters are even further muddied in determining who the third and final trustee will be.

According to the Hudson County Board of Elections, Children First’s Jose Alcantara notched 2,363 votes at the polls, a single vote ahead of the Save Our Schools’ Alex Navas (2,362).

Just a dozen votes behind Navas is BOE President Adam Parkinson (2,350), who had the last position on the ballot – a hurdle he overcame in his initial election in 2014.

Sources, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the county is counting at least 600 provisional and vote-by-mail ballots, a number that could be as high as 1,000 – making this race truly a photo finish that comes down to the wire.

Children First campaign manager Pablo Fonseca declined to comment while the ballots are still being tallied.