The Board of Education passed a $73.6 million budget during their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday. The budget covers projected spending for the 2018-2019 school year. The budget increased this year from last year’s final budget which was $72.06 million.
The board did not vote on a school calendar for next year, but an official said it will be finalized in the next few days. The district has not yet determined when the first day of school will be in September.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, a board member asked questions about the district’s contract with its food provider.
Superintendent Christine Johnson also discussed a new month-long camp-like program in August, and the board honored the district’s students of the month.

Budget passed

The board’s budget for the 2018-2019 school year will provide for new educational programs and initiatives as well as five new instructional staff members.
Approximately $45.8 million of the budget is funded by property taxes, with most of the rest from state aid and out-of-town tuition.
The budget will increase property taxes by an estimated $65.63 per year on a home assessed at $521,200, the current average assessment.
Residents pay property taxes that are determined by the budgets of three entities: The county (passed each June), the school district, and the city (recently passed at $118.7 million with no municipal tax increase.)
Before 2012, the public could vote on the school budget each April. However, the annual school board election is now held each November, and as long as the budget increase stays within a state-mandated cap of 2 percent plus adjustments, they don’t vote on the budget.
The state can make exceptions, such as if the school population is growing.
According to Business Administrator William Moffitt, the largest portion of the operating budget, about $15.6 million, will pay for regular programs and instruction. The second largest section goes to the charter schools at $9.7 million, and the third largest portion is for employee benefits at $8.6 million. Another $7.21 million includes capital projects, security, general administration, individualized education programs such as speech therapy, physical therapy, and specialized counseling, as well as attendance and social services. State and federal aid goes to reimburse mandated programs.
The state provides $12.4 million to fund the district’s free preschool education program, offering full-day instruction for 3- and 4-year-olds through privately contracted providers in public school classrooms.

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“We will be launching a brand new K through 8 LEAP into summer learning program.” –Superintendent Christine Johnson
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Summer fun

Johnson discussed several summer programs that the district will host this summer, as well as new programs for next school year.
She said over 100 families have already registered for LEAP into summer learning program, a camp-like summer program over four weeks in August, for kids who will be entering kindergarten through eighth grade in September.
The program will operate from 8:15 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Wallace Elementary School and Hoboken High School. Parents can pay extra for earlier drop-off, and aftercare which ends at 5 p.m. according to the districts website.
Students will have mornings filled with literacy, math, and global and cultural studies. After lunch the afternoon will include a fitness period and two enrichment periods that students can preselect.
Johnson said the office of curriculum and instruction “is hard at work ensuring that there is a plan for the new curriculum to be developed during the summer months, and that our professional development training that is essential is lined up.”
For more information and pricing on LEAP into summer go to http://www.hoboken.k12.nj.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=2822372&pageId=12105119.

Next year

For next year, Johnson said the district is not only working on revising the K-4 math curriculum, but also finalizing next year’s new courses that will be offered at the high school.
She said those courses include physics honors, biomedical innovation, medical interventions, local global environmental sustainability, Latino history, African American experience, civil engineering, aerospace engineering, AP computer science, and mandarin Chinese level II.

Food

During the meeting, school board trustee Sheillah Dallara spoke against a contract renewal for the district’s current food service management company, The Pomptonian, Inc.
Dallara said she felt the company did not provide enough healthy options for district students.
“School meals play a central role in ensuring that our children receive the nutrition they need to grow and thrive,” said Dallara. “More than 31 million children receive meals each day through the national school lunch program and more than 12 million also receive breakfast through the school breakfast program. In Hoboken we serve breakfast lunch, and sometimes dinner. When one in three children is overweight or obese or has type II diabetes and at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, school meals must provide critical access to healthful foods, and it is my opinion that we are not providing this to our children.”
Dallara said she felt that the food service provider should also educate students on making healthier choices, and that some students rely on the nutrition they get during school meals because they don’t get it at home.
Dallara, as well as board members Elizabeth Walker and John Madigan, voted against the contract renewal, while all other trustees voted in favor of the renewal. Melanie Tekirian was absent.

Students of the Month

The board honored one student from each district school as the April students of the month, and presented each with a certificate.
First grader Page Satz was student of the month at Connors. First grader Johncel Peralta was the Calabro student of the month. Second grader Liam Meade was the Brandt student of the month. At Wallace School, fifth grade student Arcadio Torres was the student of the month.
The Hoboken Middle School student of the month was seventh grader Xaiden Simmons. The Hoboken High School student of the month was Senior Andrew Moya.
Check The Hoboken Reporter each month for students of the month, or go on line for up-to-the-minute news at hudsonreporter.com.

Marilyn Baer can be reached at marilynb@hudsonreporter.com.

The Hoboken Housing Authority has partnered with local non-profits and with City Hall to teach adults about computer coding, and to teach teens about artistic expression and the environment.

An organization called CODE IT is teaching a computer programming language called Python for adults aged 18-39 who live in the HHA projects.

Another group, Artis Love +Action, is teaching how to express social issues through various artistic media. The results will be shown at Mile Square Theater in August.

At the same time, Leo Pellegrini, director of environmental services for the city, has established a summer work program for Hoboken high schoolers to help with various citywide green infrastructure projects.

The Hoboken Housing Authority is the agency that oversees the federally funded low-income and senior buildings on the west side of town.

