HOBOKEN – After a nearly seven hour gathering filled with pleas from students and parents, the Hoboken Board of Education voted by a 5-4 margin to support the decision of Superintendent Dr. Mark Toback to not offer tenure to popular theater director Paula Ohaus and Cheng-Yen Hillenbrand, the head of the Johns Hopkins gifted program.
The controversy over whether or not the popular teachers would be granted tenure began in April.
Toback said he had a “fact finding” meeting with Ohaus when he began his job, and asked her about the rumors of her having children over her home and driving them in her personal vehicle. Ohaus has said she was never told to stop what she was doing, and said trips to her home by students were even board sanctioned events in the past.
Ohaus is known in Hoboken for bringing to life a theater program that brought many awards and accollades for the program. However, Toback said he did not feel comfortable offering Ohaus a lifetime teaching position in the form of tenure, given the concerns he had addressed to her in a meeting in April.
Hillenbrand was not offered tenure either, which Toback said stemmed from, among other issues, certification problems.
The two teachers each delivered approximately 25 minute speeches, asking the Board to overturn Toback’s recommendation. Then, residents, former students, and colleagues approached the microphone to voice their opinions on the issue.
The approximately five hour Donaldson hearing had nearly 30 speakers, with many of them pleading with the Board to keep the teachers in the district. Ultimately, the politically divided Board voted 5-4 to support the superintendent’s recommendation.
For much more on the nearly seven hour meeting of the Board of Education, keep watching HudsonReporter.com and make sure to pick up a copy of The Hoboken Reporter this weekend. – Ray Smith
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
