If Frank Gargiulo, superintendent of the Hudson County Schools of Technology, expected to have an easy time when he appeared at the freeholder version of the “County Government for a Day” program on April 12, he got a rude surprise.
Students posing as county officials grilled him about the new Schools of Technology campus, due to break ground in Secaucus shortly. The students were from towns throughout the county and attend County Prep and High Tech High Schools, two public countywide high schools.
The students took the civic lesson to heart not just on new campus issue, but on issues such as the validity of bicycle lanes, whether or not to lobby the state for an increase in the gas tax, and the advantages of possibly reestablishing a red light camera program.
For the second year in a row, Konstantinos Vogiatzis, a senior at County Prep High School, served in the role of “county administrator. This put him on the hot seat because he was one of the people most often called on to provide background information on the various resolutions, and at times, he struggled to justify an issue such as why the public would benefit from red light cameras.
“I’m very interested in a career in criminal justice, which is why I requested to become the sheriff.” – John Roberts
____________
Students appeared to take sides on the issues, and to defend their positions more vehemently than in past years.
The nine-member board eventually voted against red light cameras 8 to 1.
Frank Jost, a junior at County Prep, sat in as Freeholder Junior Maldonado and led the opposition to the red light resolution.
“This is a personal issue for me,” he said. “My mother got caught by the camera. [But] she beat one of the tickets.”
Safety and fairness appeared to be some of the issues Jost was concerned with. For Jost, the experience as freeholder will prepare him for a possible career in public service.
“I’m very interested in history,” he said.
Rakeeb Alam, a junior at HTHS and a resident of Bayonne, said several of the issues being discussed were important to local residents, such as the red light cameras and the gas tax. He said the experience as freeholder was a valuable one because he intends to run for office someday.
Also called on frequently to provide law enforcement answers on agenda items was Bayonne resident John Roberts, a student at HTHS.
“I’m very interested in a career in criminal justice, which is why I requested to become the sheriff,” he said.
An educational experience
The educational event was sponsored by Freeholder Chairman Tilo Rivas and the Board of Chosen Freeholders as well as County Executive Thomas DeGise. The meeting consisting of students assuming the roles of the nine freeholders, the county executive, clerk to the board, deputy clerk to the board, county administrator, county counsel, county clerk, county surrogate, county register, county sheriff, and chief of staff to county executive.
The student agenda included other issues such as support for prisoner reentry programs and support for the Democracy Act, which would have allowed for automatic voter registration, but which Gov. Christopher Christie vetoed.
The meeting followed some of the same procedures of a typical freeholder meeting and included reports given by the county executive, county clerk, county surrogate, county sheriff and county register.
“This is a great way for our future leaders to learn how county government works and how they can make a difference, said Freeholder Chairman Tilo Rivas.
According to county government officials working hand in hand with the students, Student Government Day allows students to actually perform duties and become involved in discussions that affect their lives. The students struggle with real issues, developing an agenda of items that are of interest to them.
Ideally, the students first research the issues.
The Hudson County School of Technology – commonly called High Tech – has two locations in Hudson County, one in North Bergen and one in Jersey City. County Prep High School is located in Jersey City. Students involved in this year’s program came from Jersey City, North Bergen, Bayonne, West New York, Union City and other municipalities.
Some issues were very personal
Yash Patel, a student at High Tech High School and a resident of Secaucus, said he had serious concerns about the impact of the new Secaucus campus, grilling Gargiulo about traffic in the area and the need for better internet service.
“I would like Secaucus to provide its own internet service,” Patel said in a later interview, noting that one of the principle hubs for fiber optics is located in Secaucus. He said currently the only provider of internet service is a cable TV company.
He also said that he lives near where the new school will be located as is well aware of some of the traffic issues.
“The superintendent said that the turnpike exchange will handle the traffic, but I disagree,” Patel said. “Interchange 15X does not connect with the other Secaucus exits.”
He also noted that many of the school buses will be traveling through a very problematic intersection at Manhattan and Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City.
Viquar Chaudhry, a student at County Prep and a resident of downtown Jersey City, looked and sounded like a career politician, even giving the freeholders a speech. He said he was very impressed by the whole process and the new county freeholder chambers. He said the experience will help him in the future.
“I intend to go into business and finance,” he said.
For Gerard Bello, a resident of Jersey City Heights and a student at County Prep, this was his second year as a member of the student freeholder board.
“Last year I was vice chairman,” he said. “So I moved up to chairman this year.”
Other students that took part in the event include Kanishka Uppal, Julianna Yeung, Shannon Murphy, Diane Mieles, Prutha Patel, Martina Meawad, Athena Serrano, Tim Cruz, Tamana Bawa, Akash Ram, David Perez, Arij Sohail, Himani Patel, Umradha Shievkumar, and Bryan Perez.
Not to leave anything overlooked, the student freeholder meeting included audience members from both county schools, some of whom asked questions about various resolutions. These included Mario Vergara, Orlando Sanchez, Hiba Admina, George Kourmousis, Jesselle De La Torre, Caitlin Chekouani and Annabelle Familia.
While the meeting also included some of the adult officials who advised their junior counterparts on various issues, most notable was Commissioner Cosmo A. Cirillo, who himself had served as a student government official when he attended county schools.
“This was what made me want to become an elected official,” he said. “I got my start at this event when Sal Vega was freeholder chairman.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.