Lisa Freschi appears to have won re-election to the Verona Board of Education, beating Connor McCann by a slim margin of just 10 votes, according to unofficial results from Verona election officials.
Freschi, the BOE’s current vice president, is a 19-year Verona resident who had three children graduate from Verona public schools. She was an active member of elementary, middle school and high school SCAs, a BOE strategic plan team member for 2008-2013 and 2013-2018, and a curriculum council member. Freschi also worked in Verona schools as a paraprofessional for seven years. She is currently in China, at her own expense, on a tour of the Chinese education system and not immediately available for comment.
UPDATE: Freschi sent this late Tuesday night from China: “I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support by Verona residents, and a special thank you to those who worked tirelessly on my behalf,” she wrote. “The texts and email messages of support and encouragement received (my son sent me screenshots) were humbling and I would have been a winner no matter the outcome of the election. But I am thrilled to continue serving Verona Public Schools. It is truly my honor!”
Freschi won district 1, which comprises the two Claridge House towers, as well as her home Forest Avenue districts 5 and 6. District 5 had the highest turnout of any Verona district, with 47.6% of the eligible voters voting. Freschi also won district 3, which votes at the middle school. One key to Freschi’s win appears to have been in absentee ballots, where she dominated McCann 114 to 88 votes. Anyone can now vote by absentee ballot for any reason in New Jersey, even if they are not out of the area on election day.
McCann is a lifelong Verona resident who is now a junior at Montclair State University and a part-time Verona municipal employee. He won his home Laning district, 10, as well as district 2, which votes at Brookdale, and districts 4 (HBW), 7 (F.N. Brown), and 9 and 11, which both vote at Verona High School.
District 8, which votes at Brookdale, was a tie with 145 votes apiece. The overall turnout for the election was 40.4%.
“I just want to thank everybody who helped me along the way,” McCann said. “I want to thank everybody who put in countless hours to get the campaign to where it was. I want to thank the residents of Verona for their support in helping me get my platform out there and my ideas. ”
In the governor’s race, Phil Murphy beat Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagnoin Verona by about 900 votes. Here are results in other races of interest to Verona voters, thanks to our partnership with NJSpotlight.com and the New Jersey News Commons, a project of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University:
Governor’s race
State Assembly and Senate
Ballot questions
