Dear Editor,
I’m writing to express my dismay and disappointment in the actions taken by the school board majority, Kids First, and new superintendent, Dr. Mark Toback, at Tuesday evenings BOE meeting. The board voted, 5-4, to make changes retroactively and possibly illegally so that two outstanding educators, Paula Ohaus who heads up Hoboken’s award winning theatre arts program, and Cheng-Yen Hillenbrand, who leads the Johns Hopkins program for gifted and talented students may be laid off. These actions will create irreparable harm and only serve to destroy two of the few centers of excellence in Hoboken schools.
Hoboken’s theatre arts program is well documented. It produces award winning productions under the leadership of Ms. Ohaus and has been the shining star of the High School for many years. Ms. Ohaus has touched, influenced, and changed the lives of so many of her students. Her reputation and success as an educator cannot be refuted.
Ms. Cheng-Yen Hillenbrand started the Johns Hopkins program for gifted and talented students single-handedly four years ago. Today, Hoboken is the largest participant district in the program. We boast a 30 percent passing rate on the qualification test, an unprecedented achievement, in an extremely vigorous program. The test scores are undeniable with 99 percent proficiency in math and language arts. Ms. Hillenbrand gave up a lucrative Wall Street career because she wanted to educate our kids. She travels 90 minutes each way from her Mountainside home to Hoboken and mentors 100 students hopping between several different schools all the while earning $50K a year. Heroes like her are irreplaceable.
Yet, Dr. Toback, only 3 weeks into his job is able to make a determination that the district is better off without these extraordinarily capable educators. He brings up extremely suspect arguments with weak documentation and has the chutzpah to claim that his actions are clearly justified, drawing parallels to the private sector. I find it ironic that this former football coach turned administrator can make any assessments about the private sector having been on the public payroll for so long. As someone who does work in the private sector in upper management, let me share some insight. In the private sector, we do not look for technicalities to terminate our best talent – in fact we pay more to retain them. If our employees are in non-compliance for any reason, we try to coach and mentor them – not uniformly dismiss them. In the private sector, we listen to our customers and act in the best interests of everyone. Dr. Toback, you can take some lessons from the private sector. While you may directly report to the board, you really work for us. This board majority will only be in place under this dictatorial dynamic for one more year. Listen to your public and do the right thing.
The next step in this saga will be individual employment hearings for Ms. Ohaus and Ms. Hillenbrand. The public will have a chance to speak and the board will have one last chance to overturn this injustice. I ask all concerned parents and residents to attend and express their thoughts. This past Tuesday, the actions by the board and Superintendent made our district weaker and worse off. Lets work together to right this wrong.
Sincerely,
Perry Lin