Edward P. Wizda, Stood Up For Public Education
When Ed Wizda died in June, his obituary noted that he had been a member of the Verona Board of Education. But it didn’t explain that Wizda had been part of the BOE at probably its most heroic hour: 1967, when it invited children from Newark’s public schools to be bussed here in the wake of the Newark riots. Wizda and his fellow BOE members endured many meetings packed with angry opponents of the plan, who ultimately turned to the courts to stop it. (The book about the bussing, written by former Verona resident Kurt Landsberger, is here.) Wizda’s wife June died this year as well.
