Gagnon, Grana, Wood elected

Kaitlin Gagnon, Jennifer “Lonsky” Grana and Chad Wood won three seats on the Sparta Township Board of Education in the Nov. 7 election, according to unofficial results reported by the Sussex County Clerk’s Office.

Mail-in and absentee ballots are accepted up to six days after Election Day, and provisional ballots are counted after the deadline for receiving mail-in/absentee ballots.

According to updated results Thursday, Nov. 9, Gagnon had 2,544 votes, Grana had 2,506 and Wood had 2,464.

Grana is a former school board member and Wood is a former student representative to the board who graduated from Sparta High School in June.

Results for another slate showed Dana Dumpert with 1,811 votes, Robert Meara with 1,782 and incumbent Christina Longo-Keiling with 1,772.

Incumbent LeeAnne Pitzer, who ran on her own, had 915 votes.

Both Grana and Gagnon ran for school board and lost in 2022. After receiving feedback from the community, they changed their approach to the 2023 election.

“On a campaign level, we were more laser-focused. The way that we ran our campaign has become more of a grassroots operation. We have tried to reach and meet and talk to every possible constituent that we can,” Gagnon said during a gathering Nov. 7 to await the election results.

Their campaign gained momentum when they began to understand the many different viewpoints that they hoped to represent on the board. “We’ve been more motivated to recognize the spectrum of who we’re going to be representing,” she said.

As they connected with a greater cross-section of the Sparta community, they found that although their supporters did not always share political or ideological beliefs, they did share the same goals for Sparta schools.

Did all they could

Dumpert, Meara and Longo-Keiling went into election night feeling confident that they had done all they could to tell Sparta residents who they are and what they represent.

“We did so much to get ourselves out into the community. What we stood for and what our background was and what we stood for as people,” Dumpert said the evening of Nov. 7.

The team approached the election with more constituent outreach. “We did more reaching out to social media. More events. We had more fundraising events rather than just meet-and-greets,” said Longo-Keiling

Meara said, “Our strategy was being transparent. Letting people know where we stood on the issues. We didn’t try to hide behind fancy taglines or slogans. We’re more or less getting out with the people and connecting with them.”

Candidates on both slates said they planned to stay involved with the schools.

“I don’t think I have a choice. My youngest is in pre-k. I think I’ll always be involved. I’m not the kind of person who can not be involved,” said Grana.

Longo-Keiling said, “My heart is in this. I’m not only doing this for my family but the community at large. There are a lot of people who have the same feelings and values and concerns as we do.”