Elections 2025: Here are Bergen County's contested November school board races
The school elections, all held in April until 2012, are now mostly held in November following a change in state law that allowed districts to switch. There are about 16 districts that continue to hold elections in April.
The law that allowed November elections also changed the process for approving budgets. Districts no longer had to seek public approval to adopt budgets, only if the budget exceeded the then-new state-mandated 2% cap on increases.
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There will be 30 contested school board races in Bergen County in November, where state voters will also elect their new governor as Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli face off.
There are contested races in Bogota, Carlstadt, Edgewater (full terms and a one-year expired term), Emerson, Englewood, Fair Lawn, Fort Lee, Glen Rock, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Hillsdale, Lyndhurst, Mahwah, Maywood, Midland Park, Montvale, North Arlington, Norwood, Oradell, Paramus, Park Ridge, Ridgefield, River Vale, Saddle Brook, Saddle River, Teaneck, Northern Valley Regional high school district, Ramapo Indian Hills High school district, RiverDell Regional High School and Westwood Regional school district.
In Closter, Dumont, Haworth, River Edge and Rochelle Park, there are vacant seats available because no petitions were filed by the July 28 deadline. Typically, in those cases, a write-in vote can count toward the seat and a resident can formally accept the nomination.
Cliffside Park, Fairview, Garfield and Lodi still hold their school elections in April.
Here is the unofficial school board candidate list for any contested November race. (*incumbent)
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Northern Highlands Regional High School District
UPPER SADDLE RIVER - Vote for three
Lisa Halperin
Christine Ferrarie
James Mulvey
HAWORTH - Vote for one
Drew S. Krasny
Lori Ross*
Deborah "Maniscalco" Munoz
Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District
FRANKLIN LAKES - Vote for one
Maria "Amparo" Underfer
WYCKOFF - Vote for two
Thomas Bogdansky* - "Educate, Empower, Excel"
Othiamba Lovelace - "Educate, Empower, Excel"
Doreen Mariani* - "Proven conservative leadership"
River Dell Regional
ORADELL - Vote for two
Alan Feigenson*
Barbara Kuchar*
Robin Roland Levy
RIVER EDGE - Vote for one
Alicia Armental*
Westwood Regional School District
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON - Vote for one
Frank Romano III - "Integrity, honesty, experience"
Anila K. Siraj
WESTWOOD - Vote for two
Nicole DeBonis
Jason R. Garcia* - "Dedicated, proven, focused"
Sabrina C. Krawczk- "Empowering every voice"
Local Bergen County school board races
BOGOTA - Vote for three
Marco D. Navarro* - "For Bogota's Students"
Idalia Alvarez* - "For the Children"
Trina Olivo - "For the Children"
Ambreen Naeem - "For the Children"
CARLSTADT -Vote for three
Scott Tronziger
Francesco Ficetola*
Michael F. Villopoto
Jose Antonio Figueroa*
EDGEWATER - Vote for three
Laurie Molina* - "Integrity, Commitment, Experience"
Krassimir Tassev* - "Integrity, Commitment, Experience"
Thomas M. Quinton* - "Integrity, Commitment, Experience"
Corinne Gehegan - "Educate Elevate"
Diana Marina Robbana - "Parents for Edgewater"
Monica-Tezla Solis Vega-Gorsun - "Parents for Edgewater"
One-year unexpired term - vote for one
Hagop "Jacques" Kalfayan - "Cut Your Taxes"
Christina Stefani-Rackow* - "Integrity, Commitment, Experience"
EMERSON - Vote for two
Amy Mara* - "Integrity, Experience, Re-elect"
Courtney L. Panaretos - "Public Education Matters"
Shannon Lucas - "Learning. Leading. Listening"
Emily M. Fernandez-Justo
ENGLEWOOD - Vote for three
Ronique Fougha-Hicks*
Rachel Haber* - "Kids First"
Randy E. Laratte - "Kids First"
Allison Ross - "Kids First"
Henry A. Washington
Magalye Matos - "Together We Can"
FAIRLAWN - Vote for three
Aadil Yousuf - "Progress Over Politics"
