Essex Clerk Says Bloomfield BOE Can’t ‘Nullify’ 2019 Election

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The 2019 Bloomfield Board of Education election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5 as planned, despite the board’s recent decision to move its elections to April, the county clerk announced.

Essex County Clerk Christopher Durkin said the board’s Aug. 9 resolution, which moved the town’s school board elections from November to April, would have “nullified” this year’s election, which is against state law.

Members with expiring terms would have continued to serve until the board's May 2020 organizational meeting.

The board passed its resolution 12 days after seven candidates filed petitions and began their campaigns for the November election, the county clerk said.

“The Bloomfield Board of Education does not have the authority to supersede state law and stop the election process once it has been started,” Durkin said. “Furthermore, I cannot in good conscience disenfranchise the candidacies of the seven Bloomfield candidates who took the time to gather signatures from residents, timely submit their petitions and start their campaigns.”

This year, seven candidates have filed to run for three open seats on the board. Each term lasts three years.

Those candidates include:

• Benjamin Morse - Smart, Equitable Schools
• Satenik Margaryan - Voice For Progress
• Jill Fischman - Putting Students First
• Emily Smith - For Our Kids
• Lillian Mancheno - For Our Kids
• Laura Izurieta - For Our Kids
• Daniel Anderson - Putting Children First

Durkin said the board’s claim that the move is similar to a 2018 resolution in Clifton doesn’t hold water.

“In the Clifton case, their board of education voted on June 6, 2018 to move their elections to April,” Durkin said. “However, Bloomfield’s situation is different in view of the fact that the deadline to file a nomination petition for this year’s school board election was July 29. Seven people filed their petitions and 12 days later the Bloomfield Board of Education voted to cancel the November election.”

Durkin continued:

“Furthermore, in the Clifton case, they voted to move their elections well before the deadline to file petitions to run in the November 2018 election. In the Bloomfield situation, the election process was well under way before the Bloomfield Board of Education voted to nullify the election. The law also states; Members of a board of education shall be elected at annual school elections. Therefore, a school board election must be held every year. I must follow the law.”

A ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ IN BLOOMFIELD?

According to the minutes from their Aug. 9 meeting, the board’s resolution met heavy criticism during public comment, with one local resident calling the decision “one of the worst political stunts taken in Bloomfield.”

Shane Berger was one of several board members who defended the resolution, saying it was “100 percent for student achievement.”

Ralph Walker disputed the notion that the election move is a “political stunt,” a stance that board president Jill Fischman agreed with.

“As an educator of the past 20 years, I am in a school, and agree with Mr. Walker on a couple of things,” Fischman said. “The kids need to be the center of attention and that can get lost in a November election. Sitting on the Election Committee, this has been clear over the years.”

Fischman said the choice to move the election to April is not “a forever decision.”

“It’s something that can be changed,” she said.

Despite her colleagues’ confidence in the resolution, vice president Ellen Rogers said she was “blindsided” by the vote and was expecting more discussion on the issue.

Rogers’ motion to table the discussion for a later meeting wasn’t seconded by any board members.

The board’s business administrator, Hwey-Hwey "Vicky" Guo, said the election move is expected to cost between $50,000 and $60,000.

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