You won’t be able to get out of bed to get out the vote on the morning of April 18. After a brief discussion Tuesday evening, the Board of Education decided not to expand the polling hours for its upcoming election for three seats. The nine-member board decided it would keep the polls open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., discarding a request from the City Council to start the voting at 8 a.m. instead. Board members said Tuesday that past attempts to increase voter turnout with additional polling hours had failed. School Business Administrator Anthony Curko said the board expanded the hours in an election in 1993, but voter turnout was poor. “We were open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. that year at an extra cost of $22,000 to $23,000,” Curko said, “and got 1,000 votes less than the prior year.” (However, that election came the year after a heated school board election that had drawn the largest turnout in years.) Board president David Anthony agreed that the proposed hours would cost too much. “Right now it’s a one-day thing with no overtime involved,” said Anthony. “This is money that we would have to take out of some other part of our budget, and I don’t think it is going to help the students.” While Anthony acknowledged the need for greater voter turnout during school board elections, he argued that additional polling hours wouldn’t guarantee an increase. “People only come out to vote when money is on the line,” he said, “and since we have stabilized the taxes, people have not come out to vote in the last six years, so why would we increase the polling hours?” By law, the minimum amount of time the polls must stay open is 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Curko noted that people who won’t be able to vote during those hours can fill out an absentee ballot in advance. According to James Farina, municipal city clerk and board of education member, absentee ballots may be obtained by calling the clerk’s office at City Hall and requesting that one be sent. The board members also took time during the meeting to call attention to the 1999 eighth grade proficiency test results. Hoboken schools scored highest among the Abbott “special needs” district schools statewide and third among Hudson County districts, officials said. “This is great news,” said Anthony. “These test scores have gone up dramatically and we have the teachers to thank for that.” Two federal mandates were also passed unanimously by the board Tuesday. The Family Leave Policy grants employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid absence for a serious health condition, to care for a newborn or recently adopted child, or to care for a sick spouse, parent or child. The Americans with Disability Act Policy provides equal employment opportunities and supplies reasonable accommodation for disabled employees where required. “Although this act hasn’t been presented in front of the board before, we’ve certainly been acting according to its tenets,” said Anthony. Before adjourning for the evening, the board also addressed a number of other business matters including a decision to take funds acquired from additional state school aid in October 1999 totaling $141,298, and roll them over to use in the 2000-2001 school year. The board also agreed to conduct a public hearing on the 2000-2001 school district budget on March 28 and, if more time is needed, March 29 at 7 p.m. The hearing will be held at the Board of Education building on Clinton Street. For more information on any of these matters, contact the Hoboken Board of Education at (201) 420-2161.