In a stunning blow to the superintendent of the state’s largest school district, the Newark Board of Education fell one vote short of the five needed Thursday night to extend Roger León’s tenure by two years, to 2030.

The 4-0 vote, with two abstentions, two recusals, and one absence, capped a public hearing during a special meeting at Ann Street School, in which 40 people spoke for and against granting León a new 5-year contract to replace an existing deal three years ahead of its scheduled expiration in June 2028.

“I’m very surprised,” said Latoya Jackson, a former school board candidate who had spoken in support of León earlier in the evening.

The advertised hearing and vote contrasted the stealthy renewal of León’s first 5-year contract with the district, signed in 2018. That dea

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