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3 Teaneck Local Elections Finalized – Council, BOE & MOST


PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES

9/9/2024

Contents:

  • 3 Teaneck Local Elections Finalized – Council, BOE & MOST
  • Council Candidates
  • BOE Candidates
  • Municipal Open Space Trust Referendum
  • Candidate Electoral Forums
  • First Look at 3 Ways to Vote
  • 60 Years ago This Week, September 8, 1964: Teaneck Initiates Desegregation Busing – First in the Nation
  • Draft Master Plan – Next Revision Please
  • Joy, Music, and Community Launch Dr. Ardie Walser’s Campaign for Teaneck Council
  • This Week in Teaneck – 9/9 to 15, 2024


Announcements

  • 9-11 Ceremony – 9/11
  • Unveiling Plaque for Teaneck School Desegregation
  • LWV BOE Candidate Election Forums - 9/23
  • LWV Council Candidate Forum – 9/30
  • Community Cleanup Day – 10/6
  • NETBPA Board of Education Candidate Forum - 10/8
  • NETBPA Council Candidate Forum – 10/14


Contacting Teaneck Voices:

  • Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com
  • Phone: 201-214-4937
  • USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

3 Teaneck Local Elections Finalized – Council, BOE & MOST

Finally, ballot positions, bracketing, and slogans are established for the certified candidates seeking election in 2024 to our Town Council and Board of Education (BOE).


From the seven Council candidates, three members will be elected to 4-year terms for our seven-member governing board. From the five BOE candidates, three trustees will be elected to 3-year terms for the nine-member Board. Voter will also be asked to decide whether to continue the voluntary MOST funding.


Council – By Tuesday morning (9/2) five of the seven Council candidates had informed the Township Clerk that they would run as bracketed and with the same ballot slogan. One slate was to bracket 3 candidates (Harley, Kahn, and Walser) and the other was to bracket 2 candidates (Orgen and Schwartz). That meant that the Clerk’s ballot position drawing would be among the two sets of bracketed candidates and the two candidates who are running individually (Pagan and Young). Here is how that blind drawing, conducted by the Clerk and new Manager (see image below), has resulted in the following candidate position and slogan listings on our ballots:


  • 1. Michael Pagan – Teaneck is Stronger Together
  • 2. Karen Orgen – Real Experience Real Results
  • Mark Schwartz – Real Experience Real Results
  • 3. Chondra Young – Teaneck It’s You
  • 4. Duane Maurice Harley – Power to the People
  • Reshma Kahn – Power to the People
  • Ardie Walser – Power to the People

The Clerk explained at the end of the Council ballot position drawing that he would be conveying this list to the County Clerk that (9/2) afternoon – from whose offices the final ballot design and ballot printing will be managed. 


Board of Education – As explained in earlier Voices editions, the certification and ballot position drawing for our Board of Education had been done by the Bergen County Clerk’s Election Division before the end of August. However, two candidates who had initially said they would run together have recently decided to run individually. As a result here is the ballot listing of the five Teaneck BOE candidates, three of whom are running as a slate.


  • 1. Jennifer E. Levy – Kids, Community, Transparency
  • 2. Kevin ET. Gibbs – Advocate, Empower, Transform
  • 3. Nadia N. Hosein – Focused on Students
  • Jonathan G. Rodriguez – Focused on Students
  • Seleene Raquel Wong - Focused on Students


Referendum on Municipal Open Space Trust Approval. In addition to the Council and BOE election, the Teaneck ballot will include a referendum wherein voters will decide by majority vote whether to approve an extension of the Municipal Open Space Trust from 2025 to 2028. A brief explanation of this year’s referendum and a copy of the referendum itself may be found on the home page of the Teaneck Voices website or Click Here


What’s Next? 


As noted, the Bergen County Clerk’s Election Clerk’s office will oversee how these three local election options will be incorporated into Teaneck’s own ballots – whether they be mail-in ballots or ballots found on voting machines in the early voting days and at the 23 Teaneck voting district locations on November 5.


