Disturbances at the Hoboken Shelter

 This was posted on social media on July 29th 2025.... very concerning 

Happy St. Ann's Day-- 2025

Each saint has their own day on the Catholic calendar. For example, St. Patrick’s Day is March 17. St. Ann’s Day—honoring the mother of the Virgin Mary—is July 26. These “feast days” are celebration days, kind of like birthdays, especially in older Catholic communities.

Many traditional Italian-American parishes celebrate the feast day of their patron saint. In Hoboken, that’s St. Ann’s. Of course, there are other St. Ann’s churches around the country—and even a major cathedral in Canada—but here in Hoboken, the feast is a big deal.

Following Italian custom, on the feast day, the statue of St. Ann is brought out of the church and carried through the streets of the parish—sometimes across the whole city. Years ago, it was believed that women who were pregnant or hoping to become pregnant would carry St. Ann barefoot. Over time, shoes replaced bare feet, and these days, the statue is rolled rather than carried on shoulders.

There was also a tradition where the men of the parish would carry the statue down and up the church steps, but only the women were allowed to carry her through the streets.

The feast usually lasts about a week, leading up to July 26. Each night there’s a novena in the church, and outside, it’s like a block party: food, music, raffles, games, and people greeting friends they haven’t seen in years. The celebration brings the parish and the larger Hoboken community together—and it helps raise money to support the church.

For many, the feast feels like a homecoming. It’s a chance to return to the church where they were baptized, received First Communion, were confirmed, got married—or saw family and friends do the same. It centers people. It connects past and present.

Growing up, St. Ann’s Day was treated like a local holiday. My parents, aunts, uncles—and a lot of folks in the neighborhood—didn’t go to work. They took the day off. It was religious, yes, but also very much about community. And it still is.

A Potential Low Cost Site for a Hoboken Public School

 

The red box is owned by the Hoboken Board of Education, the yellow box is adjacent property currently under utilized (but not owned by the HBOE). This is enough ground space to build a school to house hundreds of students at minimal cost.

Most of the city blocks in Hoboken, New Jersey are 200 feet wide and 420 feet long. 

Rough Estimates: 

Estimating the number of classrooms in a 125 x 125 foot, 4-story school requires some assumptions about factors like average classroom size, allocation for non-classroom spaces, and building design.

Here's one estimate of the number of classrooms:

• Calculate total building area: Each floor's area is 125 ft x 125 ft = 15,625 square feet. A 4-story building would have 15,625 sq ft/floor * 4 floors = 62,500 square feet.
• Estimate classroom space allocation: Not all of the building's area is for classrooms. Hallways, stairwells, offices, restrooms, and specialized classrooms or facilities take up space. If 75% of the total square footage is for instruction, the usable classroom space would be 62,500 sq ft x 0.75 = 46,875 square feet.
• Therefore, a 4-story school on a 125 x 125 foot footprint could have dozens of classrooms, assuming 75% of the space is usable classroom space. 

This is an estimate, and the actual number can vary based on the school's design and requirements as well as acquiring additional land for the school's footprint. 

Potential student seating capacity using NJDOE minimal area requirements: 

Preschool - Grade 5: 376 students 

Grades 6-9: 351 students 

Grades 9-12: 311 students 

Further Analysis of the 2000 and 2001 Hoboken District Audit Around Seating Capacity (J-18)

Thanks for the feedback I've received for pointing out the importance of New Jersey’s Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act (EFCFA), enacted in July 2000. This law introduced new minimum square footage requirements per student, which understandably would impact how seating capacity is calculated (see Chart 1). However, I want to continue to highlight a significant and puzzling shift in the Hoboken School District's reported seating capacity between 2000 and 2001—a change that deserves closer scrutiny (see Table 1). 

Those new requirements alone do not account for the full extent of the district’s reported reduction. In the 2000 official audit, the Hoboken School District reported a total seating capacity of 5,214. Applying the new square footage standards from the 2000 law, the expected adjusted capacity should have been around 4,197 seats.

Yet, the 2001 audit shows a much steeper drop: the district reported a capacity of just 3,278 seats—919 fewer than even the revised standard would suggest (again, see Chart 1).

This drastic reduction came at a time when two newly established charter schools were seeking space to operate within district facilities. While the timing may be coincidental, the data raises important questions about how and why these capacity figures changed so dramatically, and what impact those changes may have had on decisions around access and space for public and charter schools alike.

