Petitions for November Montclair Board of Education election due Monday

Petitions to run for three seats on the Montclair Board of Education in November are due Monday, July 25.

The petitions, requiring at least 10 signatures, must be filed by 4 p.m. on Monday with Essex County Clerk Christopher J. Durkin, at 495 Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd, Justice Building Suite 130 in Newark.

On Nov. 8, Montclair will elect candidates to fill the three board seats set to expire in January 2023 — board President Latifah Jannah, Vice President Priscilla Church and Monk Inyang. Inyang was chosen by the board in January to fill the seat of the late Dr. Alfred Davis Jr., who died Dec. 12 at the age of 65.

In March, Phaedra Dunn and Melanie Deysher were elected to the board in Montclair's first-ever election for the Board of Education. In November, Montclair voters approved changing their school district from a Type I system with a mayor-appointed board of education to a Type II system with an elected one.

Dunn and Deysher are each serving a term of one year and nine months before their seats will join the normal cycle of three-year terms. Their seats will be up for election in November of 2023 along with the one currently held by Allison Silverstein; the next terms for those seats would start in January 2024.

For more information about running for the school board, visit the New Jersey School Board Association's website.