What wasn't His contract renewed in Newark? It seems like we are getting a lot of people from Newark in the past two years...please correct me of I am wrong but I never heard of Newark being a blue ribbon school district...as far as the movement of the other principal...if she didn't get the job done at Connors school why move her to a better performing school??? Teachers who do not get their jobs done to done get their contracts renewed...shouldn't that be the same for administrators who do not fulfill their requirements?????

Fantastic - I am sure that we will benefit from having someone come in from another terrible school district.

If you were working in the Tenafly school district, would you want to leave and work in Hoboken? I'd be more worried about that person, honestly. I'd love to have a list of people to choose from who turned around urban school districts with disadvantaged students from scratch, and started competing with rich suburban schools, but I doubt the district has too many of those resumes.

This is great news; Connors never achieved AYP status prior so bringing in someone who has done this work is refreshing.

He must of accomplished alot while in Newark

blah -- there's a story from Newark that says he was laid off there because the new super was reorganizing the schools. i hope it was only because he was the last hired and not due to performance.
Claire - why didn't you mention why he left Newark? it's key to understanding this story.
adam--Connors did meet AYP several years back, before Raslowsky and Kids First got a hold of it. Let's hope for the best with Fitzhugh.

He was the principal of a k-2 school....are you kidding me??? Another fantastic job hiring....maybe we should take a look at the scores before all of these "out of town clowns" came to settle in Hoboken...they were actually better...look at what the "clowns" did to the high school...in the bottom 50...maybe when we make dead last people will start to see where the problem really lies ...pathetic

Good Point Adam. This Principal also has a good record getting through to parents and this is what is necessary at Connors.

When Newark staff is better than what Hoboken has god help the kids of hoboken, Newark has picture books in there high school. is this what Kids first think are good moves to take staff out of newark. WOW WOW good kids first are done after these moves

Attention , "NEWARK/PATERSON/ROSELLE/KEYPORT" Thank you for allowing your extremely qualified employees to apply for administrative and teaching positions in Hoboken Schools. They are sure to come out ahead of the other hundreds and hundreds of applicants just as they have for the past two years.
Keep sending them to us and perhaps Hoboken Schools will flourish academically just as your districts have.

It's absolutely sickening...most of these adminsitrators were "let go" from their respective districts...the new superintendent has cleaned house and as a result of that we gained an assistant superintendent , dir of curriculum and instruction and a promcipal all within the last 12 months! The former principal of Connors school applied for the principal at the school where she was a vp and was denied the position as they promoted a classroom teacher and where does she end up....Hoboken..it's an absolute disgrace the hiring choices of the current administration...and you want to blame the teachers? I'm not buying that...

In my post above the new superintendent of Newark is cleaning house...

Here is another thought ...you might want to google these people before you hire them...as I found all of this out via the Internet...what a helpful tool!!

I worked for Gerald he is a fantastic principal and he was done completely wrong by my district! They didnt push him out because he was hurting our school he actually helped bring us out of 7 years of failure. He was let go because they wanted to give our annex to a charter school and push all of our k-2 students into a condemned basement. He fought for our students and would not give in to outlandish demands that would hurt our students. He was let go on a technicality because he was not a tenured principal. That man stayed up late nights visiting student homes, washing uniforms , and making sure our staff did right by our students. Whoever thinks they know about him based on press and not what he did for our school is misinformed and WRONG! Newark lost one of their best but Hoboken stands to gain a great man and an excellent adminstrator. And he was a k-8 principal not k-2.

JM144 , Glad to hear that Gerald was dedicated to his students. Sorry to hear he was let go for being the voice for his students. The current Hoboken BOE Kids First Majority terminated a very dedicated teacher as well, Ms. O'haus, who like Gerald was not yet a tenured teacher. Ms. O'haus Made HHS Performing Arts an Award Winning Program . Also just like Gerald , Paul O'haus went above and beyond to help her students and unfortunately that did not matter to the Kids First Majority who voted to terminate her employment. I don't know if she ever washed their school clothes or spent late nights visiting student's homes as you mentioned that Gerald did, but she did speak at a public meeting it was stated that she helped one student with her admission interview for college. Ms. Ohaus purchased clothes and provided the transportation for the student for the interview.

I am a Connors parent. Principal Fitzhugh and VP Shannon have changed the climate. The teachers are working extremely hard. To those who didn't believe. Start believing. Connors is on it's way back to prominence. Good Job Dr. Toback. 2great picks!

Yup Henry, I agree! I have been in that school as recently as today. Those teachers are working hard and the admin is visible. I like that they teach classes. Way to go Connors!