Union City Board of Education President Jeanette Pena tells it like it is when it comes to kids, as her students are her business, as well.
This lovely lady was born in Weehawken at the old former North Hudson Hospital, and she was raised in Union City, and her parents Constantino and Rina were from Cuba. A graduate of Emerson High School in Union City, she went on to achieve a bachelors degree in psychology from Rutgers University/Newark Campus in 1992, and in 1994 she achieved a Master of Arts degree in psychological studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange. Afterward, she went for further studies and achieved a professional diploma in school psychology at New Jersey City University in Jersey City in 1997, to finalize her course of studies.
From 1995 to 1999, she worked at the Safe Haven School Program as a youth counselor at the Edison School in Union City, which was a program for students in the after school hours, to learn to become better citizens, and provide recreational outlets for them to achieve in society, as well as working at various other jobs in the private sector. Ms. Pena was also appointed an adjunct professor at the Hudson County Community College in Jersey City from 1994 to 2000, and taught Psychology and Developmental Psychology courses there during that time to adults. During this time in 1998, she married her husband Raul Diaz (who is a Scorpio, she tells us) and they have a daughter Dahlia, who is now 6 years old. Ms. Pena-Diaz tells us that she is a Gemini, and that there are a lot of Scorpio’s in her family circle, she laughs!
Ms. Pena basically began her professional career in psychology in 1998. She started working as a school psychologist in Paterson at both their elementary and high school systems, and then left there to begin the same type of work in the Jersey City school system in 2000, and is still presently a psychologist with the Jersey City Board of Education. She is a member of such professional organizations as the American Psychological Association, National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Education Association and the New Jersey Education Association, its affiliate.
After being a member of the Union City Redevelopment Agency from 2001 to 2003, she was appointed a member of the Union City Board of Education, which is a better fit for Ms. Pena’s mindset, career, and professional vision, as she is very pleased with the challenges at the Board of Education. She became president of the Union City Board of Education in 2008, and is still its president, and she tells us that she has a very good working relationship with Board of Education Superintendent Stanley “Sandy” Sanger and School Business Administrator Anthony Dragona, who was formerly an elected Union City Commissioner back in the 1980s.
As president of the Board of Education, she likes being a voice from the perspective of being an educator, as well as a parent. She enjoys working on curriculum and improving it. She’s a champion for child safety-seating on school buses, and wants to make buses child-friendly. She is also an advocate for sharing services with other municipal school districts, so that other school systems can be understood as an entity themselves and vice-versa, and share ideas, to see what works best, and how, and why, and where. Networking with other districts is therefore also a form of learning new things with a “win-win” goal in mind. She also believes in certain forms of child/student “inclusiveness,” which of course needs very deep educational thought before entertaining ideas and ideals. Ms. Pena is also a member of the New Jersey School Boards Association.
Family life for Ms. Pena is one of variety. She is an avid reader of historical fiction, exercises at the gym, loves all types of music, and enjoys Broadway plays. She is a member of various animal conservation groups, like the Wildlife Conservation Society, and she likes skiing and swimming, and jogging. Furthermore, she and her husband Raul, who happens to be a 15-year employee of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in their signal technology systems division, are communicants of the Saint Joseph/Saint Michael Roman Catholic Church in Union City.
Ms. Pena tells us that her deceased grandmother Dahlia is the one person in her family life who instilled in her the need to enter into her educational field of endeavor, and to always study, and to give back to society, the best of what she has gained from it herself. Thus, this makes her a better person, in her own journey through life. To Ms. Jeanette Pena, an astrological Gemini,
All the best!
John P. Blancart has received the United States Army General George C. Marshall Award at the Marshall Center, Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. He is the son of Teresa Kubber Roman of Union City. Congratulations Mr. Blancart!
Charles P. Drago of Guttenberg was named to the Dean’s List at Western New England College in Springfield, Mass. Best wishes Mr. Drago!
Checking in with former Mayor Nicholas Cicco of Guttenberg, he tells us that he feels fine and is doing well, and is still active as a podiatrist on Bergenline Avenue in the town. Which brings us to Hudson County Superintendent of Weights and Measures Rosann Fischer of Secaucus, who not too long ago had the “agony of de-feet;” maybe she should visit Dr. Cicco if she has a recurrence of her ailment. Remember that old joke, that if you have a sore toe, “don’t walk, just hire a Tow-truck!” Laughter is the best medicine! By the way, we hear that Ms. Fischer still gets an “A-Plus” for her job as county superintendent. Bravo!
Kristiana Reyes of Secaucus was named to the Dean’s List at Ithaca College’s School of Humanities and Sciences in Upstate New York. Best of luck Ms. Reyes!
Meanwhile, Sean Amegadzie of West New York was named to the Honor’s List at Oxford College of Emory University at Oxford, Georgia – and ditto – Yolanda Leon of North Bergen was named to the Dean’s List at Rider University, at Princeton/Lawrenceville. Leaders of Tomorrow make us proud!
Readers, a few columns back I wrote about a new pizza parlor which opened-up in The Shades area of Weehawken, and the hired-help there basically gave me a composite name for one of their owners. Thus, now that I have the correct name(s) of the two partners, here goes! The new owners of the new King of Wings & Pizza establishment are Waleed Awad and Raafat Tawfik. Furthermore, aside from their Pizza Margarita, their Sicilian Pizza is another reason to give the restaurant a hungry visit. Perhaps you will bump into Mayor Richard Turner, as he surveys the township on one of his nightly rounds. Buon Appetito! …..
And so it goes… Until next time… See you around town… MATT.
Readers who would like to contribute to this column can do so by mailing your news items and photographs, along with your name, address, and telephone number to: “Matthew Amato,” Columnist, c/o The Hudson Reporter, 1400 Washington Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030.