(UPDATED) More Twists And Turns In School Board Race In Hoboken

HOBOKEN, NJ — [UPDATED: See the election results from Tuesday here.]

As can happen with local elections, the race for three Board of Education seats in Hoboken has gotten heated, and no one can be sure how the results will turn out Tuesday. (Click here on Hoboken Patch Tuesday night starting at 8 p.m. for results.)

Eight candidates are vying for three slots on the nine-member Hoboken Board of Education.

The Leadership That Listens slate includes one board incumbent (Alex De La Torre) and members who supported the school referendum in January, although they have said the plan — which failed in a January vote — wasn't well communicated.

They are facing the Kids First slate, who did not support the referendum.

Two independents are also in the mix: activist Patricia Waiters and former board member John Madigan.

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Here are some of the twists in the race in just the last two weeks:

Leadership That Listens members sent out two campaign mailers criticizing Kids First, linking them with political extremists, and then calling them "extremists" outright. LTL presented evidence from the candidates' social media posts on their campaign website here.

They also noted that Kids First's Cindy Wiegand promoted a petition (here) for her child's charter school for the 2022-23 (current) school year, opposing COVID measures. It says, "Substantial research on this front has been conducted finding that vaccination fails to prevent either infection or spread of the Delta variant [xvi] or more contagious and prevailing Omicron variant, [xvii] confirming HCS’s (and society’s) experience. Indeed, CDC now emphasizes that the benefit of vaccination is to help to ameliorate COVID infection severity. [xviii]" Supporters of Kids First have noted that this petition came in the latter part of the pandemic.

A news report noted that Leadership That Listens candidate Leslie Norwood gave $9,000 over the years to a PAC that has supported some Republican candidates, including two who voted to overturn the 2020 election results.

But Wait, There's More

In other twists and revelations in the last two weeks:

Mayor Ravi Bhalla endorsed Leadership That Listens.

Councilman Michael DeFusco, the city's first openly gay councilman, decried "name calling and bullying" in the race and pointed out that a past board member had been called out for using the term "butt buddies" in a text. She had apologized. (Candidate Patricia Waiters also was called out for making an antisemitic comment at a public meeting in 2014, and also apologized.)

At a recent debate for the candidates, the issue of charter schools came up. Past school boards have funded lawsuits to stop the city's charter schools from expanding. At the debate, in response to questions, the Leadership That Listens slate pledged to never try to deny a charter renewal.

All eight candidates except for John Madigan participated in the debate, which can be viewed here.

Some voters reported feeling frustrated with their choices, unhappy with candidates who supported the January school referendum but also not on board with others. One resident expounded on this conundrum here.

Pavel Sokolov, a member of the Kids First slate, responded to questions from Patch last week about the slate's views on COVID measures. "We are vaxxed and follow the science from our officials," he said. Regarding the Leadership That Listens slate's attempt to link their slate with election-deniers and other extreme views, he said, "Biden has been our president for years. It's time for LTL to move on and accept that they do not have a platform, and tried to defraud our
town [with the referendum]. They need to accept the Jan 25th results."

Kids First also has disavowed an endorsement from a right-leaning New Jersey-based group.

What About Education?

Meanwhile, board critics say, there should be more talk about student educational outcomes and whether the candidates have ideas to improve academics. Only 8 percent of Hoboken High School students were considered proficient in math by the state in testing in the last few years.

The candidates were asked if they found the scores concerning and if they had suggestions to improve them. Some candidates agreed they were "concerning" but went on to give no suggestions. See their answers below.

You can read the candidates' answers and compare them here:

• Alex De La Torre (incumbent; Leadership That Listens)
• Antonio Graña (Leadership That Listens)
• Donna Magen (Kids First)
• Leslie Norwood (Leadership That Listens)
• Pavel Sokolov (Kids First)
• Cindy Wiegand (Kids First)

Patricia Waiters and John Madigan did not fill out a profile/Q&A.

Where And When To Vote In Hoboken

On Tuesday, you can go to the polls between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Find out other ways to vote and more information here.

Learn more about voting in New Jersey here.