Board of Ed Kicks Off New School Year in Meeting

The new school year is in full swing in the Hoboken School District, and the members of the Board of Education kicked off their September meeting with a special rededication of the , which hangs in the public meeting room with a commemorative plaque at the Board offices. The Memorial Flag was the concept and creation of Hoboken artist Raymond Smith, and was done in the wake of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. With the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th recently passed, the flag has been the focal point in some of Hoboken’s prominent remembrance ceremonies.

“I really appreciated the trust that all the parents, teachers and children gave to me in doing this project,” Smith said.

“It is a privilege to have this behind us; it’s a beautiful painting,” said Board President Rose Marie Markle.

The mural was made in 2002 and is compiled of 229 handprints replicating the American flag. Hoboken lost 57 residents on Sept. 11th, and many of the victims’ families participated in the project. Eight of the victims’ children have their handprints making up part of the stars on the flag. Other handprints were of Hoboken residents of all ages, but especially school district children. The flag was first debuted in 2002 at Pier A Park for the first Tower of Lights launch in New York City, which was part of a television broadcast.

“This was not the type of art I usually make,” said Smith. “I was just trying to process what was happening to me.”

Ten years later many of the small children, who had participated and are now grown, did not remember or knew what the project was about, but remember they knew it was something important. Each child who participated in the project received a souvenir hand print. Smith’s own family participated in the project as well, and have heart shapes adorned in the center of their hands.

One student, who participated in 2002, was Imani Odom, now 17 and a senior at County Prep High School. At the meeting she read an essay by Hoboken resident which was written for Hoboken’s first 9/11 memorial ceremony. O’Conner lost her husband Keith, who worked at the World Trade Center.

Following the rededication was a special presentation by Amanda PraSisto, a teacher at Wallace School. Her student Christopher Guzman was presented with a Most Valuable Writer Award. She had challenged Christopher at the end of the last school year to become an author by writing something about his favorite topics sports and the New York Yankees. According to PraSisto, Christopher had constructed a whole book full of information, illustrations and photos, and had even involved his family in the project.

“It is one of the most amazing things I have seen a student bring in,” said PraSisto. “I was impressed to read what he wrote.”

The Board also acknowledged several new teachers that have joined the district, as well as two new principals; for Wallace School and Hoboken High School.

In addition, Business Administrator Robert Davis reported that many of the capital projects on the six year plan are under way including the installation of 88 security cameras throughout the district. There are now cameras in the main entrance of each of the elementary schools, and several throughout the high school, he said.

Repairs to the playground at the Connors School have also been completed, opening bids for solar panels have just begun, and the first of the new boilers coming to the district will soon be installed. An aftercare program will now also be available at Connors School.

The Board of Education included the approval of the required NJQSAC District Improvement Plan. QSAC is a monitoring system established by the NJ Department of Education to monitor the performance of the state’s school districts, which is performed every three years.

Since Hoboken had some low scores in the initial performed in 2008, the state got involved more closely with the school district and has conducted interim reviews over the last three years. The latest results were given to the board in July, and the state will come in sometime within the next six months to review the progress of the district, the officials said.

The NJQSAC statute was first initiated in 2007, and implemented by 2008. In order to pass the statute, school districts score points in five areas, which are tested for compliance. These include Fiscal, Management, Governance, Operations, and Instruction and Program. All areas have hundreds of indicators.

Since their initial performance review, the Hoboken School District has scored 100 percent in governance and personnel, 93 percent in operations, and 95 percent in fiscal management. The district, however, still needs improvement in Instruction and Program, which includes indicators such as student performance and high school graduation rates, alignment of curriculum, student progress evaluation, evaluation of teachers, analysis of mandated programs, and so on. In its last interim review Hoboken scored 69 percent in Instruction and Program, and needs 80 percent to pass.

“We are 11 percentage points away,” said Superintendent Mark Toback. “Once this is taken care we will be designated a high performing district.”

In order to get the points in the next NJQSAC evaluation, the board must implement the District Improvement Plan for Instruction and Program. The plan was created by the district’s NJQSAC committee, which first met in March of last year.

In 2008, Hoboken was passing in only two of the five areas: operations and personnel. Subsequently every interim review has shown score going higher such as in Governance initially at 33 percent is now at 100 percent, and fiscal management, which was at 41 percent is now 95 percent. Even Instruction and Program has seen progress - initially at 34 percent now at 69 percent.

"We really made a lot of progress,” Toback said.

One of the biggest focuses for this improvement plan is to provide resources to have more students pass the state standardized HSPA exam, which is required for graduation from high school. As it stands, 21 percent of high school students graduate by passing the Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA) instead of the standardized HSPA.

The NJQSAC indicator for Instruction and Program calls for that percentage to be less than 10 percent.

Other issues during Tuesday's meeting included the implementation of a gifted and talented program for all grade levels, bringing up state test scores in mathematics and language arts, improved instructional leadership, and a better home school connection between the schools and the parents.