Updated: Winners Of Mount Vernon School Board Election Announced

MOUNT VERNON, NY — The polls have closed and the votes are counted — the unofficial results of the Mount Vernon City School District election are in.

The 2023 budget and school board vote, included five seats up for election on the Mount Vernon School District Board of Education.

The proposed spending plan of $265,969,821 is 0.04 percent lower than the current budget.

Voters approved the budget for the 2023-2024 school year by a 1,091-522 vote. Results will be certified and made official on Wednesday.

The tax levy is expected to rise zero (0) percent.

"Our goals for this coming school year's budget were to continue to provide quality programs for educating our youth and to deliver to taxpayers a zero percent change to the tax levy," Acting Superintendent K. Veronica Smith said. "We accomplished both through responsible budgeting. This year, we are going to go back to the basics of teaching and learning to make educating our scholars fun and more engaging."

There were five board seats up for election. Candidates running included: Gloria Atisogbuie, Kenyetta Collins, Cynthia Crenshaw, Precious Ferrell, Orville Gayle, Rosemarie Jarosz, Thomas Keller, Sabina Kelley, Donna Marable, Lynn Middleton, Warren Mitchell, Helene Njenga, and Erica Peterson.

The school board trustee election was too close to call Tuesday night for four of the candidates as absentee ballots were still being counted, according to district officials.

On Wednesday afternoon, after counting affidavit votes, the district said that the winners were: Middleton, Kelley, Mitchell, Gayle and Njenga.

The breakdown of the votes and term information are as follows:

• Middleton: 865; sworn in on May 17, 2023; full term, expiring June 30, 2026
• Kelley: 838; to be sworn in this week; full term, expiring June 30, 2026
• Mitchell: 831; to be sworn in on July 1, 2023; full term, expiring on June 30, 2026
• Gayle: 796; to be sworn in this week; unexpired portion of term until June 30, 2024
• Njenga: 745; to be sworn in this week; unexpired portion of term until June 30, 2024
• Crenshaw: 742
• Marable: 677
• Jarosz: 673
• Ferrell: 656
• Peterson: 650
• Atisogbuie: 649
• Thomas: 315