Congratulations to Laura Siegel and her colleagues who are being proactive about the education of their children, especially in the area of mathematics and science education and focus. Given the plummeting test scores and condition of the Hoboken Public Schools under the stewardship of Kids First, I think this is unfortunately the only solution.
Currently, over 90% of all children in the Hoboken Public School District attend a school that has FAILED to meet minimum adequate yearly progress standards set by the state and federal government. This in contract to less than 15% less than 3 short years ago. Hoboken High School considered in 2008 to be the second most improved high school in the state of New Jersey and the recipient of US News and World Report's Bronze Medal Award for the State of New Jersey (2008) is now a school that for the second year in a row has failed to make adequate yearly progress. The parade of retired interim administrators with no ties to the community and nearly 2 years spent looking for a replacement along with a general lack of any educational vision by Kids First (short of "smartboards") has been responsible for this quick decline.
Good luck to Ms. Siegal and DaVinci and I hope this sends a loud and clear message to Trenton that something is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with the Kids First Board of Education.

I just wanted to add a link to our survey for anyone interested in filling it out: http://davincicharter.wordpress.com/community-survey/

Also: As the lead founder of DaVinci, I would like to clarify that we do not view our application as an indictment of the current board of education or district administration. Rather, we see it as a valuable additional school choice to supplement the available educational options in Hoboken for those parents who are looking for a non-traditional alternative for their children.

Claire, please note that 90% of the per pupil cost for all Charter School Students comes directly from the local municipal tax levy that the district receives.

Thanks.

http://njcharters.org/index.php/understand-charter-schools/myths-about-charter-schools

Stop lying Nancy we all know you are anti charter.

I'm available to run this charter school and insist I be allowed to do so. As I will have time on my hands coming up after November, please contact me.

Otherwise I could be boinked.

Let's be clear, charter schools are an end around the intractable and resistant public school system. Perhaps with moving BoE elections to November, we can elect persons who will really improve our public schools rather than maintain the status quo and the revolving door of nepotism hires.

Rift? The only one on record attacking a charter school is you, so crawl back under your rock and take your Meds.

curiousgirl/probus...a few hours ago you were "sara", lying your way thru the st. patty's day and food truck posts. since you are proven liars, why would anyone pay attention to you now on this or any other topic?

ms. siegel: please note earlier comment from hobbs. any perceived association with curiousgirl/probus/kim/lane/old guard will mean the vast majority of parents in town will be turned off from supporting your effort. just an fyi.

Just a quick note to the bloggers out here. All the they're right they're wrong, old guard, zimmer backers etc, all the back and forth that transpires here is why residents like me that used to read this site read other sites. It's gotten awful and it is not policed properly. Those of you that comment all the time are grown adults that act like 4 year olds with the hair pulling posts. You are all responsible for taking this town down. Please shut the FUC% UP for a few weeks. It's a problem for me as I tried to rent an apartment I owned and someone mentioned they read up on Hoboken on this site and thought the town was SH$T. Please police this site better, you're all to blame. Grow up!

More bs from husband and wife PAID POLITICAL OPERATIVES Curiousgal and Prosbus. Ms Siegel, they have no interest in the truth. Want proof?

The two of them spent the entire day last Saturday attempting to deny the statewide popularity of moving school board elections to November. (413 of 538 have made the switch.) They are so scripted that often their "opinions" are word for word identical.

Curiousgal: "63% of the school districts in the state of New Jersey have no plans of moving their April elections. They want you to believe moving the elections is VERY popular. It isn't. Not even half the districts are doing so. But, the lies and smears continue."
http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/hoboken-school-board-proposed-to-move-election-date#comment_2441917

Prosbus: "63% of the school districts in the state of New Jersey have no plans of moving their April elections. They want you to believe moving the elections is VERY popular. It isn't. Not even half the districts are doing so. But, the lies and smears continue."
http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/hoboken-school-board-proposed-to-move-election-date#comment_2443563

We are fortunate to have 2 people made so stupid by rage at perceived political enemies that they are providing little if any service to their pay masters.

Ms Siegel & friends of this new initiative - just think for yourselves and you'll be fine. Click the name of a commenter, see their history, judge their intentions. Good luck.

With parental involvement being the number one reason for the scholastic success of a child, is there any wonder why charter schools appear to offer a better education than the public schools? Let me also mention the fact that when a child fails to preform well or is deemed too great of a disciplinary problem, charter schools will show that student the door--a luxury not afforded to public schools. I submit to you this: charter schools are in no way superior to their public counterparts. Elitist, yes. A drain on the public schools, yes. Superior, not in the least. Parents, send your geniuses to the public schools! They will receive a great education and test scores will, indeed, rise. The difference is you.

@"Anon Guest User", the Hoboken rental market is tighter than Mrs. Prosbus' chastity belt so if you can't rent your unit, blame your own ineptitude, not Patch commenters. You could rent out a roach motel for at least a grand in this town so take your latest variation of the "Sara Sullivan" schtick and ram it down the corn cobs between Tim Occhipinti's ears.

