Monday was the last day to turn in petitions to run for three seats on the nine-member volunteer board. Independents Anthony Romano, a Hoboken police lieutenant, Francis Totaro, the owner of the Hoboken Watch Company, and longtime Hoboken resident Theresa Minutillo will be running as independents.
In front of the Brandt Middle School a week ago Friday, Mayor David Roberts announced that he will be supporting the three incumbents - Carmelo Garcia, Frances Rhodes-Kearns, and John Raslowsky II - in their School Board re-election bid this April.
Monday was the last day to turn in petitions to run for three seats on the nine-member volunteer board. Independents Anthony Romano, a Hoboken police lieutenant, Francis Totaro, the owner of the Hoboken Watch Company, and longtime Hoboken resident Theresa Minutillo will be running as independents.
Duties include managing a nearly $47 million budget, negotiating contracts with teachers, and setting education policy for the schools. Hoboken's public school system includes Hoboken High School, two middle schools, three elementary schools, and two charter schools.
The election is scheduled for April 19.
The issues
This is a pivotal time for Hoboken's school district. The most obvious challenge the school board members will face will be overseeing the large-scale school construction that will be paid for by over $100 million in state money in the next couple of years.
The most current plan calls for the construction of a new high school, an elementary school, and athletic fields on a 6-acre piece of property near the now vacant former Cognis Chemical plant on 12th Street from Adams to Madison streets.
The six existing school buildings in Hoboken will be rehabilitated, except for the Demarest Middle School on Garden Street, which will be converted to some other public use. School officials promise that the old building, which was once the high school Frank Sinatra attended, will not be torn down.
Calabro, Connors and Wallace schools will remain elementary schools.
The Brandt School, which is now a middle school, will be converted into an elementary school. All of the city's public middle school children will then move into the existing Hoboken High School building, which will become the city's only middle school.
Other opportunities that the board members will face include the expansion of the International Baccalaureate program from middle school through high school, and a growing educational partnership between the school and Stevens Institute of Technology.
Several of the challenges before the board include managing a nearly $50 million annual budget. According to the state's online School Report Card released in January, Hoboken last year spent the most in the county on a per-pupil basis, at $15,589.
The situation could be complicated because on Tuesday, local school officials were notified not to expect any increases in state aid for the upcoming school year, and one state official suggested that districts raise school taxes to make up for it.
Meet the incumbents
Jack Raslowsky was appointed to the Hoboken Board of Education in January 2002 to fill an unexpired term and was elected to a three-year term in April 2002.
After serving as the principal of St. Peter's Preparatory School for 11 years, Raslowsky was appointed the provincial assistant for Education and Lay Formation of the New York Province Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. In this role, he oversees the work of the seven Jesuit high schools and five middle schools in New York and New Jersey and sits on the Board of Trustees of each institution.
"The most pressing issue right now for the community is obvious: the school construction," said Raslowsky. "It's important that we get that right. But also, just as important is what's happing in the classroom. We have made great strides with the IB [interbaccalaureate program for top students] and the Stevens partnership."
Frances Rhodes-Kearns was elected to the board in 2002. Thursday, she said advocating for more parent involvement is her first priority.
"I'm really going to focus on the high school," Rhodes-Kearns said. "I want to help expand our after-school programs and find innovative ways to encourage parents to become more involved in their child's education." Carmelo Garcia is currently the city's Director of Human Services. He said that because of his position with the city, he is uniquely able foster a partnership between the school board and the city. He also said that he is excited about the prospect of the new school construction.
"We are going be the ones that turn this dream into a reality," Garcia said.
In that same year that Garcia joined the board, he was the first minority in the City of Hoboken's history to be appointed as the city's director of Human Services, under Mayor David Roberts. Garcia was president of the Puerto Rican Cultural Committee and one of the founders of the scholarship fund.
The independents
Traditionally, it's a tough task for independent school board candidates to beat out a ticket backed by the mayor, which will be doubly hard considering that the mayor's ticket is comprised of incumbents.
But there are three who are ready for the challenge.
Totaro, who runs Hoboken Watch Company on Washington Street, is running under the slogan "Independently promoting education and not politics."
From 1983 until 2000, he has been a volunteer football coach on all levels, from grade school to high school. "I've always been involved with the school in some way, so I wanted to find a new way that I can give back to the community," Totaro said. He said Thursday that he will be an independent voice on the board. One area where he sees there could be improvement is in the management of the budget. "Right now there is lot of overspending and overstaffing when it comes to the administration," he said.
Minutillo made a name for herself last year when she organized and supervised Hoboken High School's first annual "Senior Prep Day," where seniors were given lessons on resume writing and interviewing techniques. Also, there were free makeovers and instructions on how to "dress for success."
Anthony Romano is a Hoboken police lieutenant in the Hoboken Police Department, who has been active in creating curriculum and programs that teach drug and alcohol awareness in the city's public schools. The drawing for the ballot position will be held Wednesday March 9 at 11 a.m.
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