Hoboken residents form group to campaign against school board plan to bond for $241 million high school

At the Hoboken Board of Education’s first public meeting to discuss its plans for a new taxpayer-funded high school, resident after resident came out against the proposal.

Many didn’t realize how many others shared their view, and the passion and energy in the room soon brought them together into a coalition against the school board’s plan.

As the date of a Jan. 25 referendum on the $241 million bond to help build the school nears, that group is ready to hit the streets. Members have created signs and slogans and plan to canvass until election day so that residents know what’s on the ballot and how it might affect them.

“When people say this is a grassroots community movement, this is one of those instances where it really is,” said Pavel Sokolov, who helped organize the group with fellow resident Matt Majer.

Members’ motivations vary. Some see the timing of the vote and its presentation to the community as an attempt at voter suppression. Seniors living on a fixed income are concerned about what would be a $496 spike in annual property taxes for the average homeowner. For others it is an issue of equity.

The referendum in question would allow the Hoboken Board of Education to execute a plan to build a new four-story school on the site of JFK Stadium and convert the existing school into a middle school. The state-of-the art facility would have an ice hockey rink, competition-sized pool, rooftop football field and two performing arts theaters.

The Board of Education and district superintendent have called it a solution to a capacity challenge they see the district facing as more students continue to enroll, particularly in the lowest grades. Mayor Ravi Bhalla has publicly endorsed the plan.

Members of the coalition against the referendum, dubbed the Hoboken High School Concerned Citizens Information Exchange, take issue with the board’s basic theories around student population growth, beginning with the fact that the existing building is more than 50% below its maximum capacity.

But for many that is only a starting point for why they want the plan rejected.

To Jerome Abernathy, a proposal filled with recreational amenities seems intended to draw in more affluent families who often opt for charter or private schools; rather than invest in the current students, who are largely students of color (only about 15% of Hoboken public school students are white, while the city is more than 80% white).

He cites test scores that show only 13.6% of the high school’s students scored high enough to be considered proficient in math by federal standards in the most recently reported school year, 2017-18.

“My view is that the school should be focused on serving the kids that go there, increasing the performance of their students,” said Abernathy, who is also the president of the Hoboken Library Board. “Instead, they’ve engaged in this effort to try to attract upper middle-class families that have chosen other alternatives. This whole idea that you’re going to spend a quarter of a billion dollars to build an ice hockey rink — who is that really for?”

One of Sokolov’s top concerns is that the vote is just weeks after the winter holidays and only a few months after November’s general election, in which Board of Education, council and mayoral seats were on the ballot. The proposal was not made public until after Election Day.

Advocating for voter enfranchisement may seem antithetical to his political identity, said Sokolov, who chairs the Hudson County Young Republicans. But he called himself an advocate for both voter enfranchisement and public education.

“I’m an immigrant and a son of immigrants and I benefited from a great public school here in New Jersey,” Sokolov said. “I went to Rutgers.”

The coalition, which meets weekly, isn’t a partisan one, Majer said. And while he’s against the referendum, he’d be more comfortable with it passing if voter turnout is high.

Now that New Year’s Day has come and gone, the group plans to begin making itself seen around the city and to cater its pitch to the type of resident it encounters, Majer said.

A resident of Jefferson Street with kids in the schools may be inclined to vote “no” if they know what type of construction would occur on their street, he said. A young renter who may not be in the city long enough to raise children might care about a tax increase trickling down to the price they pay for rent.

Abernathy is optimistic the group can win. Majer less so.

“I’m very proud, I’ll say, no matter the outcome of this result, that we’re able to share this info and get people involved,” Majer said.