SCHOOL BOARD INCUMBENT LAWSON-MUHAMMAD JOINS SOUTH ORANGE CHALLENGER IN RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad

School Board Member Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad has apparently teamed up with South Orange resident James H. Davis III in her bid for re-election.

Lawson-Muhammad is one of three incumbents whose seats are up in this year's election on Nov. 8. The other two are Beth Daugherty, who is not running for re-election, and Johanna Wright, who is running.

So far, however, only two challengers -- Anthony Mazzocchi of Maplewood and Susie S. Adamson of South Orange -- have filed to run in the election. The deadline to file is Monday.

While Lawson-Muhammad and Davis have not filed to run, a lengthy email from Davis seeking support is circulating in the area.

It says, in part:  

As some of you may have heard, Stephanie and I are running on the same ticket for the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education election in November 2016.  While Stephanie is running as an incumbent, this is my first election.  There are several reasons why I decided to run, but one reason can be encapsulated in a statement made by our own Michael Minor, “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” Our school district has long offered the vision of a place where all students are fully challenged and effectively prepared to realize their full potential. Indeed, the Board of Education has made closing the Achievement Gap a top priority every year for the last two decades. But we have to admit that -- while some progress has been made -- it is way too little and too slow. Especially for children of color.  Stephanie and I believe that we can all agree that the pace of change needs to increase. With the commitment of our new Superintendent, Dr. John Ramos, and leveraging the School Board's recently-adopted "Access and Equity" policy, we believe the opportunity exists to accelerate the effort to turn vision into reality.

See the entire letter, which also includes detailed campaign contribution guidelines, HERE.

We have reached out to Lawson-Muhammad and Davis, but neither has responded as of Friday.