Hoboken High School’s “alternative high school” program held in the Demarest School building was a hot topic of discussion at the Hoboken Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, with several board members demanding changes before the new school year begins.
In addition, at the meeting, the board also discussed the need to pay $25,000 in additional legal fees due to ongoing lawsuits, and passed a resolution to hire a salaried board attorney.
Members also voted on the impending transfers of 45 teachers to different schools within the district.
New alternatives?
At the June 18 meeting, Superintendent of Schools Jack Raslowksy submitted the “alternative high school” program’s application for the 2007-2008 school year. The application, Raslowsky explained, was just a formal notification to the state of the program’s continuation.
However, some board members said they felt that the students in the program were not learning enough, or getting much vocational training.
The alternative program was designed for students who may not be able to meet rigorous academic standards, or who choose to follow an educational track that prepares them to directly enter the workforce instead of going on to college.
“I have many concerns about the alternative school,” board member Carrie Gilliard said. “I don’t believe these students are given equal opportunity to learn.”
The only vocational program currently in place is a hospitality service training partnership with the Urban Kitchen, a culinary school located on Adams Street.
When board members questioned the lack of offerings, Raslowsky clarified that vocational training was not the school’s only purpose.
“There are lots of needs we’re trying to meet there,” he said.
He said that besides vocational training, the program is meant to assist students with attendance problems, students who are older than high school age, and others who need special assistance.
“As a board, we need to clarify what those needs [that the program will meet] are,” he said.
Raslowsky also reminded board members that it was the Board of Education that had approved the program and consistently supported it.
But board member Carmelo Garcia wasn’t convinced.
“When the board took action, we did it based on what was presented,” Garcia said. “It was clearly a vocational track.”
He said he wanted action for 2007-2008, not 2008-2009, to make the program closer to the original plan. Raslowsky agreed that the original plan that had been presented for the program back in 2006 had not been well-developed.
Gilliard pointed to vocational schools in Union City and Denville as being model programs, and said that Demarest’s vocational program should be on that level.
When it came time for the vote, board members Anthony Romano, Carrie Gilliard and Tricia Snyder initially voted “no.” Romano even brought up the possibility of reuniting the separate program with the high school.
Later, he, Gilliard and Snyder changed their votes after Board President Theresa Minutillo explained that the vote was not a stamp of approval for the program.
“This application is only for the program to continue,” she said. “We’re not approving it as it stands now.”
Minutillo expressed her support for the program to continue, but not in its current form.
Rose Marie Markle and Tricia Snyder also said that they expect changes by this coming year.
More legal fees
Also at the meeting, members voted 7-2 in favor of providing $25,532.72 in additional legal fees to the board’s general counsel, the law firm of Scarinci and Hollenbeck.
President Minutillo and board member James Farina voted against the measure.
“It’s an overexpenditure,” said Farina said after the meeting. “It’s better to have an in-house attorney on top of the day-to-day actions.”
Farina explained that an in-house attorney would be a salaried position and therefore would not accrue additional expenses.
As part of last week’s consent agenda, the board approved the creation of the in-house attorney position and put out a request for qualifications for individuals or firms to begin on July 1.
The board’s contract with Scarinci and Hollenbeck expires July 31. Its original June 2006 contract was for the amount of $59,400. Yet, in February, March, April and May of 2007 it approved additions of $14,772.57, $67,794.32, $24,438.90 and $18,718.37, respectively, for legal counsel on up to seven ongoing lawsuits.
The majority of the lawsuits were brought by newly-elected 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Elizabeth Mason under state Sunshine Laws, which are laws regarding open public meetings and records, officials said.
Forty-five teacher transfers
The board also approved the transfer of 45 teachers and staff members within the school system.
Superintendent Raslowsky explained that some transfers were due to “program shifts,” mainly because A.J. Demarest Middle School will not have a seventh grade next year. Instead, as part of district restructuring, those students and teachers will be divided up among Connors, Calabro, and Wallace primary schools.
Those primary schools will eventually be kindergarten-through-eighth grade. Demarest will have an eighth grade for the coming year, thanks to parents who complained about their future eighth graders being sent to the high school instead next year.
The historic Demarest Middle School near Church Square Park was once the city’s high school, and included Frank Sinatra among its graduates.
Regarding the transfers, the superintendent also mentioned that certification issues were another reason for the transfers. Demarest now needs high school-certified staff members because it houses the alternative program.
Additionally, there were various retirements that created gaps that needed to be filled.
Raslowsky said the transfers were made based on recommendations from Assistant Superintendent of Schools Patrick Gagliardi, as well as members of the staff. ments on this piece can be sent to mfriedman@hudsonreporter.com.