Edward Bertolini* - "For The Children"
Michael L. Rosenberg - "Every Student First"
Julie Kossoy
Dianna M. Sopala - "Empowering Students' Future"
Bazhena Tulchinski - "Smart School Spending"
Lyudmila Koroleva - "Transparency Fiscal Responsibility"
Marcy T. Reiz
FORT LEE - Vote for three
Paula Colbath* - "Fort Lee United"
Kacy Knight* - "Fort Lee United"
Keith V. Gosselin - "Education Service Integrity"
Michele M. Perez - "Education Service Integrity"
John T. McTiernan - "Education Service Integrity"
Michael Rubino* - "Proud Lifelong Bridgeman
GLEN ROCK - Vote for three
Christine P. Parlamis* - "Honor Every Child"
Zhe Tang
Emily Hamilton Thorsen
Stephanie Carosella*
Angela F. Pucci-Bender - "Excellence in Education"
HACKENSACK - Vote for three
Demetrius Carroll* - "Hackensack Unites"
Melanie J. Alston-Balaputra* - "Hackensack Unites"
Michael R. Jones - "Hackensack Unites"
Allen H. Summons II - "Students First"
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS - Vote for three
James Dunn - "Educators for Education"
Carmela Schlitzer - "Educators for Education"
Lori A. Cintron
Helen Tejeda-Ramos
Kathleen Sausa*
Tammy Wixon
One-year unexpired term
Corinne Hope Ponte
HILLSDALE - Vote for one
Jonathan Braunstein
Salvatore G. Sileo* - "Passion, Vision, Integrity"
Unexpired one-year term - vote for one
Kathleen Puerta*
Daniel DeFeo
LYNDHURST - Vote for three
Michael Valvano* - "Teachers United"
Joanne Russo - "Teachers United"
William J. Tooma - "Teachers United"
Suzanne C. Scivetti - "The Children's Voice"
Chris Andrino Poulos Jr.
MAHWAH - Vote for three
Bryson A. McClure - "Future of Mahwah"
Stephen T. Huston
Prema C. Moorthy* - "Excellence in Education"
Christopher L. Hughes* - "A Strong Voice"
MAYWOOD - Vote for two
Randi L. Cabana
Ray Velez* - "Dad, Volunteer, Advocate"
Felicia Benson-Kraft
MIDLAND PARK - Vote for three
Denise Velez
Jessica Haftek
Sandra Criscenzo*
Brian McCourt*
Richard Formicola*
MONTVALE - Vote for two
Alisha R. Foley*
Anita Bagdat*
Katharine R. Arena - "Student-centered commitment
NORTH ARLINGTON - Vote for two
Teressa M. Matvienko - "Students, Education, Faith"
John F. Graci - "Students, Education, Faith"
Michele Higgins*
Schott Hughes*
NORWOOD - Vote for two
Jennifer R. Eisberg* - "Empowering Norwood Students"
Stephanie Machin
Yulri "Julie" Lee* - "Putting Students First"
Unexpired one-year term - Vote for one
Omar Pedrza Andino - "Putting Students First"
ORADELL - Vote for three
Kristen Genchi
Dorothy Watson-Nichols*
Jaime E. Downey* - "Support Special Education"
Shasta Clinch
Mark W. Uhlemann
PARAMUS - Vote for three
George J. Song* - "Our Children First"
Alfonso Romeo
Keri L. Greene*
Alexander Aksanov - Learning, Evolving, Together"
PARK RIDGE - Vote for two
Richard Kuiters - "Cut your taxes"
Holly Misley - "Cut your taxes"
Shanai Jensen
Rosemarie Malloy
Matthew J. Rozzi - "Balanced, responsible results"
RIDGEFIELD - Vote for two
Michael A. Jacobs* - "Transparency, trust, teamwork"
Claudia C. Narvaez* - "Transparency, trust, teamwork"
Patrick Jo - "For our future"
Maryam Juliet Kececioglu Inan - "Children first"
RIVER VALE - Vote for two
Virginia Senande*
Thomas Quinn
Louan Austin*
Emily Leffler
SADDLE BROOK - Vote for three
Vincent A. Laurentino* - "Continue the progress"
Mariana Ianneillo* - "Centered on students"
Michael Accomando* - "Children first always"
Lawrence S. DiBello Jr. - "Students come first"
SADDLE RIVER - Vote for two
Elizabeth Salazer* - "Trusted Wandell Volunteer"
Rosa Jasinski - "Advocate for all"
Tifphani White-King - "Vote MJ's Mom"
TEANECK - Vote for three
Eddie Laners III - "Accountability, Community, Excellence"
Maxine O. Angel - "Accountability, Community, Excellence"
Edward Ha* - "Together we grow"
Latisha Garcia Isley-Robinson
Clara Williams* - "Our Children's Future"
Ana Marte
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Here are Bergen County's contested November 2025 school board races
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