When the students of Hoboken public schools return for the 2014-2015 year, they will have a new superintendent, new standardized testing regime, new computers, new pre-kindergarten classes, and at least 14 new teachers. For the children at Hoboken’s largest elementary school, though, the most notable immediate difference will be the paint on the walls.
After decades decked in two-tone green, the Wallace Elementary School at 11th and Willow Streets has received a nearly full makeover on the inside thanks to its maintenance staff and parent volunteers. Wallace is Hoboken’s largest elementary school, covering pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as well as the city’s special education program.
The first day of school for all grades is Sept. 4, though preschoolers will only attend a half day of classes.
New pre-K class cuts into waitlist
According to Interim Superintendent Dr. Richard Brockel, the state recently approved funding for an additional pre-kindergarten class at the Brandt School. Brockel said the administration is currently looking for a teacher to lead the new class.
Hoboken’s school district was criticized last year for placing children on a waitlist for its public pre-kindergarten program. According to the Education Law Center, a Newark-based organization that advocates for public school funding, Hoboken is required by a state Supreme Court ruling to seat every child who applies for pre-K.
“How exciting is it for kids to come in and see this?”—Roger Bowley
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Assistant Superintendent Miguel Hernandez said he expects eight to 10 students to be left on the waiting list for fall 2014 once the roughly 15 places opened up by the new class are filled. He noted that Hoboken was able to take in every child on the waitlist in 2013 after no-shows and opt-outs were accounted for. By comparison, the waitlist for pre-Kindergarten reached 70 children at one point in July of last year.
New staff arrive
There are no new principals in Hoboken public schools this year, although Sandra Rodriguez, the principal of Brandt School, only began near the end of this past school year in May. Rodriguez came to Hoboken from Newark public schools, where she was responsible for nearly 7,000 children as the director of early childhood education.
According to the Hoboken Board of Education announcement of Rodriguez’s arrival, she is an educator with 20 years experience as a teacher, vice-principal, and administrator. Rodriguez has received a number of awards, including the Superintendent’s Teacher of the Year Award and the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Inc.’s Citation Award for outstanding leadership and achievement in education.
Anna Gullo, the Vice-Principal of Hoboken Junior Senior High School, will be on leave until March 2015.
Director of Curriculum Tamika Bauknight has resigned. Her role will be taken up by supervisors Charles Bartlett and Donna Interdonato and another administrator.
One of the responsibilities Bartlett and Interdonato will fill is overseeing a new institute for the at least 14 new teachers in Hoboken schools this year, along with all non-tenured teachers.
According to Hernandez, the program will replace informal mentoring with organized monthly afterschool meetings covering a range of topics, including the Danielson rubric on which teachers are evaluated within the classroom.
Walking in the PARCC
In the upcoming year, New Jersey’s new standardized test regime will finally come fully into use. In 2010, the state joined the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which was formed to create exams that embody the federally-sponsored Common Core standards for English and mathematics.
Before PARCC, Hoboken had two separate levels of assessment. The New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) was given to third through eighth graders and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) was administered in eleventh grade.
PARCC will take the form of two tests in the spring semester. Students will be ranked on a five point scale, from minimal to distinguished command of the material dealt with in their grade. According to the New Jersey Education Association, students with the two highest levels in upper grades will be able to take classes at one of 15 colleges and universities in New Jersey.
However, the most notable difference about the PARCC test is not its content but its format. Unlike past tests, PARCC will be taken on the computer, like the GRE and GMAT exams required for graduate school.
Brockel said the district has ordered new Chromebook laptops to help accommodate the test. These will supplement the roughly 200 laptops salvaged from a program that gave a computer to every seventh and eighth grader for school and home use.
In July, WNYC reported that Hoboken Junior Senior High School was scuttling its one-on-one laptop initiative and destroying the computers, citing difficulty keeping the machines working.
In a letter to the Hoboken community, Brockel disputed the report, stating that the program had been “revised in favor of other programs for students in which the laptops could be utilized more effectively,” such as PARCC preparation.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Miguel Hernandez said one of the biggest concerns with the new test was ensuring that all students were computer proficient. He said teaching students how to use a keyboard, among other skills, would be incorporated into lesson plans.
Fresh paint at Wallace
Of the many fresh faces ready to show up on the first day of school, the largest is surely Wallace Elementary School, which has undergone a major repainting project this summer. The hallways now feature a rainbow of color, often in solid blocks that progress along the color wheel. Silhouettes of children adorn white walls near the gymnasium and entryway.
Wallace Principal Roger Bowley said the makeover has made a world of difference in the feel of the school. The whole building interior had previously been coated in the same two shades of green, interspersed in some places with Disney characters from the 1960s. “It looked like a factory,” said Bowley.
One of the categories teachers are judged on in the Danielson rubric is maintaining a positive learning environment, and Bowley believes the remodeling does just that. He said the paint had already received positive reaction from the teachers, custodial staff and parents who have visited the building, and he can’t wait for kids to arrive. “How exciting is it for kids to come in and see this?” he asked.
The repainting has been a true community effort. The Wallace Parent Teacher Organization had a hand in the project, and has chipped in money for a new awning. A corporate volunteer group from Jersey Cares will be coming in to help finish the remaining painting. And the makeover itself is the brainchild of Stine Sorensen, a Hoboken-based architect whose son is entering first grade at Wallace.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.