The Jersey City Board of Education will hold their first planned quarterly Town Hall at Henry Snyder High School, 239 Bergen Ave., tomorrow evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
BOE President Natalia Ioffe told HCV that the board voted to implement the Town Hall style meetings in 2024 last year and she expects this session to jump into the budget conversation right off the bat.
“Last year the board adopted a series of annual goals, one of the goals was ‘To hold quarterly Town Halls in various locations of the district to allow a Q&A with the public, on major topics, such as Budget Process, Educational Programs, Student Life & Services/ Mental Health,'” she explained.
“It makes sense to do the budget conversation first because it will allow for a preview of what JCPS can expect from the state government and the planning process, and allow people to ask questions.”
Last year, the nine-member elected governing body passed a preliminary $1,001,537,924 budget with a tax decrease of $51 for the average home assessed at $470,000.
While the public session, which starts at the same time as tomorrow’s city council meeting, will be recorded, it will not be live streamed due to “logistics, staff availability, and tight scheduling,” Ioffe said.
“We do intend to record and post it on district’s media so that members of the public can view at a later time and reference it,” she added.
Seems like this possible “charade” is getting off to a bad start! How could not have better planned streaming when your district media program runs out of Snyder?! Not to mention that in order to run on Facebook “you just push “live!” And as far as “allow” for questions; that’s nothing new! We need to know do you intend to “answer” them?
Isn’t it your obligation and responsibility to hold an annual meeting explaining the budget? And doesn’t the public have the right /duty to make sure that they are in agreement with the proposed budget?!
When did you all do last year’s budget meeting/reconciliation with the budget?!
So let’s just start out with sincerity, integrity and not be disingenuous!