@prosbus, can you please give us an update on one Mr. Lane Bajardi's activities with regard to the hot lamps in Newark? What information has Mr. Lane Bajardi given to the FBI so far in connect with City Hall data theft, and what he knew and when he knew it and on behalf of whom?

Thank you very much, prosbus!

Hwy Anon Guest User, perhaps your renters got a look at the real crime statistics as they relate to Hoboken. There's some pretty scary stuff in there. Nothing like the phony
numbers the inept mayor dished out at her state of the city debacle.

Sadly Mason, Russo, Castellano, Occhipintithe Old Guard has made negativity, hate mongering and creating chaos in Hoboken as their primary political strategy .

I agree Anon Guest User post is just another lame attempt to continue their negative campaign.

I'm a parent that has been critical of HoLa. Well skeptical and suspicious might be more accurate. HoLa was born in 'behind closed doors' meetings between Jack Raslowsky and two parents that wanted dual language program as part of the public school. See this article for some background: http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2008/11/hoboken_schools_approve_spanis.html

"The $200,000 in funding will cover a consulting fee of $150,000 to HoLa Leadership LLP, which was created by two parents with children in pre-school. The remaining $50,000 will cover a $7,500 stipend for a program administrator, $10,000 for curriculum development and funds for books and other materials."

As a woman that loves math and science, who's family is filled with tech people, this might be a nice match for our daughter. But I would not be enrolling her in this charter school to flee the public schools. I would be enrolling her in a charter school because it has an interesting curriculum. The same reason if when she gets to high school and she made into the County Technology High School I would send her to it. Or if we lived in NYC and she loved a certain field and tested into one of the specialized high schools I would send her there. Because these programs can offer something more that any public school can not, a specialized focused that would not be appropriate to all children. If you lived in NYC and your child was fantastic musician and got into LaGuardia Arts, would I stop her? Hell no. Is the Fame school better at teaching math, English, and science? I doubt it, but it is a great place to go if you are into the performing arts. It offerses a speicalized curriculum.

It sounds like this charter will be offering a specialized curriculum. My interest in this school is not because I think my daughter will do poorly at the public school, but because I think a curriculum like that might be very interesting for her.

I was initially excited about this charter school and responded yes to all the survey questions about how it would help my family stay in Hoboken. After talking to my husband, who works in technology, we decided not to pursue this school option because it does not look like a good fit for our kids.

With children in pre-K3 and kindergarten, I am satisfied with school options at their level since there are many good programs in town. I am much more concerned about what is going to happen once they reach fifth or eighth grades, when there are many fewer choices. As well, I am curious as to how many families would truly stay in town when the inventory of 3BR apartments is both extremely limited and increasingly expensive, plus charter schools do not require attendees to live in Hoboken (have met families who live in JC Heights and Weehawken who send their kids to Hoboken charters). http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2011/11/14/whats-happening-to-hoboken-condo-inventory/

Firewater

The mobile site does not have a reply button under comments so I have reply here.

From http://njcharters.org/index.php/understand-charter-schools/myths-about-charter-schools:
Myth #3: Charter schools simply expel students they don’t want.

Fact: Both traditional district schools and charter schools can expel students. Charter school students have the same rights to due process as traditional public school students, including the right to a hearing.

I, too, want to second others here and wish Laura the best of luck in getting this new school off the ground. Parents need as many school choices as possible for their children and this looks like it will be a good one. Hoboken is becoming a nationwide leader in offering more school choices for students and in breaking the public school monopoly. But a word of warning, Laura: Be prepared for a nasty fight, as some of the comments here and elsewhere have already shown. Kids First and its small circle of supporters are adamantly opposed to charter schools and they will fight this one tooth and nail, along with the public school administration. But the community will overwhelmingly support you and you should be a big success.

I'm a kids first supporter. You are bitter Internet troll.

Hola wasn't originally proposed as a charter?

New in town, Mr. Smith?

I have a child in a public school and let me tell you something... the vast majority of the parents with children K-2 grade are in our school are on the waiting list to a Charter School. Nobody turns down an opportunity to go to the charter school once they get a spot, even if it's less convenient to where they live than the public school. The unfortunate reality is such that those who can afford it, send their kids to private and others are really hoping for a spot in one of the charter schools. I know families who pulled their kids from public school and send to private at a great financial strain to their family budget. So yes, there is an overwhelming need for another charter school in this community, especially amongst families with early elementary and PreK age children. Voting against the proposed DaVinci school is not going to make the demand go away. Instead of spending their energy and money on opposition, the board should take a really hard look as to why so many parents are not happy with the district schools, why they like Charter Schools so much more and look for the ways to imitate the positives in those schools and for ways to improve in general (hint: SmartBoards don't teach, teachers do! Reward good teachers, replace the bad/indifferent ones)