Dear Editor:
I usually enjoy finding the Hoboken Reporter on my doorstep on a Saturday morning, but today, July 23rd, I wish I hadn’t.
Was it such a slow news week that you had to resort to assassinating the character of one of the most capable, caring educators we have ever had in this city? I count myself fortunate to have worked with Dr. Edwin Duroy in both Hoboken and Paterson and know first hand that in both districts, his exceptional success was accomplished in the face of powerful, political opposition. In both districts, Dr. Duroy was innovative, imaginative, and the students in his charge benefited as a result; but that was not enough for his political opponent who considered it sport to attack Dr. Duroy at every turn. In Paterson, he was attacked at every public meeting. I saw it. I watched it. It was disgraceful. Mr. Jennemann didn’t report that. Perhaps he didn’t know.
To Dr. Duroy’s credit, he suffered the vicious attacks of his opponents with class and consummate professionalism. When the attacks of his power-hungry group of political assassins would not stop, Dr. Duroy left his position in Paterson with grace and dignity. Mr. Jennemann didn’t report that. Perhaps he didn’t know.
There are many in Hoboken who benefited by the confidence in their abilities Dr. Duroy showed over the years. There are many in Hoboken who are in the positions they now occupy due to Dr. Duroy’s generous and good nature. Mr. Jennemann didn’t report that. Perhaps he didn’t know.
I might have excused your journalistic naiveté had it been based on fair and independent reportage. Reporters can make mistakes, and if those mistakes are honest ones, they can be forgiven, but in this case, you took a reportorial short-cut. Rather then relying on his own investigation, he relied on allegations made in articles published in the Bergen Record, a Bergen County newspaper. We don’t know when The Record stories that you apparently relied on were published or who reported those stories. That he would go out of his way to dig through archives to find old news coverage critical of Dr. Duroy at a time when Dr. Duroy is a private citizen holding no public position, strikes me as especially mean and spiteful.
The story says it is “ironic” that Dr. Duroy has been hired to teach Urban School Management at NJCU. What is so “ironic” about that? Dr. Duroy would never have been appointed State Superintendent of Schools in New Jersey’s largest and most troubled district, Paterson, had he not been an expert on urban school management. Mr. Jennemann didn’t report that. Perhaps he didn’t know.
Unprovoked and unjustified attacks as in the article make it more difficult than ever to recruit skilled and experienced educators to work in the troubled, urban school districts that need them the most.
Dr. Duroy and your readers are deserving of an apology.
Dr. Merry Naddeo