Chart 1: Seating Capacity 2000-2001 Worksheet

Table 1: 2010 Hoboken District Audit (J-18) 

Project Report SUBMITTED for Award Number 2115393

 Seeing the World through a Mathematical Lens: A Place-Based Mobile App for Creating Math Walks

Award Number: 2115393 

PI/co-PI(s): Anthony Petrosino, Cathy Ringstaff, Candace Walkington, Koshi Dhingra, Elizabeth Stringer 
Report Type: Annual Project Report; Continuing Grant 
Report Period: 08/01/2024 to 07/31/2025 
Submitted By: Candace Walkington, cwalkington@smu.edu
Program Officer Name: Leilah Lyons
Program Officer E-mail: llyons@nsf.gov
Program Officer Phone Number: (703) 292-0000

Your project report has been successfully submitted to NSF.

Information about the grant: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115393&HistoricalAwards=false

ABSTRACT

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

Math is everywhere in the world, but youth may see math as disconnected from their everyday experiences and wonder how math is relevant to their lives. There is evidence that informal math done by children is highly effective, involving efficiency, flexibility, and socializing. Yet, more is needed to understand how educators can support math engagement outside of school, and the role these out-of-school experiences can play relative to the classroom and lifelong STEM learning. This Innovations and Development Project seeks to conduct research on a location-based mobile app for informal mathematics learning. This research takes place at 9 informal learning sites and involves iteratively designing an app in which learners can view and contribute to an interactive map of math walk ?stops? at these sites. Learners will be able to select locations and watch short videos or view pictures with text that describe how mathematical principles are present in their surroundings. For example, learners could use the app to discover how a painting by a local Latino artist uses ratio and scale, or how a ramp in downtown was designed with a specific slope to accommodate wheelchairs. Research studies will examine the affordances of augmented reality (AR) overlays where learners can hold up the camera of their mobile device, and see mathematical representations (e.g., lines, squares) layered over real-world objects in their camera feed. Research studies will also examine the impact of having learners create their own math walk stops at local informal learning sites, uploading pictures, descriptions, and linking audio they narrate, where they make observations about how math appears in their surroundings and pose interesting questions about STEM ideas and connections they wonder about. 

This project draws on research on informal math learning, problem-posing, and culturally-sustaining pedagogies to conduct cycles of participatory design-based research on technology-supported math walks. The research questions are: How does posing mathematical scenarios in community-imbedded math walks impact learners? attitudes about mathematics? How can experiencing AR overlays on real world objects highlight mathematical principles and allow learners to see math in the world around them? How can learners and informal educators be engaged as disseminators of content they create and as reviewers of mathematical content created by others? To answer these questions, five studies will be conducted where learners create math walk stops: without technology (Study 1), with a prototype version of the app (Study 2), and with or without AR overlays (Study 3). Studies will also compare children's experiences receiving math walk stops vs. creating their own stops (Study 4) and explore learners reviewing math walk stops made by their peers (Study 5). Using a community ethnography approach with qualitative and quantitative process data of how youth engage with the app and with each other, the project will determine how the development of math interest can be facilitated, how learner-driven problem generation can be scaffolded, and under what circumstances app-based math walks are most effective. The results will contribute to research on the development of interest, problem-posing, informal mathematics learning, and digital supports for STEM learning such as AR. This project will promote innovation and have strategic impact through a digital infrastructure that could be scaled up to support STEM walks anywhere in the world, while also building a local STEM learning ecosystem among informal learning sites focused on informal mathematics. This project is a partnership between Southern Methodist University, a nonprofit, talkSTEM that facilitates the creation of community math walks, and 9 informal learning providers. The project will directly serve approximately 500 grades 4-8 learners and 30-60 informal educators. The project will build capacity at 9 informal learning sites, which serve hundreds of thousands of students per year in their programming.

This Innovations in Development project is supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

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Milton, Saki and Sager, Marc and Walkington, Candace "Exploring STEM Identity and Belonging in Minoritized Girls at a Summer Camp" , 2024 Citation Details

Milton, Saki and Sager, Marc T and Walkington, Candace "Incorporating Critical Data Literacy into a STEM Summer Camp" , 2025 https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2025.446301 Citation Details

Milton, Saki and Sager, Marc T and Walkington, Candace "Understanding Racially Minoritized Girls Perceptions of Their STEM Identities, Abilities, and Sense of Belonging in a Summer Camp" Education Sciences , v.13 , 2023https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121183 Citation Details

Milton, S. and Sager, M.T. and Walkington, C. and Petrosino, A.J. and Sherard, M.K. and Dhingra, K. "Students Attitudes towards Mathematics during Math Walks" Prcoeedings of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Learning Sciences , 2023 Citation Details

