Clifton Public Schools elections (2014)

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2014 Clifton Public Schools Elections
General Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links
See also
New Jersey Clifton Public Schools Passaic County, New Jersey ballot measures Local ballot measures, New Jersey

Three seats on the Clifton Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014. At-large incumbents Lucy Danny, Arlene Agresti, and Judith A. Bassford ran for re-election. They faced challengers Andrew A. White and Jeffrey R. Camp in the election. The incumbents retained all three seats up for election.

See also: What was at stake in the 2014 Clifton Board of Education election?

About the district

See also: Clifton Public Schools, New Jersey

Clifton Public Schools is located in Passaic County, New Jersey

Clifton Public Schools is located in Passaic County, New Jersey. The county seat of Passaic County is Paterson. In 2013, Passaic County was home to approximately 505,672 residents, according to estimates by the United States Census Bureau. In 2011-2012 school year, Clifton Public Schools was the 13th-largest school district by enrollment in New Jersey and served 10,992 students.

Demographics

In 2012, Passaic County had a lower percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree compared to the state overall. The United States Census Bureau reported that 25.8 percent of residents aged 25 and older in the county had earned a bachelor's degree, compared with 35.4 percent for New Jersey. The median household income in Passaic County was $57,540, below the state median of $71,637. The poverty rate in the county was 15.8 percent, compared to 9.9 percent for New Jersey as a whole.

Racial Demographics, 2013
Race	Passaic County (%)	New Jersey (%)
White	75.7	73.4
Black or African American	14.7	14.7
American Indian and Alaska Native	1.5	0.6
Asian	5.6	9.2
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.2	0.1
Two or More Races	2.4	2.0
Hispanic or Latino	38.9	18.9

Presidential Voting Pattern, Passaic County
Year	Democratic Vote	Republican Vote
2012	115,926	64,523
2008	113,257	72,552
2004	94,962	75,200
2000	90,324	61,043

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Voter and candidate information

As of the 2014 election, the Clifton Board of Education consisted of nine nonpartisan members who were elected at-large to three-year terms. Elections are staggered, with three seats being up for election each year. Candidates for the Board of Education must be 18 years old and have resided within the district for at least one year before their election or appointment. There are no term limits.

Candidates were required to submit nominating petitions with 10 signatures to the county clerk by the filing deadline on July 28, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. Voters were required to register by October 14, 2014, to vote in the election.

Elections

2014

Candidates

Sample ballot for the 2014 Clifton Board of Education election.

At-large

• Arlene Agresti
  • Incumbent, first elected in 2011
  • Retired Clifton Public Schools teacher
• Judith A. Bassford
  • Incumbent, first elected in 2011
  • Co-owner of JSK Landscaping and Construction
  • Senior parent consultant for the Association for Special Children and Families (ASCF)
• Lucy Danny
  • Incumbent, first elected in 2011
  • Fulbright scholar
  • High school teacher in Bergen County, New Jersey
  • Adjunct instructor at Syracuse University
• Jeffrey R. Camp
  • Retired from Clifton Police Department
• Andrew A. White
  • Police detective in Passaic, New Jersey

Election results

Clifton Public Schools,
At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Arlene Agresti Incumbent	22.3%	5,551
	Nonpartisan	Judith A. Bassford Incumbent	22%	5,490
	Nonpartisan	Lucy Danny Incumbent	21.9%	5,457
	Nonpartisan	Andrew A. White	17.6%	4,391
	Nonpartisan	Jeffrey R. Camp	16%	4,001
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.2%	53
Total Votes				24,943
Source: Passaic County Clerk, "November 4, 2014, Summary Report Official Results," November 12, 2014

Campaign finance

Candidates were not required to declare their contributions unless they exceeded $4,500.00. The last campaign finance report before the election was due on October 24, 2014, and the final report was due on November 24, 2014.

Candidates received a total of $910.00 and spent a total of $0.00 as of October 13, 2014, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Arlene Agresti	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Judith A. Bassford	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Lucy Danny	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Jeffrey R. Camp	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Andrew A. White	$910.00	$0.00	$910.00

Past elections

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

2013 See also: Clifton Public Schools elections (2013) Clifton Public Schools, At-large General Election, 3-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Gary Passenti Incumbent 27.8% 6,032      Nonpartisan Rosemary Pino 27.6% 5,974      Nonpartisan Wayne Demikoff Incumbent 22.2% 4,806      Nonpartisan Laura De Benedetto 22% 4,775      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.4% 80 Total Votes 21,667 Source: Passaic County, New Jersey, "Summary Report," November 15, 2013 2012 Clifton Public Schools, At-large General Election, 3-year term, 2012 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan John Houston 35.2% 7,762      Nonpartisan James Daley Incumbent 32.7% 7,220      Nonpartisan Tafari Anderson 32.1% 7,075 Total Votes 22,057 Source: Passaic County, New Jersey, "Passaic County Official Results - 2012 General Election," accessed October 27, 2013 2010 Clifton Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Wayne Demikoff Incumbent 15.5% 3,092      Nonpartisan Gary Passenti 15.3% 3,058      Nonpartisan Mary Kowal 14% 2,789      Nonpartisan Kim Renta 13.5% 2,681      Nonpartisan Barbara Novak 11.4% 2,281      Nonpartisan John Houston 11.2% 2,240      Nonpartisan Phillip Binaso 10.9% 2,179      Nonpartisan Joseph Fazio Jr. 5.3% 1,059      Nonpartisan Gina Marie Scaduto 2.6% 509      Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.2% 45 Total Votes 19,933 Source: Margaret Koenig, "Email correspondence with Hana Katawa, Chief Deputy Clerk of Passaic County" October 15, 2014

What was at stake?

Issues

Issues in the district

Band director hiring

The 2012 Thanksgiving Clifton High School marching band performance.

The board of education hired Cody Holody as the new marching band director, despite strong community support for assistant band director Don Luppuzo. The previous band director, Bob Morgan, retired on May 14, 2014, after 43 years at Clifton High School. The marching band had become known for its Big Ten "High Step" style under Morgan's leadership.

When the board announced its intention to hire Cody Holody to fill the position, many community members attended the following board meeting to voice their dissent and expressed their desire for the board to hire Don Loppuzo, who had worked as assistant band director under Morgan. After 90 minutes of public comments on the matter, the board voted 5 to 3 in favor of hiring Holody. Arlene Agresti, James Daley, Lucy Danny, Wayne Demikoff, and John Houston voted in favor of the hire. Tafari Anderson, Judith A. Bassford, and Rosemary Pino voted against it. Gary Passenti was absent from the meeting.

The meeting was also highly attended due to the possibility of outsourcing paraprofessional jobs to the county. However, the board decided to rehire 130 paraprofessionals.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Clifton Public Schools election in 2014:

Deadline	Event
July 28, 2014	Petition filing deadline for candidates
October 6, 2014	Campaign finance reports due
October 14, 2014	Voter registration deadline
October 24, 2014	Campaign finance reports due
October 28, 2014	Mail-in ballot application period ended
November 4, 2014	Election Day
November 24, 2014	Campaign finance reports due

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: New Jersey elections, 2014

This election shared the ballot with the general elections for the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, two statewide ballot measures, county offices, and municipal offices.

See also

• New Jersey
• Clifton Public Schools, New Jersey
• New Jersey school board elections, 2014
• List of school board elections in 2014
• School board elections, 2014
• Passaic County, New Jersey ballot measures
• Local ballot measures, New Jersey

External links

Suggest a link

• Clifton Public Schools
• Passaic County Clerk, Elections Division
• Clifton November 4, 2014, Sample Ballot