In a letter to the editor, Hoboken parent and teacher Jessica Rodriguez says the new proposed high school being decided by a $241 million referendum will support equitable education for ALL students.
Dear Editor,
Hello, I am a hard working and devoted single mother part of what they call the low income community. I never get involved in conversations like this, but I am sharing my thoughts about how amazing Hoboken Schools are. The Yes vote is important.
I have a younger son in 1st grade in Connors and older son in 7th grade at HMS. I also work for the district at Wallace. I have taught in a few daycares in Hoboken for years and those children once my own students also attend schools in our district.
I also went to Hoboken School in which I excelled and was part of many opportunities offered. The buildings are old now, they were ok when I went there but that was 20 years ago.
My own son is in HMS and has had so many opportunities himself. I appreciate how much my 7th grader has learned and been a part of all opportunities given.
Regardless of our economic status as “low income”, the district has made sure all our children get the same opportunities and make our children feel included.
He is a High Honor student and takes AP classes. His teachers are amazing and encouraging all the time and my son has amazing grades because of the academics provided in our schools.
He tried tennis, something that he wanted to try for so long and finally was able to because of the amazing program the district set up and it was free and is also taking advantage of swimming at the high school.
Being able to sign him up knowing he’s not being deprived because we are low income do you know how that can feel?
They have so many clubs and activities to make sure our children thrive and make sure they are successful. He is on the Student Council and Yearbook.
And they made him so comfortable he came out of his shell. He is in the play and even signed himself up for upcoming competition. He has thrived and opened up. Because his teachers care.
I made sure that I told him to get into it all because unfortunately I can’t afford anything as a single mother.
Lots of people are ashamed but nope it’s for my sons and our district has opened doors for low income students to experience things they wouldn’t. I figured if his friends can, so can he.
These 2 years with the pandemic have affected everything including learning for our kids. My little son finished Pre-k 4 online then all K and is now behind on reading not because of the teachers but because the world changed.
He has an IEP because the pandemic literally changed his whole little life. His amazing
teachers and staff at Connors have made sure that he thrives by providing resources and all he needs to thrive because they care.
To think that people who don’t know nothing but test scores is ridiculous to me. Test scores will never ever define how much work these children put in and teachers and staff to make sure they thrive and are successful.
I wish there was more being done in terms of spreading awareness on low income students thriving because of all the amazing opportunities Hoboken schools have provided. There are so many options to encourage children.
There is so much good, and I would like to help spread more awareness in communities so all the children can get the most out of their education.
At the end of the day, it is for my children and all children. As long as my kids are good, so am I! Because I care, teachers care, and the whole district is amazing.
Thank You.
Jessica Rodriguez
Hoboken parent and teacher
It’s terrific to learn how great the public schools are for low income people. Taking AP classes in 7th grade is pretty amazing, and it’s great to hear that low income students are given the opportunity to participate in all the great school activities together with the high income students. But I’m worried about the low income students who aren’t doing as well. The ones who are falling well behind grade level in reading and math and who won’t be ready to take AP classes in high school much less take them in 7th grade like the writer’s obviously amazing high achieving son. How will this fancy new building with the hockey rink benefit them? Or will they just be be ignored when the hockey moms take over the high school?
You have no idea what’s going on inside the high school, your only metric seems to be test scores. HHS is not failing it’s low income students, they are blossoming. The new school offers not only a panoply of 21st century classrooms, cutting edge science labs, and expanded special education facilities (public schools educate the most severely disabled) BUT it has space for art, music, culinary arts, video, performance art, debate- enrichment that all kids deserve, not just the wealthy that can afford private school
Children who graduate from high school despite being unable to read, write, add or subtract at the level needed to hold a decent job are not “thriving.” They are being failed by the idiots who pretend they are thriving so they can pretend they are doing their jobs. Tell me how a hockey rink will help kids who can’t ice skate get to grade level in reading, writing and math? I’m an elitest? Take a look in the damn mirror. This proposed boondoggle is meant as a magnet for rich kids. The attempt to cast it as racial equity is dishonest and disgusting.
