Jim Day is seeking a second term on the Verona Board of Education, and his challengers are two people who are well known to Verona voters: Judy DiNapoli and Glenn Elliott.
“The fact that I am running again is as surprising to me, likely more, than anyone else,” said Elliott, who lost a 2013 BOE election after serving three terms on the Board, where he was a sitting member of the BOE’s Buildings & Grounds Committee. “But when I saw that there was an opening that wasn’t likely to be filled, I was compelled to offer my service and experience to the Verona schools. I look forward to working with an incredible team to continue the great things going on across the district.” Elliott has a daughter in Verona High School and a son who graduated with the class of 2016.
DiNapoli is a life-long Verona resident and a product of Verona’s public schools and a former public schools employee. “Last week someone told me that I should run again for the VBOE,” DiNapoli said by email. “I thought about it and dismissed the thought. Then as the deadline date approached and it didn’t look like anyone in town was going to step up and run (aside from Jim Day) I decided today at 3 p.m. to hand in my paperwork. I worked for over 30 years for the VBOE, initially under Thomas Sellitto, and lastly with Cheryl Nardino, who encouraged me to get my certification in school business administration. Having worked in school systems for years, working my way through many different job positions, I have experienced and learned so much. I felt obligated to run and give back to my community. I think my personal knowledge of the Verona school district could be of some help at times, and the prospect of working with the new members of the school board is encouraging–so I decided to run.”
DiNapoli worked for the BOE until 2011, when she was laid off from her job as assistant business administrator and filed a suit against the Board of Education. New Jersey’s commissioner of education ruled in her favor against the district, but in January 2014, the Superior Court of New Jersey’s Appellate Division reversed that ruling.
She ran unsuccessfully for the BOE in 2013. Both Day and Elliott also ran in that race and Day scored an upset victory, with 1,467 votes to 991 for Elliott, an incumbent, and 840 for DiNapoli. (Michael Unis, who won relection in that race, is not running this year.) DiNapoli ran again in 2014, again unsuccessfully.
Day grew up in West Caldwell and moved to Verona in 2003. He has served on Verona’s Public Safety Committee, coached youth baseball and soccer, and was a member of the BOE’s Strategic Planning Committee for Finance. “I feel the Board has accomplished much in my first term on the Board including getting a referendum passed that has all projects close to completion at the end of this summer and hiring a top Superintendent in Mr. Rui Dionisio,” Day said. “I look forward to continuing the efforts to expand the educational offerings for the students of Verona and keep growing the tradition of educational excellence in the district.”
