Maria Vera appears to have won election to the West Orange School Board, having defeated incumbent Melinda Huerta 3246 to 1611, according to numbers provided by the Essex County Clerk’s Office..
Vera is a school counselor for the Orange Twp Board of Education with a BA in early childhood education from Montclair State University and a master’s degree in Spanish language and literature from the University of Salamanca in Spain. In 2021, Vera received the Teacher of the Year award from the New Jersey Department of Education.
Huerta grew up in West Orange and attended K-5 at Washington Elementary School, 6-8 at Edison Middle School, and graduated from West Orange High School in 2009. She and her husband Hanshi Kenneth Lee are owners of Way of the Tiger Martial Arts Academy. As a Board member, she also serves on the Policy, Township Liaison, and Public Relations Committees.
A total of 4,857 were cast.
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