All your points correct. A particular student might ‘thrive’ in other areas of education despite failing to become proficient in reading and/or math. Not every single person has the innate ability to do that, we all have different gifts. But if *most* students are failing to achieve basic proficiency in those basic skills, as is true in HHS, the only possible explanations are either justifying it on the basis of a racist assessment of the student body’s ability or calling it what it is: a failure. Any argument for the new HS not first admitting the existing one is a failure is either racist or detached from reality. So how will a luxury facility lift the performance of those students currently failing? Just attracting different students from different backgrounds doesn’t automatically raise the performance of the current students. The effect will be the opposite: if somehow this referendum passes (due to successful suppression of the no vote by holding it in the dead of winter with minimal publicity) there will be a huge backlash against additional school spending, which could include things that would actually help failing students.
At this point the Dr. Johnson’s clack are apparently throwing anything and everything they can think of against the wall hoping something will stick.
This is a outrageously expensive plan that they were trying to sneak under the radar. A simple NO vote will force them to come up with a new plan that addresses the very real concerns of the majority of Hoboken residents.
Voting NO is the right thing to do for all Hoboken
Phony talking points.
The “real concerns” of Hoboken residents are TAXES… yet the same people are not “real concerned” when the County jacks up Hoboken’s taxes to pay for amenities in other municipalities, and County JOBS given out as political favors. Yeah, our taxes will go up for a HOBOKEN amenity, and so will our property values.
VOTE YES.
We’re concerned about taxes and this Pyramid sized-monument.
We can’t control the County tax. We can address this one.
VOTE NO!
The best move for the low-income community — and the entire community — is to vote NO now, providing time for community input, having the BOE come back with a better plan and holding the vote again in November. There is no rush, this is not an emergency. No low-income child — or any child — will be hurt by waiting a few months for a better plan.
Any idea how overcrowded the middle school is?
If you want families to use the HS, replace the 60 year-old building with a 21st century HS, loaded with new state of the art classrooms, expanded special education classrooms, 8 science labs, a 21st century library, with spaces for music, art, culinary arts, video editing studio, performing arts…
The real truth is, people like you and other elitists who would never send your kids to HHS think that black and brown children can wait.
2, 4, 6 years… how ever long it takes to go through the NJDOE bureaucracy and redesign and approvals. With inflation, there is substantive cost to waiting. In today’s dollars the 2007 $170M Union City HS would cost $230M.
But that’s alright with you, lower income kids can wait. Middle and upper income families like yours, have choices.
When all the other ligit arguments fail whip out the race card.
What the hell are you talking about? I’m elitist because I see through the charade and don’t agree with you? Really, that’s all you got? You know nothing about me.
And it’s absolutely not an emergency. No student, regardless of family income, will be harmed by waited a few months to vote on a better plan. If it was such a rush, why didn’t the BOE present it to the public in 2019, or 2020, or any time before the day after the 2021 BOE elections?
Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,
“The new Hoboken High School will support equitable education for ALL students”
So does the existing school.
The situation with the middle school can be resolved without RIGHT NOW without having to vote on this in haste and, most importantly, for far less than $241 million AND with the aid of state funding.
BTW, the existing HS does have spaces for art, music, culinary arts, video, performance art, debate, etc. In fact, it has plenty of empty rooms right now.
The yes vote people recruited a Jersey City resident to write a letter. Clever
They also hired a high-priced PR group to push their message. The Vote NO effort is 100% truly grassroots.
“Vote No” is a PAC. How much of their support is “grassroots”? They have not obeyed election law and filed with the state so it’s impossible to see who their donors are, what their expenditures are, and where contributions are from. A prolific “Vote No” spammer in Hoboken FB groups was outed as a GOP activist living in Ridgefield, NJ. How many other out-of-towners are trying to influence a Hoboken election? How do we know the “Vote No” PAC hasn’t hired a PR firm?
The “yes” vote people have filed their committee with ELEC. So expect TRANSPARENCY on that side of this debate. And if you don’t think support from Hoboken residents, and Hoboken public school parents is “grassroots” well, I don’t know what to tell you.
Out of towners. Doesn’t Superintendent Johnson live in Denville NJ. So she doesn’t have to pay a penny of Hoboken’s sky high taxes even though Hoboken pays her over $220K an year. She is using Hoboken tax money to pay Vision Media’s undisclosed hefty fee to shill for her plan. The poster ‘How do YOU know?’ could be on VM’s payroll.
I understand the huge negative reaction to this bloated school building proposal scares some people.
No rational person thinks that the opposition to the quarter billion dollar vanity project is anything but grassroots.
At least the “Yes” side has filed a committee with ELEC. That is called transparency.
Transparency is a word not in Christine Johnson’s vocabulary.
The great and all powerful Goddess Christine is never to be questioned or denied.