Newark School Elections: 'Children First Team' Leading Early Wednesday

Correction appended April 17

A slate of candidates was leading in a race for the three seats up for election on the Newark School Advisory Board, according to an incomplete tally of preliminary results posted on the Web site of the Essex County Clerk’s Office early Wednesday.

With votes from 96.4 percent of districts* counted as of 1 am, the Children First Team  -- comprising  Khalil Rashidi, Ariagna Perello and Rashon Hasan -- was winning against Philip Seelinger, Sheila Montague and Gerrell Elliott for three-year terms to the board.

It was unclear this morning when the vote count would be finished. In the 2012 school elections, vote counts in Newark also remained incomplete until well after polls closed.

All votes in Irvington and Belleville, whcih were also holding school elections Tuesday, were counted by 11:15 pm, according to the clerk's Web site.

Rashidi, Perello and Hasan received 3,145, 2,931 and 2,251 votes, respectively, while Seelinger got 1,834, Montague 1,155  and Elliott 555 of the 11,902 votes cast and counted as of early this morning. 

Since 1995, Newark’s public school district has been under state control. As a result, the advisory board, unlike similar bodies in nearly every other school district in New Jersey, has little power to make administrative decisions, including crafting the school budget, which was submitted by Superintendent Cami Anderson last month and, in an unprecedented move,  unanimously rejected by the board.  

A lawsuit now in the courts seeks to restore administrative control of the state’s largest school district to local elected officials. The Children First team has expressed support for that goal and has also criticized the performance of Anderson, a state appointee. The slate has also expressed qualified support for charter schools, which are educating a large and growing share of Newark students. Both Montague and Elliot have spoken out against charter schools.

There were also at least 1,974 “undervotes” recorded Tuesday, which result when individual voters fail to make a choice regarding all the questions or seats appearing on a ballot. Voters in Newark were asked to cast votes for three candidates.

Along with Irvington and Belleville, school elections were also held in more than 30 other school districts Tuesday. Most of the rest of the state’s school districts have recently opted to switch their election dates to the November general election, when votes are cast for nearly all political offices.

*The original version of this article stated votes had been counted from 96.4 percent of polling places, not districts.