The Hoboken Board of Education will use the Jubilee Center for four pre-K classrooms for 60 students after unanimous council approval (8-0) last night.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“With more families choosing to stay in Hoboken, this additional room at the Jubilee Center will provide much-needed space for our children in Pre-K,” Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a statement.
“Rather than the center being sold to developers, I’m glad that it will instead be put to good use to support the district’s early childhood education program.”
Last year, the city purchased the Jubilee Center for $3 million, preventing the building from being sold to a developer following city council council authorization.
Acquisition was paid for by utilizing federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program.
“I am very excited for the district to utilize the Jubilee Center for four of our Head Start classes. This allows us to free up space in our elementary schools and offer preschool programming in a wonderful location,” noted Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Johnson.
The classrooms will be reserved for Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 programs for the public schools.
“The board is thrilled to be partnering with the city to lease preschool classroom space in the Jubilee Center for our youngest learners,” added Hoboken BOE President Sharyn Angley.
“As district enrollment continues to grow, space is of the utmost concern. Securing preschool space in the Jubilee Center will help to alleviate some of the pressures at the elementary level from a facilities perspective.”
In March, nonprofit TRUE Mentors moved into the first and third floors of the Jubilee Center to provide free one-on-one, group, and educational mentoring programs to Hudson County youth between the ages of 7- and 18-years-old.
Under the terms of the lease agreement, the Hoboken Public School District will use all three floors of the Jubilee Center from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m., while TRUE Mentors will continue to use the facility from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. until June 30.
Starting in September, the district will have access from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Maybe the members of the BOE can take some math classes because all published numbers from the state do not show enrollment increases but the complete opposite, over a -16% decrease in enrollment from the Hoboken BOE schools over the past several years.
Early childhood numbers are up based on pre-k