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Board of Education Trustee final vote count announced

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Board of Education Trustee final vote count announced

The Mount Vernon City School District needed an extra day to determine the winners of the Board of Trustee race to fill four of the five seats being contested. Following the closing of the polls at 9 pm on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, electronic results were reported and absentee ballots were counted, but 23 affidavit ballots still needed to be verified by the Westchester County Board of Elections and ballots that met residency requirements were counted. 

One candidate, Lynne Middleton, had enough votes early Wednesday morning to be sworn into the Board of Trustees. The 23 affidavit ballots would not have made a difference in her victory. Of the 23 affidavit ballots, 20 were approved by the Board of Elections Wednesday. After tabulating the affidavit ballots, the final unofficial results of the election, pending the certification by the Board of Education, are: 

  • Lynne Middleton (865 votes) was sworn in on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, and will serve a full term, expiring June 30, 2026 

  • Sabina Kelley (838 votes) will be sworn in at a special meeting this week for a full term, expiring June 30, 2026 

  • Warren Mitchell (831 votes) will be sworn in on July 1, 2023, and serve a full term, expiring on June 30, 2026 

  • Orville Gayle (796 votes) will be sworn in at a special meeting this week and will serve the unexpired portion of a term that will run through June 30, 2024 

  • Helene Njenga (745 votes) will be sworn in at a special meeting this week and will serve the unexpired portion of a term that will run through June 30, 2024 


Other candidates who did not earn a seat on the board: Cynthia Crenshaw (742 votes), Donna Marable (677 votes), Rosemarie Jarosz (673 votes), Precious Ferrell (656 votes), Erica Peterson (650 votes), Gloria Atisogbuie (649 votes) and Kenyetta Thomas (315 votes).

Thank you to everyone in the Mount Vernon community for coming out to vote and approving the 2023-2024 school year budget.

Students and teachers posing with No Place for Hate bags and shirts
Sixteen schools designated as No Place for Hate

All 16 Mount Vernon City School District schools were presented with No Place for Hate (NPFH) Banners at the NPFH Banner Ceremony on Thursday, May 25, 2023. The district became the largest school district in Westchester County to have all of its schools designated as No Place for Hate. They are among the 239 NPFH schools in downstate New York.

MBK Fellows seated at table
Two 11th-grade scholars inducted into My Brother's Keeper

Kevon Palmer and Levonn Latham, 11th-grade students at Mount Vernon STEAM Academy, were inducted as 2023-24 My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) fellows on Friday, May 19, 2023. The induction ceremony was held at the annual My Brother’s Keeper Symposium. They traveled to Albany, New York, where the symposium was held, with their mentors Brother Arthur Muhammad, youth development specialist, and Noel Campbell, director of career and technical education.