;0 ~ .l \ ~ BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING - - DECEMBER 15, 2009

GOOD EVENING, H o B 0 KEN!!!!

, There may be only one piece of housekeeping this evening, and that is item #6 onmy agenda ... The young lady's name is Toni Rotondo

Contained as part of the agenda distributed to the public and posted yesterdayafternoon on the district website, is the CORRECTIVEACTION PLANupon whichthJ 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 andhonor the Interim Business Administrator for the Hoboken Public Schools, Mr.Robert H. Davis. Through me, we shall hear from the Business Administrator a

Ilittle later in the evening with respect to the corrective action plan. With respectto the Audit which we as a community received last month, let me reiterate thatthe\ findings were all B.C. (and that stands for ), and that I expect very fewto De repeated or even exist when you hear the 2009-10 Audit Report. Speakingof the Audit, and part of the Corrective Action, the misused student activity fundsdid not go to an employee, but to reimburse two separate parents, one for anelectronic device which became missing during a football game, and the other toreimburse a parent for a similar device which had been confiscated and thenmissing 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 inconjunction with the respective Board Committees have been discussing theoptions for the future for the past two months. The recommendation representsthe reality of our given situation. Quite frankly, my friends, we are outgrowingour space, at least for the next several years. Also, it is imperative that we giveour middle school grades a boost in academic and social growth. We cannot

maintain our eighth grade students in our current buildings as our kindergartenand pre-kindergarten numbers rise. Furthermore, to answer in advance a

question or two which may be posed later, we shall be maintaining our earlychildhood 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 aroundtown, and seeing so many strollers with 2 and 3 year old children therein, that wemay need more spaces for these precious young children. Hence the proposedconfiguration is what it is. It is my understanding that there may have been someB.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 inconcert with the Hoboken School district began the work for an Addition and aRehabilitation of the Thomas G. Connors School. There is existing

correspondence to Superintendent Patrick Gagliardi (no relation to current BoardCounsel, by the way) dated April 3, 2006, and December 7, 2006. For those ofyou who enjoy research expeditions, it is State Project #2210-065-01-0783. Thereis of course more recent correspondence from the Chief Executive Officer of theSchools Development Authority, dated June 8, 2009 which, by the way, namesDeamrest as the 'swing' space to house the Connors students. And YES,allcorrespondence 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 betteropportunities for all children, we have proposed to the Board the moving of ourAlternative School to the Hoboken High School building, thus allowing us to offerthe Hoboken Charter School space for their 9-12 school, and only their 9-12school only at Demarest. We shall be setting up a more innovative program forthese 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 theparents 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 inJanuary at a date to be finalized and confirmed very soon, and I shall also meetwith the parents of our Brandt Kindergarten children. AND YES,one moremeeting with the parents of all our current seventh and eighth graders, at a dateto be announced.

Last, but by no means least are these three pieces of paper ...actually more thanpieces of paper, but copies of each of three checks from the Hoboken CharterSchool 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 taxpapersof 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.