Sager, Marc_T and Milton, Saki and Walkington, Candace "Girls leading the conversation: harnessing the potential of podcasting for informal and project-based learning" Discover Education , v.4 , 2025 https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-025-00406-9 Citation Details

Sager, Marc T and Sherard, Maximilian K and Milton, Saki and Walkington, Candace and Petrosino, Anthony J "Rising in the ranks!: learning math or playing games?" Frontiers in Education , v.8 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1302693Citation Details

Sager, Marc T and Sherard, Maximilian K and Walkington, Candace and Milton, Saki and Petrosino, Anthony J "Seeing mathematics together: A comparative case study of youths and facilitators collaborating to learn mathematics in informal settings" The Journal of Mathematical Behavior , v.75 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2024.101171 Citation Details

Sager, M.T. and Sherard, M.K. and Walkington, C. and Petrosino, A.J. and Milton, S. "Examining Mathematical Questioning during Math Walks" Proceedings of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Learning Sciences , 2023Citation Details

Walkington, C. "Student-created math walks in informal learning spaces" .) Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences ICLS 2022 , 2022 Citation Details

Wang, Min and Walkington, Candace "Investigating problem-posing during math walks in informal learning spaces"Frontiers in Psychology , v.14 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1106676 Citation Details

From Classroom to Community: Evaluating Data Science Practices in Education and Social Justice Projects (2025)

A new peer-reviewed publication by colleagues Marc Sager, Jeanna Wieselmann and myself titled "From Classroom to Community: Evaluating Data Science Practices in Education and Social Justice Projects" published in the journal EDUCATION SCIENCE. 

 Our newly published paper in Education Sciences explores how students develop “critical data literacy” — the ability to work with data not just technically, but ethically and thoughtfully — through a summer-long data science program. 

 The study compared what students learned in a traditional classroom setting with how they applied those skills in a real-world project focused on food justice. In class, students were introduced to basic data tools and abstract concepts. But it was in the hands-on project work where they really began to connect data science with broader social issues. By analyzing real data and thinking through the ethical implications of their work, students gained a deeper and more practical understanding of data science.  

This work suggests that to truly teach data literacy, educators need to go beyond lectures and worksheets. Real-world projects—especially those grounded in issues students care about—can help bridge the gap between theory and practice, preparing students to tackle meaningful problems with data.  

Citation: Sager, M. T., Wieselmann, J. R., & Petrosino, A. J. (2025). From Classroom to Community: Evaluating Data Science Practices in Education and Social Justice Projects. Education Sciences,15(7),878. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/educsci15070878

From Classroom to Community: Evaluating Data Science Practices in Education and Social Justice Projects by Tony Petrosino on Scribd

The Year the Hoboken District Lost Capacity for Over 1900 Students

 Look at the chart below and notice the incredible drop in capacity that occurred in the district buildings just as Elysian and Hoboken Charter were coming online and were requesting space. It is all here in black and white...

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Enrollment and Capacity Numbers of the Hoboken Public School Buildings - 2024 J-18 Table

 

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A review of enrollment and capacity data for the Hoboken District Schools, using information from the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, along with other district-level data:

The current figures show that Wallace School is operating six students under capacity, Connors School is 15 under, Brandt School is 121 over capacity, Demarest Middle School is 8 over, and Hoboken High School is 220 students under capacity. These numbers include the 160 students currently enrolled through the CHOICE program, most of whom attend Hoboken High School.

If the CHOICE program were sunsetted—allowing currently enrolled students to graduate while admitting no new students—the district would gradually recover those 160 seats at the high school level over the next four years. This would bring the high school’s available capacity to approximately 380 open seats, significantly increasing flexibility in student placement and program design at the secondary level.

The only schools currently over capacity are Brandt and Demarest. Wallace and Connors both have available space, and the closure of Calabro School in 2020, which removed 137 seats from the system, likely contributed to current crowding in some elementary schools. However, with a phased end to the CHOICE program and more strategic use of existing space, the district has sufficient capacity across its schools to manage current and near-future enrollment levels.

Given this audited data and the likely future availability of space at the high school given some administrative decisions, there appears to be no urgency for new building construction based on enrollment and capacity.

Juneteenth Celebratations in Hoboken - while NJDOE Data Shows Black Students are Left Behind Throughout the Public School District

It is wonderful to celebrate Juneteenth and the history behind June 19, 1865 as these pictures show from Hoboken High School and City Hall earlier this week. I applaud and honor all those who took part in the celebrations and ceremonies. It is also a time to reflect on the failures of the Hoboken School District in mathematics and reading instruction throughout the district concerning our African American students (see Chart 1 and Chart 2).

