Hoboken To Choose Three New Board of Education Members

UPDATED—Tuesday 2:21 p.m.

On Wednesday, Hoboken will pick three new members for the Board of Education. The race is between two slates— and—and . The terms are unpaid and for three years.

With only one day to go until the election, Waiters hasn't filed any reports with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), a requirement for political candidates in New Jersey.

Independents for Education—made up of incumbents Carmelo Garcia and Frances Rhodes Kearns—have filed a certificate of organization on April 13, naming Hobokenite and former Board of Education candidate Frank Raia the chairperson and Nicole Bryan as treasurer.

Although the The Independents for Education's ELEC was not yet available on the state's web site when the first version of this article was published, Hoboken resident Theresa Burns sent the Independents for Education’s ELEC report to Patch in an e-mail around 11:30 p.m. on Monday. So far, the campaign has raised $5,140, according to the 11-day pre-election ELEC filing. As far as expenses go, Independents for Education have spent roughly $1,700 on a newspaper advertisement, according to the report.

The 11-day pre-election report states that Raia, the slate’s campaign manager, donated $2,700 to the campaign. 

The Independents for Education campaign also received $2,325 in contributions of $300 or less. That number was not broken down by separate donations in the ELEC report.

Kids First—the slate that is aligned with Mayor Dawn Zimmer and currently holds the school board majority—has filed its 29-day and 11-day pre-election reports, showing that the campaign has raised $5,642.50 so far. The campaign has spent $4474.69 so far, according to the report. Chairperson of the Kids First campaign is Liz Mullholland, and its treasurer is Alicia Markle.

Candidates are required to file ELEC reports, disclosing how much money the campaign is spending and raising. Multiple reports need to be filed, a 29-day pre-election report, an 11-day pre-election report and a 20-day post election report.

Joint organizations (such as Kids First or Independents for Education) also have to file a certificate of organization, designating a chairperson and a treasurer.

The Kids First slate is made up of incumbent Jean Marie Mitchell, , and newcomers Clifford Godfrey and Steven Feinstein.

Councilwoman-at-Large Carol Marsh has made a $500 donation to Kids First on April 10. made a $300 donation in April and a $400 donation in March, according to the ELEC reports. donated $500 to Kids First in March.

As far as expenditures are concerned, Kids First spent $1,700 on a newspaper advertisement and more than $1,000 on the printing of flyers and posters. No election day workers are listed on the ELEC reports.

Attached to this story are video interviews with all the candidates.