Montclair School Board Election Results: Dunn, Deysher In Lead

This article was updated at 4 p.m. on March 9

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A historic board of education election took place Tuesday in Montclair. And according to unofficial results, Phaedra Dunn and Melanie Deysher are at the front of the race to become the district's next school board members.

Montclair voters passed a landmark school referendum in the 2021 general election. The town was one of the last few in New Jersey where mayors appoint members of the local board of education, as opposed to voters electing them. But as a result of last November's referendum, Montclair will now make the switch to an elected school board.

Montclair held a special election on March 8 to choose two new members of the board for one-year and nine-month terms. After that, annual contests for three seats will take place every November, beginning this year on Nov. 8, when three seats will be up for grabs.

The Essex County Clerk's Office released a guide for Montclair voters; it can be seen online here.

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According to the Essex County Clerk's Office, with 34 of 35 districts reported, Dunn and Deysher were leading the field as of 10:29 p.m. on Tuesday. Pending unreported districts, voter turnout was low, coming in at just 8.67 percent.

Here are the unofficial results for the March 8 election (vote for two):

• Yvonne Bouknight - 868 votes (14.42%)
• Melanie Deysher - 1,288 votes (21.39%)
• Phaedra Dunn - 1,512 votes (25.11%)
• Jerold Freier - 467 votes (7.76%)
• Noah Gale - 173 votes (2.87%)
• Lauren Q. Griffin - 492 votes (8.17%)
• Holly Shaw - 669 votes (11.11%)
• George C. Simpson - 204 votes (3.39%)
• Jennette L. Williams - 348 votes (5.78%)

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

With Dunn and Deysher holding significant leads, Montclair councilman Peter Yacobellis offered them a congratulations.

"I think they will make two outstanding new board members," he wrote. "One of the most common refrains I heard from folks was that they were overwhelmed by an abundance of good choices in this election. I think that's a good thing. And while I'm disappointed that turnout wasn't higher, this was a one-time special election. Going forward, electing school board members will take place on Election Day in November, which should help both in terms of giving people more time to consider candidates and with the convenience of voting when one would be most likely to vote anyway."

Vote Montclair, the advocacy group that helped to spearhead the push for the referendum that made Tuesday's election possible, released an earlier statement in support of Dunn and Deysher.

"Melanie Deysher and Phaedra Dunn are running in the March 8 Board of Education election to help Montclair’s schools live up to the reputation that over the decades has drawn so many families to the township," the group wrote, listing the following priorities of their campaign platform:

• A speedy and successful resolution of long-neglected infrastructure issues
• Better communication with parents and other stakeholders
• A stronger focus on basic literacy and numeracy
• Real progress in addressing the opportunity gap
• Continuing pathways to high levels of academic success for gifted students
• A focus on the needs of classroom teachers, especially educators new to the district
• Greater accountability in district financial management

The League of Women Voters and the Montclair chapter of the NAACP recently held a virtual candidate forum, which can be seen below, via MontclairTV34.

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