Booker and Jeffries win in Newark

But not all the news from Newark is bad: Cory Booker won re-election in a landslide with nearly 60% of the vote, and last week Shavar Jeffries (http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/04/shavar-jeffries-wins-in-newark.html), the guy I think who I think will be the next mayor of Newark, was elected President of the school board:

Newly elected NPS Advisory Board member selected as president

Wednesday, 28 April 2010 16:08 Local Talk News Editor

http://www.localtalknews.com/newark/education/303-shavar-jeffries-elected-president-of-newark-pubic-schools-advisory-board

Shavar Jeffries, who won a seat on the Newark Public Schools Advisory Board in the April 20 election, was elected Tuesday by his colleagues to be president of the board.

Jeffries, the top vote getter in the election, ran on the For Our Team ticket with newcomer Ivan LaMourt and incumbent Shanique Speight. All three were sworn in Tuesday.

Speight narrowly defeated Alturrick Kenney, who ran on a ticket with Deniqua Matais and Richard Cammarieri. A total of eight candidates ran in the election.

"All of the elections and ceremonies are now behind us, and it is time to go to work," Jeffries said.

Jeffries, a Newark native who currently lives in the South Ward, is a professor at Seton Hall Law School's Center for Social Justice and is also the co-director of the Urban Revitalization Project.

He graduated from Duke University and Columbia Law School, and formerly worked as a law clerk of Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, former general counsel with the NAACP.

During his law career, he defended University of Michigan affirmative action policies and fought for black farmers who were denied federal loans. He also championed for special-education services for Newark school children and was a leading advocate for after-school tutoring in Newark.

In addition, Jeffries oversaw the Juvenile Justice Commission, the Division on Civil Rights and the Victims of Crime Compensation Office as counsel to the New Jersey Attorney General.