Establishment slate coasts to victory in West New York school elections

A slate of candidates in West New York running on the “Your Children’s Future” ticket won a landslide victory in today’s school board election in a contest that drew less than 6% of registered voters to the polls.

Newcomer Henry Codina received the highest number of votes (1,093), followed by two incumbents: Sandra Pfeil (1,055) and Aylen Jover (1,054).  They defeated Brandon Fontanez (205), Jenny Garcia (200), and Julissa Zubiaga (138).

Stephanie Gonzalez received 1,105 votes in her unopposed bid for an unexpired term.

Voters in West New York passed  their school budget with 90% of the vote and an additional spending referendum with 78%.

Two incumbents, Adam Parkinson and Mariekla Diaz, did not seek re-election and instead are running for West New York Town Commissioner in the May 9 non-partisan municipal election on a slate headed by former Rep. Albio Sires.  Jover had been serving an unexpired term.

Incumbents Kanaiyalel Patel, Luis Diaz, and Claudia Baselice were unopposed for re-election to the North Bergen Board of Education.

As is their custom, North Bergen voters rejected their school budget by a 57%-43% margin.  The budget now goes to the Town Commissioners, who traditionally cut spending by a pre-determined amount that was built into the first proposal.

In Weehawken, three incumbents have no opponents: Linda Cabrera, John Cannata, and Richard Pinal.  Weehawken passed its school budget with 89%, as well as another spending proposal with 90%.