When will we see the ballots? The first day when the mail-in ballots are scheduled to be mailed out to voters via USPS in the 70 Bergen County municipalities is September 21. However, Voices has been advised that, as in the past, the actual schedule for ballot mailing will be done alphabetically, and Teaneck is way down in the alphabet. We would anticipate the mail-in ballots to Teaneck voters who have registered to receive them would begin going into USPS closer to September 27.


Our readers who vote by mail-ins may well want to see/hear the candidates before marking their ballots for Council and BOE. The four candidate forums currently scheduled are sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Northeast Teaneck Block Presidents Association. The LWV’s annual VOTERS GUIDES containing biographical information and answers to selected questions will be available at both LWV forums, and also emailed to township groups & posted on social media.


All four forums will be held in the Student Center at Teaneck High School (THS).


THERE HAS BEEN ONE CHANGE IN the Candidate Forum SCHEDULE from what Voices reported last week. Here is the latest schedule and check the flyers in our Announcement section in this edition. 


  • The League of Women Voters has scheduled its BOE forum for Monday, September 23 at 7:30 at THS It has scheduled its Council candidate forum for Monday, September 30 at THS at 7:30 pm at THS
  • The Northeast Teaneck Block Presidents’ Association has scheduled its BOE candidate forum for 7:00 pm the evening of Tuesday October 8 at THS. And it has scheduled the Council candidate forum for 7:00 pm at THS on Monday, October 14.


Also, see our Announcement section for flyers of these four candidate forums


Voting Processes 3 Ways to Vote: For those readers choosing now to register to vote by mail (either just this time or in this and all future elections) there is plenty of time to start the process. Go to vote/nj.gov.


Voters seeking to register for the first time have until October 15 – but start the process ASAP. Not sure you are registered? You can readily track your status – and every step in the voting process - by clicking the Track Your Ballot options. Again, the single best source of information is vote/nj.gov.


For the other two ways of voting 


  • Early voting at the Rodda Center from 10/26 to 11/3; 
  • Election day voting, 11/5, at Teaneck’s 23 voting district locations) Voices will be providing additional information as the dates for these other voting options draw closer.

60 Years ago This Week, September 8, 1964: Teaneck Initiates Desegregation Busing – First in the Nation

If you google “busing for desegregation” this is the first entry, under Wikipedia: 


  • “Desegregation busing was a failed attempt to diversify the racial make-up of schools in the United States by sending students to school districts other than their own. While the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, many American schools continued to remain largely racially homogeneous. In an effort to address the ongoing de facto segregation in schools, the 1971 Supreme Court decision, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, ruled that the federal courts could use busing as a further integration tool to achieve racial balance.”


A failed attempt? Wrong! 1971? No! In 1964, here in Teaneck, NJ, residents of the Township voluntarily supported establishing a Central 6th Grade at the William Cullen Bryant School, thereby establishing busing of all 6th graders in town to Bryant and busing all K-5th graders to the other 5 Teaneck public elementary schools.


On the evening of May 13, 1964, in the face of an angry mob, seven of nine trustees of the Board of Education voted to establish a Central 6th Grade and use busing as the tool to desegregate the de facto segregated elementary schools of Teaneck. Rushed out the side door of the Teaneck High School auditorium for their safety by the Teaneck Police Department, The 1964 Teaneck Board of Education and Superintendent Harvey Scribner wrote a major piece of history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.


Please join the Teaneck Board of Education, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Council, and many of the now-grown children who lived that historic movement on Wednesday, September 18 at 6 PM at Bryant School for the installation of a commemorative plaque honoring that memorable achievement. 

2024 Council candidate Ardie Walser, then President of the Board of Education, speaking at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Desegregation of Teaneck Public Schools on May 13, 2014.

Draft Master Plan – Next Revision Please

It has been three weeks since more than 100 residents filled the Teaneck Library Auditorium as more than 25 of them commented and made suggestions at a public hearing on the August draft 2024 Master Plan (MP).  


