"Kids First/Reach Higher, Hoboken" Trustees Vote Not to Drop Lawsuit Against Hola and NJDOE at February 9, 2016 Board Meeting (INCLUDES VIDEO)

Ferguson Propeller Co. Hoboken NJ 1888-1990

At the Hoboken Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 a motion (see Figure 1) was made to drop the district lawsuit against the Hola Dual Language School (see Figure 2). The motion was made by Trustee Peter Biancamano (longest serving member of the current Board) and was seconded by trustee John Madigan (highest vote getter in the most recent Board of Education city wide election in November, 2015). The motion failed by a vote of 6-3. All members of the political group known as "Kids First/Reach Higher, Hoboken" voted against the motion. New trustee and former teacher Britney Montgomery voted to drop the lawsuit along with Biancamano and Madigan. 

Hola recently scored well above the state average in Math and English Language on the NJ PARCC for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. 

Under the leadership of "Kids First/Reach Higher, Hoboken" the Hoboken Public Schools have the highest rate of violence,  vandalism, and bullying in Hudson County, New Jersey and have failed the NJ State monitoring QSAC DPR in Instruction and Program for four straight years. In addition, despite former Board President and current trustee Leon Gold's claim that Hola is "bankrupting the district" (see also this retort), the Hoboken School district had a surplus of $1.1 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 and over a $5,400,000 dollar surplus for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 (see 14:30-15:00 mark in this video). 

Figure 1:Click to Enlarge 

Motion by Peter Biancamano, second by John Madigan.

Final Resolution: Motion Fails

Yes: Peter Biancamano, John Madigan, Britney Montgomery

No: Sharyn Angley, Jennifer Evans, Leon Gold, Irene Sobolov, Monica Stromwall, Thomas Kluepfel

Figure 2: Hoboken Lawsuit asking the Renewal and
Expansion of Hola should be reassessed