HOBOKEN — The Hoboken Board of Education has raised $8,150 private donations from 14 individuals so far to fund its effort to block the expansion of the Hoboken Dual Language Charter School (HoLa), according to the agenda for the board’s upcoming Tuesday, May 12 meeting.
In late March, the New Jersey Department of Education upheld its approval of HoLa’s expansion to seventh and eighth grade. At its next meeting on April 14, the Hoboken school board voted to appeal the state’s decision in appellate court but not to spend any additional taxpayer money, instead relying on private donations.
Among those donating are four of the six school board members who voted for the appeal, Jennifer Evans, Jean Marie Mitchell, Irene Sobolov, and Leon Gold. A fifth board member, Tom Kluepfel, has said publically that he plans to donate.
Other contributors include Hoboken High School teacher Christopher Munoz, Deirdre Wall and Gregory Bond, Carla Weinpahl and Daniel Weaver, and Alice and James Kocis, who gave the largest donation at $5,000.
Hoboken’s interim superintendent and a majority of its school board have argued that the state failed to enforce its own laws in approving HoLa’s expansion because it ignored alleged racial socioeconomic segregation created by the school. The state education commissioner and HoLa representatives have denied that the charter has a segregative effect.
The Hoboken school board will meet on Tuesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. in the Demarest School Auditorium, located at 158 Fourth St.
Hoboken school board gets $8,150 in private donations to appeal expansion of HoLa charter school
