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BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
GOOD EVENING, H
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- - DECEMBER 15, 2009
KEN!!!!
, There may be only one piece of housekeeping this evening, and that is item #6 on my agenda ... The young lady's name is Toni Rotondo
Contained as part of the agenda distributed to the public and posted yesterday afternoon on the district website, is the CORRECTIVEACTION PLAN upon which thJ Board is being asked to vote this evening, and about which questions may be . poJed by the Board and the public. On that point, may I introduce with pride and honor the Interim Business Administrator for the Hoboken Public Schools, Mr. Robert H. Davis. Through me, we shall hear from the Business Administrator a I
little later in the evening with respect to the corrective action plan. With respect to the Audit which we as a community received last month, let me reiterate that the\ findings were all B.C. (and that stands for
), and that I expect very few
to De repeated or even exist when you hear the 2009-10 Audit Report. Speaking of the Audit, and part of the Corrective Action, the misused student activity funds did not go to an employee, but to reimburse two separate parents, one for an electronic device which became missing during a football game, and the other to reimburse a parent for a similar device which had been confiscated and then missing during the normal course of a disciplinary action.
With respect to the last item on my agenda, let me state that my staff and I in conjunction with the respective Board Committees have been discussing the options for the future for the past two months. The recommendation the reality of our given situation.
represents
Quite frankly, my friends, we are outgrowing
our space, at least for the next several years. Also, it is imperative that we give our middle school grades a boost in academic and social growth.
We cannot
maintain our eighth grade students in our current buildings as our kindergarten and pre-kindergarten
numbers rise. Furthermore, to answer in advance a
question or two which may be posed later, we shall be maintaining our early childhood program at Brandt for the three, four, and five year old children only, given the reality, based on the 2009-2010 figures as well as my moving around town, and seeing so many strollers with 2 and 3 year old children therein, that we may need more spaces for these precious young children. Hence the proposed configuration is what it is. It is my understanding that there may have been some B.C. proposals or even promises, but the Board of Education was neither privy nor proprietory to such.
Several years ago, the State of New Jersey's Schools Development Authority in concert with the Hoboken School district began the work for an Addition and a Rehabilitation of the Thomas G. Connors School. There is existing correspondence to Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi (no relation to current Board Counsel, by the way) dated April 3, 2006, and December 7, 2006. For those of you who enjoy research expeditions, it is State Project #2210-065-01-0783. There is of course more recent correspondence from the Chief Executive Officer of the Schools Development Authority, dated June 8, 2009 which, by the way, names Deamrest as the 'swing' space to house the Connors students. And YES,all correspondence points to a NOTICETO PROCEEDfor construction in July 2010. This project is "in the pipeline" as is said in State speak ....
we are pregnant.
For a variety of reasons, all educationally sound and based on providing better opportunities for all children, we have proposed to the Board the moving of our Alternative School to the Hoboken High School building, thus allowing us to offer the Hoboken Charter School space for their 9-12 school, and only their 9-12 school only at Demarest. We shall be setting up a more innovative program for these very special students separate from the high school regular school day, but
overlapping the high school day. We shall have more to say about this to the parents of these and the regular high school students in February or March.
We shall also be meeting with the parents of the Connors School children in January at a date to be finalized and confirmed very soon, and I shall also meet with the parents of our Brandt Kindergarten children. AND YES,one more meeting with the parents of all our current seventh and eighth graders, at a date to be announced.
Last, but by no means least are these three pieces of paper ...actually more than pieces of paper, but copies of each of three checks from the Hoboken Charter School for rents due for the 2008-2009, 2007-2008, and 2006-2007 school years. The total of these checks is $532,240.51 delivered to me by their consultant and chief executive officer on the morning of December 14th. None of these dollars were ever budgeted as receivables, and thus will be utilized for you, the taxpapers of Hoboken, as a means of tax relief in the preparation of the 2010-2011 budget.
Thank you, Hoboken, we are proud to be here working on behalf of your children.