Mike Boone has won election to the Verona Board of Education. According to the unofficial results from the Essex County Clerk, Boone received 1,855 votes or 63.8%, to 1,051 for Dominic Ferry.
The County’s tally indicates that just 2,906 voters voted, down from 5,760 last November.
“I ran with a goal of representing the community that drives Verona schools,” Boone said Tuesday evening. “It was the support of that community that inspired me to run. So, it’s better to say all of us in Verona won.”
“There’s so many people who volunteered their time to help me in this campaign,” Boone added, “to all of you, my appreciation is beyond words. Verona is lucky to have such smart and dedicated people. Also, thanks to Dom Ferry for throwing his hat into the ring. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Finally, I want to congratulate Lisa Freschi on her decade of service. It is an honor to follow in her footsteps. I’ve learned so much during this campaign and I look forward to a very bright future.”
“I congratulate Mike Boone and wish him well,” Ferry said. “He ran a great campaign. Now that the election is over, we need to support Mike and the rest of the board.”
Both Boone and Ferry had previously run unsuccessfully for Board of Education. Boone finished fourth last November with 1,306 votes. Ferry had last run in 2014, when he received 799 votes, which was 26% of the votes cast then. Ferry finished second in that election to Lisa Freschi, who went on to serve two additional terms on the BOE before deciding to not stand for reelection this year.
Boone, who has had a long career in communications, now leads operations for digital publications and marketing communications at Interpublic Group (IPG), a global advertising and marketing company. Ferry, a native of Belleville, has spent 36 years in Nutley’s Water Department, where he is now assistant superintendent of public works. He also owns his own consulting company.
During the campaign, Boone had worked to reach out to Verona voters, both door-to-door and in two replacements for an SCA candidates forum that was not held. The forum had been set for October 19. But just before it was to take place, candidate Ferry told the SCA that he could not participate because he had been in close quarters with two people who had tested positive for COVID. Boone stayed in the VHS Learning Commons to take questions from the audience, and later answered the questions that had been submitted to the SCA in a YouTube post.
In other election news, the Verona municipal government proposal for an expansion of the levy for the Open Space Trust Fund appears to have passed by a two-to-one margin.
The state Senate rate for the 40th legislative district, the district that now includes Verona, remained close at 10:17 p.m. Kristin Corrado, the Republican candidate, leads Jennifer Ehrentraut, the Democrat, by 53.7% to 46.3% with 93.7% of the ballots counted. In the state Assembly race for the 40th Republicans Christopher DePhillips and Al Barlas have 26.7% and 25.9% of the votes, to 23.55% for Democrats Giovanna Irizarry and 23.73% for Jennifer Marrinan.
Congratulations to Mr. Boone for winning his seat on the Board of Ed, and a most sincere thank you to Ms. Freschi for her many years of service and dedication to the Verona Public Schools system.