EDISON — An incumbent and two newcomers will fill the three, three-year Board of Education seats that were open in this year’s election.
Incumbent Ralph Errico, who will serve his second term on the board, garnered the most votes with 11,052, followed by newcomers Elizabeth Conway with 10,722 votes and Yunxia “Yuna” Chen with 10,516 votes, for their first-term seats on the board, according to information available as of Nov. 8.
Newcomer Harish Verma received 9,615 votes, Shivi Prasad-Madhukar, who was seeking her second term on the board, received 4,779 votes, and newcomer Anthony DeAmorin received 3,506 votes, in their losing bids for a board seat.
Board member Paul Distefano did not seek re-election.
Mail in ballots would not be tallied until Nov. 9, after which official results will be announced.
Errico said he would like to thank all the voters of Edison for their support.
“I’m looking forward to working with the entire board and community on issues [such as] school security, overcrowding, spending taxpayer dollars efficiently, and selecting a strong superintendent,” he said.
Conway said this year’s election was exciting to watch unfold.
“We had such a large turnout,” she said. “When I ran last year [for a board seat], I only had 5,000-something votes and it was a governor’s race. This year I received over 9,000 votes. It was exciting to see the votes come in and encouraging to see people are interested. With 16,500 kids in the school district, it is important.”
Conway said as a board member she looks forward to the challenges that lie ahead, which include hiring a permanent superintendent and working with interim Schools Superintendent Paul Saxton on overcrowding concerns.
She also said she would like to focus on special education. Conway was employed as a special education teacher in the Edison School District from 2000 until she retired in 2016.
Chen said on behalf of the Student and Taxpayer Advocates team, which also included Errico and Verma, she would like to thank all the voters who put their trust in the team.
“We would also like to thank the parents who volunteered their time knocking on doors, making phone calls and campaigning for the team,” she said. “Without these supporters we could not have won.”
Chen said the biggest issues facing the Edison School District are overcrowding and the bloated budget.
“I will work with current board members to tackle these issues and at the same time look for a permanent superintendent,” she said. “As we promised in our campaign, I will advocate for the students and taxpayers and not for vendors or any special interest groups. I will work with our administration, finding ways to quickly bring our school rankings back up. We owe this to all the residents of Edison.”