One by one the 10 members of the Planning Board – that is responsible for the MP’s adoption –responded appreciatively to what they had heard and committed to producing a revised MP version taking resident views into account. Just who was to author that revision – and who would approve it – was not formalized. The date for the continuation of the public hearing was, however, set as Monday, September 16 at 7:30, this time in MP-1 of the Rodda Center


Presumably, a draft of a revised document has been produced – and, we hope, it has been reviewed by whatever mechanism the PB has established. No summary of the 8/19 meeting has been released. The only draft of the August MP document available to the public is the one still found on the website at Click Here


Our readers may want to review Voices earlier summaries of the hearing and of the MP document itself which we covered in our last 3 editions. You can readily access them on our website if you Click Here for our archives.

Joy, Music, and Community Launch Dr. Ardie Walser’s Campaign for Teaneck Council

Thursday evening the social hall of St. Marks church rocked with a crowd of over 200 celebrants, gathered to show communal support of Dr. Ardie Walser as he launched his campaign for a seat on the Teaneck Township Council. Included by the appreciative throng were Ardie’s slate-mates, Duane Harley and Reshma Khan.


Featuring a community supper, there were tables overflowing with meatballs, chicken wings, halal and kosher foods, and an assortment of fruit and homemade desserts. The crowd was diverse – not only ethnically, racially, and religiously – but in the number of years they had made Teaneck their home. There were relative newcomers to 50, 60, and 70-year residents – including many of the now-grown children of Teaneck’s heralded 60-year-ago desegregation of its public schools.


The evening was filled with brief words in support of Ardie and the hopes for the future of Teaneck. Among the speakers were Retired State Senator Loretta Weinberg, Former Board of Education President and former Councilman Dr. Henry Pruitt, Board of Education President Clara Williams, and Nuri Khan – a Teaneck High School graduate who served as student rep to the BOE during Dr. Walser’s presidency. A highlight of the evening was the introduction of Dr. Walser by Teaneck Poet Laureate Scott Pleasants with an inspiring poem he wrote for the occasion.


The events were punctuated by musical interludes from musicians that included Loren Daniels, Reggie Pittman, and Jarrett Walser. 


The energy, optimism, and sheer joy evident throughout the evening should inspire the people of Teaneck to enthusiastically volunteer in the next two months of national and local campaigns, to register new voters, to educate their neighbors, and to get those neighbors and friends to go out on November 5 – and VOTE!

This Week in Teaneck – September 9 to 15

If additional information about access and agendas for this week’s public meetings becomes available, we will update our Teaneck Voices website at this post (Click Here) in RED font. 


Town Council  - Tuesday, September 10, 2024 – public session at 8:00 pm in person in Council Chambers or hybrid by Zoom (Click Here) and add passcode  664059. For the Agenda Click Here.

  • Very little of great interest in this meeting. Repeat information about 8-9-2024 Zoning Subcommittee mtg.– Committee minutes still lacking participants list. Ordinances to be introduced would authorize the sale of two small Town properties to contiguous neighbors – though no competitive bid process was used to identify which neighbor’s bid would succeed.  Short meeting? Desire of participants to be able to watch the presidential debate? 


9/11 Memorial Ceremony – Wednesday 9/11 at 8:20 AM at the Municipal Building Parking Lot – see Flyer in today’s Announcement section


Board of Education Regular Meeting – Wednesday 9/11/2024 at 8:00 pm in the Student Center at THS and by Zoom if you Click Here.  Agenda typically available 24 hours before the meeting on the school’s website


MOST Advisory Committee – Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 8:00 pm via Zoom only. No access information is currently available. The agenda for the meeting may be obtained if you Click Here.



Planning Board – Thursday 9/12/2024 at 7:30 pm at MP-1 of the Rodda Center (note, this address conflicts with address under website’s minutes and agendas). Presumably by Zoom with no hybrid – but no Zoom access info available. No agenda is available, although public notice calls for a review of applicant Shapiro’s application.

Announcements

Contacting Teaneck Voices


Co-Editors: Dr. Barbara Ley Toffler and Dr. Chuck Powers

IT Editor: Sarah Fisher

By Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com

By Phone: 201-214-4937

By USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

Teaneck Voices' Website is www.teaneckvoices.com


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