Dear Editor:
Here is why I think I deserve a seat on the Hoboken school board: Every morning, I drop off my 9-year-old daughter, Julia, at Connors at the corner of Second and Monroe. I tell her I love her, she mumbles uh-huh and runs up the stairs to join her pals in Mrs. DeGennaro’s fourth-grade class.
It’s as simple as that. I have a vested interest in making sure she goes to a good school. And if she goes to a good school, so do the 400 other children who go to Connors. Can one person make a difference? Yes. Can three people elected to the school board make an even bigger difference? Yes, especially when they join two other members of Kids First already on the board and form a majority that means business when it comes to reform.
Some people thought it was a mistake when I enrolled my children at Connors two years ago. What kind of education could they get at a school that draws mainly from the Housing Authority? Nine out of 10 students live with families with incomes so low that they qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Hadn’t I heard that the administration always treats Connors as second class?
I judge a school by its results. Julia studies violin, is learning to write wonderful stories, and does an advanced math program through Johns Hopkins University. She and every one of the girls in third grade last spring passed the state test.
But last year, only 9 percent of the sixth graders passed the language arts exam. Only 15 percent of the fifth graders and 25 percent of the seventh graders passed. So I have asked the board and the superintendent several times at board meetings: Why should I keep my daughter there? They have no answer. No plan. No one reaches out and says, here’s the big picture. Here’s why you should stay. I have yet to hear the superintendent outline his vision for the district.
For too long, Hoboken was content simply to provide a desk to whomever showed up. Now, with a budget of $59 million, that’s just not good enough. We’re spending world-class money and we, the parents and taxpayers, expect a world-class education. Why is it so hard to imagine a great city like Hoboken being home to great schools?
That’s why I fight like crazy when I hear about plummeting test scores, idle employees, pay raises and benefits that threaten to squeeze out programs for students. I moved to Hoboken in 2001 and enrolled my son in the Abbott pre-K program. Ever since then I have been working to improve our schools. And I have been railing at the exorbitant amount of money we waste.
This year, I am running with Theresa Minutillo and Ruth McAllister on the Kids First ticket. If all three of us win on April 21, we form a 5-4 majority that will put the kids first. I ask for your support on Election Day.
Maureen Sullivan