Mayor David Roberts’ “Hoboken United for Education” slate swept the Hoboken school board election last week, gaining three three-year seats on the nine-member board.
Incumbent John Raslowsky II, who was appointed to the board by Roberts earlier this year before running for election last week, received the most votes, with 1,562. Also winning election were Frances Rhodes Kearns with 1,540 and the city’s Director of Human Services, Carmelo Garcia, with 1,524.
Among the four independent candidates, parent John Madigan had the best showing, with 1,180 votes. He won the city’s 1st Ward outright.
Incumbent Carrie Gilliard received 760 votes. Longtime board member Robert Crespo, a former aide to Mayor Anthony Russo, received 616 votes. Parent Rose Marie Markle received 538.
In addition to selecting three board members, the voters also passed a $44.75 million budget that calls for $27.4 million to be raised by local taxes. According to school officials, the school tax rate will remain level at $11.75 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The budget passed by a vote of 865 to 596, according to the City’s Clerk’s office.
Roberts said Wednesday morning that the comfortable margin of victory in the board election is a clear mandate from the voters.
“We are very pleased with the results and the large margin of victory,” said the mayor. “There was so much at stake in this election.”
The mayor specifically pointed to the fact that the newly elected board members will have the responsibility of seeing that a new technology-based middle/high school opens by 2004.
The Hoboken/Stevens Partnership for Public Education is the mayor’s initiative to partner with Stevens Institute of Technology with the goal of creating a new public school in town while offering professional training to local teachers.
Each of the three winners has voiced support for the plan to create the new school.
Only 2,807 voters turned out for the election, which amounts to only 12 percent of the city’s 23,247 registered voters.
Roberts commented that it is disheartening that so few voters came out, especially when more than half of property owners’ taxes goes to the schools. “It’s worrisome,” said the mayor. “School board elections are extremely important and we would like to see more participation in the future.”
The mayor said that he is going to look into the possibility of moving the school board elections to November to coincide with municipal elections in order to attract a larger turnout. The state legislature would have to approve the move.
Winners celebrate; defeated reflect
Raslowsky, who serves as principal of St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, said Wednesday that he is very happy with the results of the election. “Victory is always exciting, and it’s nice to have this sort of positive affirmation from the voters,” he said. He added now that the election is over, it isn’t time to sit on his laurels. “Now is not the time to coast,” he added. “It time to start moving forward and make improvements to the city’s schools.”
Specifically, he said that he would like to make sure that the Hoboken taxpayer becomes more involved and is communicated with more effectively when it comes to issues such as the budget.
Garcia said Friday that he hopes he can build a bridge between the administration and the school board and create and coordinate programs that the city and the schools can cooperatively undertake.
He also stressed the need to hold administrators and teachers accountable to parents and the city’s taxpayers and maintain a sensible budget.
While the winners celebrated, those who didn’t come in the top three were left to wonder what might have been. “I’m happy and sad,” said top independent Madigan. “I’m happy that I got as many votes as I did with such a limited staff. I truly appreciate every one that voted for me. Even though I didn’t win, as long as my children are in the school system I will keep active and do whatever I can to make sure that things are being taken care of.”
Likewise, Gilliard, who was the first black woman to serve on the board, thanked the people who voted for her Wednesday. “I very thankful for everyone that voted for me and supported me,” said Gilliard. “I really didn’t have any money to campaign with, so I think I did a pretty good job considering all the money the mayor spent to win three seats on the Board of Education. For him to spend that much money to defeat independents really speaks to how shallow the waters are.”
She added that she enjoyed her six years in office and that her biggest regret is that there will not be an African-American representative on the school board.
Both Madigan and Gilliard said they might be interested in running again sometime in the future, they said.
Return of the midnight flyers
It’s not uncommon in the days leading up to a Hoboken election for unsigned flyers to sneak under residents’ doors, often containing attacks and distortions.
That happened again this year, when they were found circulating in the city days and hours before voters went to the polls. The content in one flyer harshly criticized the current administration and the mayor’s slate for the Board of Education.
“I’m glad to see the people of Hoboken demonstrably rejected what those flyers are saying by the way they voted,” said Roberts. “They failed miserably. If you have something to say, sign your name to it and stand by your principles.”