HHA Executive Director Marc Recko said, “I’ve been the director of the Housing Authority for about 18 months now, and there wasn’t much going on. A community like ours is so much more than brick and mortar. Residents need activities and job training and support. We are fortunate that a number of non-profits have been committed to working with our residents.”

Software engineering and other job skills

“We just graduated our first class of students,” said CODE IT Executive Director Da’Shone Hughey.

The 13-week program uses a combination of lectures, hands-on workshops, and projects to teach programming. According to Hughey, the program also teaches financial planning and resume writing, and students leave with a LinkedIn account.

“By the time students graduate from CODE IT, they will have a minimum of three projects in their software engineering portfolio,” said Hughey.

The free program takes students between 18 and 39 years of age “who are committed to reinventing themselves and taking ownership of their future.”

“You may not have gone to a private school or gotten a high school diploma, but just because you live in the Hoboken Housing Authority doesn’t mean you can’t learn,” said Hughey. “We want to help focused people get out of the cycle of poverty and better themselves.”

The course meets in a community room in 311 Harrison St. and accepts 12 students each round with a goal of about 40 students each year.

“If you aren’t coming to class and you don’t show up, if you are not committed, we will remove you and give your spot to someone else on the waiting list,” said Hughey.

Jalen Edward Miles, a 22-year-old resident of the Hoboken Housing Authority, just graduated from the course.

“I’ve always been semi-interested in computers,” he said. “This course has been very influential. I started the program and now I’ve been motivated. I got a job and I actually just got my high school diploma a couple of days ago. I learned how to think smarter and more effectively. A lot of it is just math and common sense.”

Hughey said, “We are actually trying to raise funds so that we can offer a stipend to the students who attend, and if you are late, we dock you $5 for every minute you miss. We want our students to take this seriously. This is work. This is their job.”

Hughey said the group hopes to raise about $300,000 through a GoFundMe page and an upcoming fundraiser that’s being planned.

“We are doing good work but we are running on fumes. We need help,” said Hughey.

Hughey said he got a call on Monday from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will send Community Information Officer Johnson Joy to observe the course and speak to the students.

The next course is slated to begin Aug. 21 and applications can be found online at www.code-it.tech. To donate to Code It go to https://www.gofundme.com/codeithoboken.

A camp for self-expression

Artis Love +Action is a New York City based non-profit started by Hoboken resident Namibia Donadio who will bring her program to her hometown for a two-week camp starting July 31 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The camp, for 20 children aged 12 to 18, aims to create a platform of artistic expression for Housing Authority residents.

“I think art is an equalizer,” said Donadio. “I think the ability to think critically about your world in a place where you can express those thoughts freely is truly amazing.”

The two-week camp will utilize theater, photography, poetry, and chorus, for this expression.

“This is a social awareness program where the point is to create pieces that express what they think about the world around them and how to impact the now, their present,” said Donadio.

So far the free camp already has seven students signed up. All of them had to complete an application answering questions about how they feel about their world, impacting their everyday lives.

“Some said they feel there is no togetherness in the community, others said they wish to beautify the area around them, some had concerns with pollution, or needing more youth activities, and others said they wished they could change where they lived,” said Donadio.

The camp will end with a showcase at the Mile Square Theater.

“We are inviting the community to come and attend and hear what they have to say through their own words,” said Donadio.

“I don’t hope to create or help the next generation of artists, I hope to help young people remember their power and give them the opportunity to reconnect their identities with their community and families and help give them the language and medium to express themselves,” said Donadio.

According to Donadio the program will utilize donated materials, space at the housing authority, and professional artists who have donated their time to teach. But Donadio is still looking to raise about $15,000 to help provide the artists with a stipend and offset some of their costs.

To apply for the camp, go to https://www.facebook.com/ARTisLoveandAction/

To donate to Artis Love + Action go to https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=15588.  

Green infrastructure training

The summer green infrastructure programming for high school aged students has finished its second week, according to Pellegrini.

Residents discussed such a program in February after a teen resident of the Hoboken housing authority was killed in his home, allegedly by acquaintances from Jersey City. Residents at the time said there were not enough programs for youths.

The five-week program ends Aug. 10 and will train 48 high school aged students on green infrastructure and broader life skills such as mock interviews and financial planning.

“We’ve learned a lot about how to change the environment and take care of it.” – Iris McGowen

“We took people with no regard of their past job experience,” said Pellegrini. “We were hoping for about 50 people to participate, but when we were doing the application process we had about 72 who were initially interested and have 48 who are now in the program.”

Pellegrini said, “They are showing up and learning about green infrastructure and how to maintain bio swells and rain gardens, but we also have several seminars for them on resume writing and financial literacy.”

The teens work 20 hours a week four days a week and get paid $8.50 per hour.

16 year-old resident Iris McGowan said, “We’ve learned a lot about how to change the environment and take care of it… We are trying to make things better. If we don’t take care of it no one else would. I actually have like a biology class tomorrow where they will teach us about flooding and stuff.”

Shakea Coleman of the Housing Authority, said “We are trying to help clean up and better the community. We are working all over Hoboken picking up trash and weeding.”

“I think it’s important they learn about green infrastructure and the impact storms have on Hoboken,” said Pellegrini. “It allows them to have a better understanding of how their area is affected and protected.”

Marilyn Baer can be reached at Marilynb@hudsonreporter.com