Dear Editor:
Hoboken is a wonderful community, but one that has been far too transient in recent decades. Too often, young families have chosen to move to other municipalities around the time when their children reach school age. A driving factor behind these decisions is a perception that Hoboken’s public schools don’t deliver a quality education. Another factor has been the high costs of running a school district that has had education achievement results that many parents consider to be sub-par. The fact is, parents simply want the best for their children, and parents in Hoboken, many of whom have an array of choices when deciding where to raise and educate their families, are no exception to this fact.
In the upcoming school board election, I ask that my friends and neighbors join me in supporting the Kids First Slate. Jean Marie Mitchell, Leon Gold, Irene Sobolov, and Rose Marie Markle each understand that a strong and efficient public school system is vital to keeping young families in Hoboken; families that will be vested in Hoboken’s future and who will be active in ensuring that this future is a bright one.
As a parent and taxpayer, I find it refreshing that Kids First does not look with disdain upon our public schools, instead looking to them with hope and high expectations. This is why the current Kids First school board majority has successfully cut the school budget this year, despite facing daunting decreases in state funding. When making these cuts, they’ve worked diligently to limit them to areas that don’t directly affect our children’s education. They understand that the classroom, and classroom instructors, are the most sacred and vital parts of our schools, and the places where we are best served demanding the most of our tax dollars rather than the places where we should look first for taxpayer savings. This line of thinking proved wise when the school budget was recently cut without cutting instructors: an unmatched feat in New Jersey this year.
As a teacher in one of the poorest communities in the New York area, I appreciate that Kids First recognizes the power and quality inherent in a diverse school system with a student body that represents the full spectrum of society. A student who is exposed to classmates with a diverse economic, religious, racial, social, and ethnic makeup will be served well in life by this experience. The experience will help the student who has been blessed with a lot to appreciate what they have, and the student who wants for things to understand that these things are achievable and within their reach. Kids First supports our public schools, supports continuing to make our schools the best option for all Hoboken kids, and has been building a quality education choice attractive to all Hoboken families.
These are some of the reasons why I’ll be supporting Kids First by voting 1B, 1A, 2A, and 4A: Mitchell, Gold, Sobolov, and Markle.
Sincerely,
David Mello
Hoboken City Councilman At-Large