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Targeted school board candidates win seats in Edison

Scott Jacobs
Residents of Edison Township enjoyed a beautiful day at Edison's Roosevelt Park on August 27, 2017

EDISON — The two Board of Education candidates, Jingwei “Jerry” Shi and Falguni Patel, who found themselves at the center of an offensive postcard flier mailing a week before the Nov. 7 election, prevailed for the three, three-year term seats available on the board.

Shi, who will serve his second term, garnered the most votes followed by Patel, who will serve her first term, with 6,115 votes. Incumbent Beth Moroney, who will serve her second term, came in with 5,991 votes for the third available seat.

Nine candidates vied for the three available seats. Newcomers Elizabeth Conway received 5,069 votes, Carol Bodofsky received 5,005 votes, Maria Wise, 3,625 votes, Aqib Virani, 1,707 votes, Sunil Vuppula, 1,591 votes, and Ruchika Juneja received 1,351 votes.

Two candidates vied for the one year unexpired term available.

Paul Distefano, who was appointed in April to fill the seat vacated by longtime member Deborah A. Anes after her passing in March, will remain in the seat after garnering 7,074 over his challenger William Araujo, who received 4,026 votes.

The board race took an ugly turn when an offensive postcard flier was anonymously distributed by mailing with photos of Shi and Patel, which had the word “Deport” under each of the candidate’s photos.

Shi, Patel, Moroney and Distefano ran for the board as a “Unity” team.

Moroney said as a private citizen she is deeply grateful to the citizens of Edison who sent a powerful message of respect for diversity to those who sought to bring hatred into the recent election.

“I have lived in Edison for 35 years, my daughter is a product of the Edison Public Schools, and I served as a teacher and administrator in town for three decades,” she said. “I love this community, most especially our children.”

Moroney said as the board moves forward and reorganizes in January, there are several issues which must be dealt with immediately.

“Because we live in such a desirable community, families are flocking to our town, and every child deserves a quality education,” she said.

Moroney said working in conjunction with township government; the board hopes to build new schools and additions to solve the overcrowding problem.

“We need to lessen the burden on our superb and dedicated teaching and support staffs by hiring more professionals,” she said. “However, creative solutions must be carved out to reduce the burden on our overburdened taxpayers.”

Moroney said she looks forward to listening to all parties and making sure that every member of the community feels empowered in decision making.

During the campaign Patel said one of the issues that really hits home for her is the one of financial and debt management.

She said it’s important to implement courses related to debt and finance management, creating and funding existing programs that encourage kids to discover their passion and become well rounded.

Distefano said the biggest concerns in the community are overcrowded classrooms and taxes, which will be at the forefront as the board moves forward.

As a board member, Shi said he wanted to continue to develop policies that can create an environment focusing more on teachers teaching and students learning and maintain an independent, ethical, financially responsible and trustworthy school board that will work hard for students and taxpayers.

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