Hoboken 5th Ward councilman endorses Kids First
Apr 20, 2009 | 927 views | 1 1 comments | 10 10 recommendations | email to a friend | print

Not much of a surprise that Hoboken 5th Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham, an ally of mayoral candidate Dawn Zimmer, endorsed the Kids First school board slate with a press release today. Zimmer has already endorsed Kids First.

The only question is, who are the other candidates (Mason, Cammarano, and the three independents) endorsing, or have they decided to stay out of the race?

The school board election is tomorrow, Tuesday, with two slates opposing each other - one of three moms, and one of three incumbents.

Here's Cunningham's letter:

"The School Board elections on Tuesday--along with so many other events this year--reminds me again as I finish up our income taxes that property taxes in Hoboken have had a profound impact on our residents in the worst economic times in decades. The school-board-tax component is a substantial part, comprising nearly a third of the overall property tax in Hoboken. While I continue to be concerned with the city's finances, there's progress, and there's much more work to be done. But now let's turn to our public schools.

"We should expect more from Hoboken's School Board majority. We must demand fiscal prudence. This board majority lacks leadership in improving classroom performance and in ensuring that our tax dollars are spent in putting Kids First. Our schools are underperforming as we continue to spend over $25,000 per student..."

"Polls will be open from 2 through 9 p.m. If you have any questions about the candidates go to www.kidsfirst2009.com or send an email to them at info@kidsfirst2009.com to schedule a chance to meet them.

Hoboken's future depends on our continued success."

Comments
(1)
Comments-icon Post a Comment
ss1959
|
April 20, 2009
The Carbine for Council team reaffirms our endorsement of the Kids First slate in Tuesday’s BOE election. At $25,000 a year Hoboken has one of highest per student expenditures in New Jersey. This might be acceptable, but unfortunately our seniors are in the bottom 10% in SAT scores and our bloated school budget has one of the lowest student to administrator ratios in the state. Many positions are filled by patronage and favors.

Theresa Minutillo, Maureen Sullivan and Ruth McCallister offer a clear alternative to this disgrace. The new school board must ensure that programs will cost effectively raise test scores, standards and hold people accountable. Tomorrow I urge everyone to support Kids First 1-4-5 and to vote no on the school budget.

Thank you,

Chris Carbine