Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Excellence in NJ Local News Awards - "Hoboken Schools Superintendent Didn’t Receive Doctorate Until Aug. ’22, Records Show"

Congratulations to John Heinis (@HeinisHardNews) and the team at Hudson County View for receiving this prestigious award and recognition for a story they investigated and uncovered dealing with the superintendent of the Hoboken School District and the Hoboken Board of Education.

The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 Excellence in New Jersey Local News Awards. This year, we received an astounding 85 submissions, the highest number in the history of our awards program.

“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” George Orwell

The quality of the entries was truly exceptional, making the selection process especially challenging.

After careful consideration, we have selected the following 10 award winners who exemplify the vital role that local journalism plays in informing and serving New Jersey residents and communities:

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John Heinis, Hudson County View

Heinis uncovered that a school superintendent lied about having a doctoratefor years. John’s diligent research and questioning revealed a troubling pattern of deception, promoting accountability in the school system.

Excerpt from the article: 

In all 75 of the board meetings she attended until last August, she was also referred to as Dr. Johnson.

At no time did she or the board discourage the use of the inappropriate title, video recordings of the meetings show.

Furthermore, in her response to HCV, Johnson indicated that she hadn’t submitted her dissertation before applying for the Hoboken job, saying only that she had completed the other work for the degree.

But in answering an Open Public Records Act request for information on Johnson’s background, Board President Sharyn Angley and Vice President Malani Cademartori asserted that Johnson had also finished all the work for the degree, including her dissertation before 2015, but didn’t receive her degree until she paid off her tuition.

“While finished with her requirements for her Doctor of Letters, the superintendent maintained matriculation in order to continue paying owed tuition. Once Dr. Johnson finished paying her tuition, her diploma for that particular degree was released,” they wrote in the January 18th email.

However, her dissertation raises doubts about this claim. Johnson’s dissertation, dated August 19th, 2022, indicates that it was researched and written several years after the board hired her, not before.