Hola Hoboken Designated a “Model Program” by NJ DOE for 4th Consecutive 2 Year Period

Hola Representatives Receiving Award

As many of you know, in addition to being the Assistant Superintendent of the Hoboken Public Schools, I was also a founding Board member for the Hola Charter School. Hola applied for a charter  only after the Hoboken Board of Education rejected the vetted and legal proposal of a Dual Language Program in the school district in 2009 (see Figure 1 below). Since that time, Hola has gone on to be the premier public school in the city of Hoboken as well as one of the most recognized schools in Hudson County, New Jersey, and the region not only for dual language instruction but for education in general. It remains a wonderful success story after 10 years of operation. 

This is the 4th consecutive award of the 2-year designation for HoLa. We were the only charter school in New Jersey to receive the designation in 2020. The application process was completed before the pandemic shutdown, and included a rigorous site visit and interviews with teachers, students and families. -Dr. Petrosino

HOBOKEN NJ (TAPINTO Staff): In the days leading to the pandemic shutdown, HoLa ensured every single student had the devices and connectivity they needed to be able to continue their learning from home. HoLa’s remote offerings continue to follow the immersion model, offering live content in Spanish daily, including not only the core subjects of math and reading but also live specials, such as art, music and dance -- all in Spanish.    In addition, HoLa has teamed up with the City of Hoboken to use bilingual members of the school community to reach out and call Spanish speaking seniors during the COVID crisis, to check-in on seniors who need additional help.  

“This is the most challenging thing our teachers have ever had to do but every day our teachers--who themselves are sometimes juggling remote learning for their own children--keep showing up for our kids so that they continue to learn in both Spanish and English.  We couldn’t be prouder of our entire community.”  -Jennifer Sargent, Founder and Executive Director of Hola. 

It is that passion and innovation that led the New Jersey Department of Education to renew the school’s designation last week as a Model Dual Language Program for another two years. 

It is the 4th consecutive award of the 2-year designation for HoLa. HoLa was the only charter school in New Jersey to receive the designation.

The application process was completed before the shutdown, and included a rigorous site visit and interviews with teachers, students and families. 

“As a long-standing model program district, your program will continue to serve as a resource for other districts in our state and enable educators to witness firsthand exemplary practices in Dual Language Immersion....It will also enable administrators and teachers to dialog about issues of mutual concern and discuss the potential for future collaboration regarding curriculum development projects, or professional development initiatives.” -Linda Eno, Assistant Commissioner of the NJ DOE

HoLa’s immersion program means that students starting in Kindergarten spend almost their entire day learning in Spanish, even though the majority of the school’s students do not have any Spanish-language background. The program transitions slowly to a 50% Spanish/50% English curriculum by middle school. Students graduate 8th grade fully bilingual and biliterate. 

The Hoboken Dual Language Charter School is a free, public charter school serving about 400 students in grades K-8. HoLa is the only Spanish immersion dual language public charter school in the state. It is also the first to receive NJ DOE approval to provide a low-income preference and English language learner preference in its lottery.  As measured by state exams, HoLa is ranked among the top 10% of public schools in New Jersey.

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Figure 1: NJDOE Approval Letter