Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and his three allies on the city council have endorsed the “Hoboken Together” Board of Education slate that is running unopposed in the November 3rd race.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“When casting your ballot, I hope you’ll vote in our school board elections for 3 strong voices for our schools: Sharyn Angley, Chetali Khanna & Melanie Tekirian. During their terms, all three have worked tirelessly to improve the educational experience for our children,” Mayor Ravi Bhalla tweeted yesterday.
“Their efforts speak for themselves – upgraded curriculum for students with Project Lead the Way, 98.9% graduation rate at Hoboken High School, improvements to our popular childhood education programming, investments in Special Education Services, and so much more.”
In their own separate statement this afternoon, Council members-at-Large Emily Jabbour and Jim Doyle, along with 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, also threw their support behind the three incumbent school board members.
“Whether it is dramatically increasing enrollment numbers in the Hoboken Public School District, managing the challenges of COVID-19, supporting our innovative Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Christine Johnson, or working as responsive, responsible volunteers who selflessly give their time and talents to our community, Sharyn, Chetali and Melanie have earned our respect with a track record of proven accomplishment, and they deserve your support for re-election,” the trio said in a joint statement.
Angley, the board president, Khanna, and Tekirian are seeking three, three-year terms on the board after being elected in 2017.
The BOE has recently made local headlines due to a 770 Jackson St. payment in lieu of taxes agreement (PILOT) with the city that would now enable $243,000 to be allocated to the schools.
However, what exactly that means has been heavily debated, with the charter schools pushing to be included in the direct PILOT allocation and the BOE advocating for the opposite.
Ultimately, the council decided to do neither after nearly three hours of public comment at Wednesday’s meeting, instead opting to pull the resolution that would’ve split the revenue roughly 80/20 between the BOE and the charters, as HCV first reported.
