After Provocative Campaign Mailer, Hoboken School Board Slates Respond

HOBOKEN, NJ — One of two slates running in Hoboken's Nov. 8 school board election criticized the other slate for "divisiveness" on Thursday, after a campaign mailer landed in mailboxes Wednesday linking those candidates with extremist political views and groups.

The flyer noted that "extremists" are trying to get elected to local school boards across the country (a trend confirmed in news articles including this one from the Associated Press).

The flyer on Wednesday, sent out by the Leadership That Listens slate, leveled a handful of charges against the Kids First slate in the election — including against Pavel Sokolov, who's the head of a Hudson County Young Republicans group.

Among the charges, Leadership That Listens claimed Donna Magen of Kids First asked for an endorsement from "alt-right" groups.

Magen has denied the assertion.

However, screenshots from an anti-mask Facebook group show that Magen called parents "sheep," belittled COVID health measures, and claimed most people would be "OK" if they got a virus variant.

The Fallout

In the day since the flyers went out in the mail, Councilman Phil Cohen sent an email making a similar assertion about Kids First's request for an endorsement from the groups, while Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher said that Magen was in tears over the mailer.

Councillman Cohen and the members of the "Leadership That Listens" slate were asked by Patch for proof that Kids First solicited the endorsement.

"I never asked for an endorsement from The New Jersey Project or from Fresh Faced Schools," Magen said. "I am a member of the FB group Fresh Faced Schools. I joined it because (like pretty much all parents) I was full of anxiety for my children. Particularly their mental well-being. I was asked a question about who was running for BOE races, and I responded with two words: 'Kids First.' That is hardly a request for an endorsement. ... I want an inclusive society where we can have productive, respectful discourse."

What Are The Facts?

Thursday afternoon, Leadership That Listens provided proof of some of its statements, including a link to where Sokolov appeared to support Pres. Donald Trump's re-election bid six weeks before the 2020 election.

In the link, Sokolov says, "It’s going to be exciting to see how sleepy Joe ‘hiding’ Biden defends his party’s descent into justifying rioting."

Leadership That Listens appeared to back off their claim that Kids First or Magen solicited the endorsements of two "alt-right" groups.

Instead, LTL said that in the Facebook group Fresh Faced Schools, Magen "identified 'Kids First' as running under a 'child first' initiative."

But LTL also provided screenshots of some of Magen's posts in the group, and others can be easily found. Some of Magen's comments appear to ridicule parents who take COVID precautions.

In one post, Magen jeers the idea that masks may be needed for children again someday if there are new variants, saying, "This is dumb and children shouldn't have to bare [sic] your crazy psychosis anymore." In another, she appears to refer to parents who believe in certain precautions as "sheep."

And in a different comment, she criticizes a photo of someone backing N95 masks for everyone, saying "How about no!? How about omicron is gonna get everyone and (most) everyone is gonna be OK. Time to move on, not double down. This is psychotic."

Magen responded Thursday: "I stand by the comments I made as a frustrated, concerned parent. Like many, I was a parent of a child who came home every day begging me to remove his mask. I spoke in my personal capacity and echoed the thoughts of thousands of parents during that time.

"I believe that once vaccines were readily available, it should have been a parent's right to choose whether or not to mask their children ... I testified on record with Senator John Bramnick, I spoke about it at a BOE meeting. I of course acknowledge the millions of people who died and suffered from the pandemic and long Covid, and recognize that we needed to take extraordinary measures. I also understand that these are complex, emotionally charged decisions for the school district."

She added, "My personal feelings aside, as a BOE member, my priority is open dialogue of ideas and transparency of information so decisions, whether those decisions are funding, facilities, or covid response represent the majority."

What about calling parents "sheep"?

"Looking back I regret it," she said.

Magen also had written a Facebook post within the group asking the members of the group to support her in her campaign, but said neither she nor the slate requested or sought an endorsement from the group or any other.

More of Magen's comments in the group can be found here.

On Thursday, Kids First released the following statement in response to the mailer about them:

Leadership That Listens Hoboken Board of Education Slate Embraces Dishonesty and Divisiveness in their Campaign

"Yesterday, The Leadership that 'Listens' incumbent slate mailed out a flyer that accused Kids First of endorsing banning books and associations with extremist groups, including an organization called New Jersey Project. NJ Project is an organization that referenced 200 campaigns they support on their website with the disclaimer on their site that they are 'Paid for by New Jersey Project and not authorized by any candidate or any candidates committee.'

We do not even know this organization.

We have been committed to sharing our hopes and ideas for our community throughout this process and will continue to do so, respectfully. These comments and marketing materials are untrue, hurtful, and frankly an example of what is wrong today in Hoboken politics.

Kids First stands behind our intentions and integrity. Our platform believes that critical to our school systems future success is transparency with the community, collaboration across all the schools, and fiscal responsibility. We know that the Leadership that Listens slate is supported by our current BOE.

We know that our schools are not united today as they do not have any shared discussions, programs or resources. We know the BOE did not disclose their plan nor gain community input on the funding or priorities of the high school referendum. We believe we can do better, together.

We are running as a nonpartisan slate for the board of education because we want to see every child in our community, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or their family’s income receive a quality education that gives them the tools to achieve their potential and live happy and prosperous lives. We know to achieve this, we must collaborate with our entire community so that we provide solutions that are impactful and sustainable.

We encourage residents and voters to get to know us, we would love to meet more of you and talk
about our experience and ideas.

The turnout for school board elections is usually very low, so please vote. Vote for the children of our community. Vote to ensure your tax dollars are well spent. Vote to ensure that ongoing you can be part of the discussions and decisions for real change and solutions. We are excited to contribute and work with the community.

Let’s put Kids First."

End of letter.

Background In The Hoboken Election

Running for three seats on the board this Nov. 8 are:

• The "Leadership That Listens" slate, consisting of incumbent Alejandro (Alex) De La Torre Jr. along with Leslie Norwood and Antonio Graña;
• "Kids First" consisting of Pavel Sokolov, Donna Magen, and Cindy Wiegand, and
• Independent John Madigan (a former board member) and
• Independent Patricia Waiters (a former candidate).

Do you have questions? You can post letters about the election for free, any time, here at Patch using these instructions.

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