First, I want to congratulate Congresswoman Mikie Sherril, Congressman Donald Payne Jr. and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo Jr. on all being re-elected with Montclair once again delivering big for all of them. The common denominator with these three: they’re effective and they deliver real resources to Montclair. Congratulations to each of them and their teams who worked so very hard.

School Bond Wins 4 -1

Four out of five Montclair voters said yes to a once-in-a-generation $188 million investment in Montclair Public Schools. I want students, parents, teachers, and faculty to see this for what it is: the community having your backs! For too long the physical plant of Montclair Public Schools has been neglected and it seemed like political inertia was just the way things were. No longer.

Like with last year’s switch to an elected school board, this is another crystal clear indication that Montclair voters are taking the fate of the district into their own hands. It’s also a significant statement of values in terms of who we are as a community. This margin of victory shows that the overwhelming majority of voters — whether their family is in the public school system or not, believe in public education.

I applaud the courage of the Montclair Board of Education for moving forward with this bond and all of the work the PTA Council did to turn out the vote and educate voters. Thank you to all of the volunteers. As we all know well – now comes the hard part: executing these projects well, with adequate oversight; which is a concern that I know many of you who voted no expressed. I respect that and feel strongly that this has to get done right.

I’ll continue to help in any way I can because I believe that the fate of the town is intrinsically to the quality of education in our public schools.

For those who want to know more about the Procurement Process, Financial Reporting & Transparency when it comes to the bond, please review this.

School Board Members

I want to say an early congratulations to Yvonne Bouknight and Brian Fleischer who have insurmountable leads in the vote tally and welcome them to the Board of Education. With some vote outstanding, it’s too early to call the third seat for Mfreke “Monk” Inyang or Noah Gale — but these are two wonderful human beings and I’m so happy they ran.

With this election, for the first time ever, Montclair will have a Board of Education where the majority of members have been elected. I’d like to see many more people stepping forward in the future to run for office. It takes 10 signatures to get on the ballot and not a lot of money. In this town that inspires democracy, we need more of you to raise your hand. I’m committing to helping anyone who has the courage to step forward, with navigating some of the first steps.

I also want to take a moment and tip my hat to Latifah Jannah and Priscilla Church — two board members who pushed hard for this bond and have given years of their life to this district, who will be retiring. Thank you for your service to this town. It’s often thankless. But I hope you both see this victory now as part of your legacy.

Never Miss A Vote

For those of you who didn’t vote — let’s figure that out. We need you in this process. Next November we’ll be electing our State Representatives and then in May of 2024 will be the election for Mayor and Council for Montclair.

The best way to make sure you never miss an election is to register to vote by mail. Please consider that and print and complete an application here.

Thank you as always. I’ll be back in the days ahead with some info on various food drives around town for Thanksgiving and an update on Council business for next week.

Have a great day!

-Peter

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