Nearly 40 upper school students from the Hoboken Charter School (HCS) didn’t go to class Wednesday. They weren’t cutting to hang out with friends at McDonald’s or to play with their PlayStations – they skipped their morning classes as an expression of civil disobedience over recent administration policy and the laying off of teachers.
The student organized and led a march outside the school, initially gathering on the corner of Fourth and Garden streets at 9:30 a.m. The group marched down Washington Street toting hand-painted signs and yelling out chants.
The event was decidedly not school-sanctioned; students were the ones who arranged all aspects of the march, according to school officials.
The crux of the protest was the students’ demands that recently terminated teachers be reinstated and programs slated for the cutting board be brought back next year.
Some of the programs slated to be cut are the Teen PEP program, which teaches sex education. Several art and humanities programs are also scheduled to be scaled back.
Senior Christy Harbison said it is troublesome that the school no longer plans to provide Teen PEP.
“When I started the class, I was shocked at how much students didn’t know [about the responsibilities associated with sex],” she said. “Especially in a school in an urban environment, we really need a program like this one.”
The underlying message of their demands is that the students do not believe their opinions are being respected by the schools’ nine-member Board of Trustees or the school’s administration.
Charter schools are public schools entirely funded by state and local taxpayer money. However, charter schools usually get less money through the board than other public schools. They also do not report directly to the city’s Board of Education, as the Board of Trustees handles curriculum and administration.
HCS has grades Kindergarten through 12 and was formed in the mid-1990s by parents and educators after state legislation was passed allowing for the creation of charter schools.
Facing stiff financial obstacles and a burdensome fiscal deficit, the school let go five teachers in May. Following a contentious meeting on May 14, school officials announced that up to six more teachers would leave by the end of the school year.
Of the teachers laid off, all but two were from the upper school. This means that only four teachers on staff will be returning to the upper school in September. While many of these teachers will be replaced, said school officials, the students are concerned that the replacements are going to cheaper and less qualified.
Next year the school’s anticipated total enrollment is expected to be approximately 280 students, with 90 students anticipated in the upper grades.
In a student-written press statement, the students stated why they are protesting.
“We, the students, call upon our school administration to preserve its own progressive mandate, and to reinstate the teacher’s contracts and innovative programs that were cut,” it reads.
“I’ve seen many teachers come and go through the years,” said senior Ray Gerona, “but the administration has decided to let go of the teachers who we’ve had the strongest connections to and who have committed to working with us for the long haul.”
Freshman Maria Bustos said she worries that things will not be the same next year without a full complement of teachers.
“When I found out about all the teachers leaving, I had many feelings,” she said. “I was surprised because I couldn’t imagine something like that occurring, sad because I had never lost so many people that had become my friends, and afraid because I’m scared of things not being the same next year at Hoboken Charter School.”
Considered closing upper grades
The past 12 months have been a rough patch for the administrators at HCS. On Feb. 10, the Board of Trustees met and discussed the grim prospects of possibly shutting down the upper school program, grades nine through 12. The school’s administration released a statement that the layoffs and reduction in programs are the unfortunate reality of difficult financial times for the school.
Only after weeks of number crunching, significant reorganization, and proposed cutbacks in staff and programs did the board back a plan that makes it feasible to keep the upper school open.
Estimates from school officials had the school’s budget deficit approaching $250,000.
“Hoboken Charter School has gone through some difficult financial times,” read a statement from the school released Wednesday. “As a charter school, we have unique financial constraints not faced by typical public schools.”
Since its inception, the charter school has had a multitude of different financial obstacles to overcome. A charter school by state statute gets only 90 percent of the local tax dollars for each student that a district school of the same enrollment would get. They also do not get nearly as much state aid and federal grants as the district, according to charter school officials.
According to Silberberg, when all income sources are totaled, the HCS only gets approximately 60 percent of the funding for each pupil that a student in a public school gets.
The school’s hardship is exacerbated by the fact that charter schools do not get any funding for facilities and must find their own space to educate. For the past five years, HCS has rented space from the Board of Education. The students are currently split between the Joseph F. Brandt the A.J. Demarest middle schools. The schools are about a 10-minute walk apart, and HCS does not have access to its own gym or auditorium, depriving it of a space that is large enough for the entire school to accommodate an assembly or a public speaker.
“The administration and that board have had to make some very difficult decisions during the latter half of the school year to arrive at both a strong program and a balanced budget for next year,” the charter school statement reads.
According to the school Co-Coordinator Mark Silberberg, the administration has listened to input from students, parents, teachers and other members of the community.
“This input has helped to guide us in making what we believe are the best decisions for the school,” he said. “We will emerge from this year with a realistic budget that has been fully accepted by the state and will be well-positioned to provide the quality education envisioned in our charter for years to come.”
Education without representation
In the students’ written statement, they state that they realize the “school suffered a major budget crisis this year, and made concessions to make up for lost funds.”
The statement continues, “The high school students feel the process by which these decisions have been made was undemocratic, cutting students and their parents out of the process.”
The students are calling for a new democratically elected Board of Trustees where parents, teachers, and students have a voice in selecting board members. Currently the members are appointed by a vote of the board.
The protesting students also said that the current make-up of the board does not match the school’s diversity.
“The administration and the self-electing Board of Trustees, who made the decision to cut innovative programs and lay off teachers, are entirely Caucasian, while the high school student body is mostly Latino,” reads the statement. “Students are demanding that the board be elected by the students, teachers, and parents of the school community and should include student and high school parent representatives.”
Jose Sanchez, who was the march’s main organizer, said that under the current system, the opinions of the students are not being heard. “This board can always sympathize,” he said, “but its members can never empathize with our needs and concerns.”
School philosophy encourages activism
This last week, the administration of the Hoboken Charter School was put in somewhat of an interesting position, since the school’s administration preaches a “students as activists” philosophy.
Every year the school organizes a list of activities to integrate students with the community, including a march down Washington Street for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Also, once a year, the students organize an “empty bowls” fundraiser for the local homeless shelter.
But what do school officials think now that the students’ social conscience has turned against school policy and the administration?
In an official statement Tuesday, the school’s administration said that teachers and students may not always agree on administrative issues, but they do support and protect the students’ right to speak freely about what matters to them.
“At the Hoboken Charter School, we teach our students that activism and public protest are relevant and valuable to democratic society,” read the statement. “We pride ourselves on creating an environment where students’ concerns are valued.” –Tom Jennemann
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