HOBOKEN – A move by the Hoboken Board of Education to create a half day of classes on only eight days notice was roundly criticized by some parents at Tuesday’s monthly meeting, including candidates for the upcoming school board election.
The district announced on Tuesday that it would dismiss students at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22 to allow for parent teacher conferences in the afternoon.
The half day and other calendar changes slated for later in the school year are designed to accommodate extra parent teacher conferences and professional development days negotiated in the school board’s agreement with the local teachers’ union, the Hoboken Education Association, which was approved at the previous meeting on Sept. 9.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Miguel Hernandez said the revised calendar was completed two weeks ago and presented to the Governance and Personnel subcommittee on Oct. 8, where it was preliminarily approved. According to Hernandez, it was publicized on the Hoboken Board of Education website the same day, but robo-calls and emails to parents did not begin until this week.
Not enough time
Brian Murray, a candidate on the Parents for Change slate, noted that aftercare would be cancelled on the 22nd due to the half day, and questioned how babysitters and parents would be able to take up the slack on short notice. “Thousands of parents are going to have to rejigger their schedules in seven days,” said Murray. “I don’t think it’s fair…”
In email to the Hoboken Reporter, a Hoboken public schools mother said that creating a half day on a week’s notice was a burden on working parents and unprecedented in her experience.
Two student trips to a pumpkin patch in Hillsdale, New Jersey will also have to be rescheduled, according to Hernandez.
The revised calendar was ultimately approved 7-2 with Peter Biancamano and Frances Rhodes-Kearns, the two candidates running on the Education or all Children slate, in opposition.
A full version of the revised 2014-15 Hoboken public school calendar can be found here.