The Bayonne Board of Education’s (BBOED) May meeting was cancelled last week while the district juggles managing a fiscal crisis and a 10,000-student operation. As of now, 183 fewer faculty members will be returning in September after the BBOED instituted rounds of layoffs to help alleviate a $6 million budget deficit unearthed in November. On top of a crisis that threatens the livelihoods of teachers and the quality of education for thousands of students, the teachers’ union contract expires on June 30, leaving the Bayonne Teachers Association (BTA) with less bargaining power than ever. “To talk about a contract at the same time when you’re letting people go is difficult,” said BBOED President Joseph Broderick. “We’ll be negotiating and we’ll be talking, and hopefully something gets changed. But at this moment, I don’t see anything that positive happening.” The last teachers’ contract was signed in January after 18 months of negotiations. The deal was a two-year retroactive agreement that applied to both the 2015-2016 school year and the 2016-2017 school year. The contract includes a 2.62 percent raise in teacher salaries the first year, and 3.35 percent in the second. Click here for more.
The development boom in Bayonne has been much discussed in regional publications recently, often with praise. Residential housing developments are breaking ground left and right as the growing city creates demand from commuters who prefer urban lifestyles. But new luxury housing rents, which often start at more than $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, are often out of reach for the low-to-moderate-income community. This is what makes subsidized affordable development so important, according to John Restrepo, director of the Division of Housing & Community Development at Garden State Episcopal Church Community Development Corporation, a local nonprofit affordable housing developer. The group helped bring eight new affordable apartments in the new Hobart Housing Project development in Bergen Point. “Subsidies are bridging the gap between the target population and what the cost is to develop,” said Restrepo at a May 31 groundbreaking ceremony for Hobart Housing Project, which will provide eight below-market units in the Bergen Point neighborhood. The City of Bayonne committed $1 million from its affordable housing trust fund. Click here for more.
Students at Lincoln Community School and Mary J. Donohoe Community School won anti-bullying awards from the Harmony Power Foundation, a charity whose mission statement is to “stand up to bullying and stand for human equality.” The awards are part of a legislative effort in the NJ General Assembly to designate the first week of October an official “Week of Respect,” during which schools would be encouraged to present character awards for “helping to prevent harassment, intimidation or bullying; contributing to the creation of a respectful atmosphere in the school; serving as a positive role model for other students; performing community service in the school or community; or demonstrating positive characteristics through art.” The ceremonies, held on May 24, set a world record, albeit an obscure one, for “most people to receive an award for promoting harmony in the world,” from the Record Holders Republic. Click here for more.