We must hold and embrace the complexity that this moment requires. Bringing together history and the present to make way for a future that is worthy of all the beautiful and extraordinary talent of Black students in Hoboken. We hope that reflection takes place with the humility, compassion, and courage necessary for real transformation to take root.

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Chart 1- NJDOE ELA 2023-24

Chart 2- NJDOE Math 2023-24

But let’s be clear: reflection without action is performative. It’s easy to pose for pictures and quote from history; it’s much harder to confront the uncomfortable present. The truth is, Black students in Hoboken are being failed academically (see Chart 1 and Chart 2), year after year, in a system that has every advantage—small class sizes, strong funding, stable staffing. These are not the conditions of scarcity. These are the conditions where excellence should be the norm—and yet, that excellence is not being delivered equitably.

If we are serious about honoring Juneteenth, we cannot look away from the data. When only a fraction of African American students are reading and doing math at grade level, it’s not a coincidence—it’s a systemic breakdown. And it is time to name names: school boards, superintendents, administrators, and yes, classroom educators all share in the responsibility for these outcomes. Equity is not a buzzword—it’s a deliverable. And right now, it’s being underdeliveredand underprioritized.

Hollow celebrations mean nothing if they’re not backed by bold leadership and measurable progress. We don’t need more hashtags and photo ops—we need accountability, urgency, and a plan. Hoboken owes its Black students more than symbolic recognition. It owes them a future.

Latest NJDOE Data Shows Hoboken Black and Hispanic Students Lag Far Behind White Peers Across ALL Grades in ELA, Math, and Science

 The most recent released NJDOE disaggregated data (17 2210 HUDSON HOBOKEN) show that Hoboken's Black and Hispanic students are scoring drastically below their White peers in ELA and Math. These are not just academic gaps—they are systemic failures that directly threaten students' futures. In the 21st-century workforce, literacy and numeracy are essential for nearly every career. When students of color are left behind in these core areas year after year, Hoboken isn’t just failing state-mandated and required tests—it’s failing entire communities.

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Stark Racial Disparities and Leadership Failures in Hoboken's Public Schools: An Analysis of 2023-24 NJ DOE Data

The 2023-24 data released by the New Jersey Department of Education paint a troubling picture of educational equity in Hoboken. While headlines might praise the district’s above-average performance compared to state benchmarks, a more honest and critical look reveals a deeply segregated academic reality. White students in Hoboken are thriving at exceptional levels, while African American and Hispanic students are, in many cases, experiencing systemic academic neglect. These disparities reflect not just achievement gaps, but opportunity gaps—symptoms of deeper institutional failures in leadership, pedagogy, and accountability.

English Language Arts (ELA)

In Grade 3, 71% of Hoboken students met or exceeded expectations in ELA—significantly above the state average of 43.6%. But this number masks the truth: 80% of White students met the standard, compared to only 36.4% of African American students and 44.9% of Hispanic students. That means two-thirds of African American students and more than half of Hispanic students in Grade 3 are not reading or writing at grade level. This is not a new trend—it is a systemic failure that continues throughout the grade levels.

This pattern suggests that instructional practices, early literacy interventions, and culturally responsive curricula may be either inadequately implemented or entirely absent for non-white students. The district's leadership must confront the uncomfortable truth: some students are being served far better than others, and it is often along racial lines.

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Mathematics

Math scores deepen this concern. While the overall district performance looks strong on paper, the racial disparities are appalling. In Grade 3, 81.2% of White students met expectations, while only 18.2% of African American and 40.8% of Hispanic students did. By Grade 8, 0% of African American and only 3.6% of Hispanic students demonstrated grade-level proficiency. These are not just numbers—they are indictments.

Such disparities raise critical questions: What instructional supports are being provided to students of color? Are the best teachers equitably distributed across the district? Is the curriculum being differentiated effectively? And more importantly, where is the leadership in addressing these disparities year after year?

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Science

Science scores echo this grim trend. Although statewide science proficiency is generally low, Hoboken’s White students outperform the state by a large margin in 11th grade (32.4%), while African American and Hispanic students drastically underperform (5.3% and 2.5%, respectively). The equity gap here is not merely a reflection of student effort or socioeconomic status—it is a reflection of systemic neglect.

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Summary

The Hoboken Public School District’s reputation for academic excellence is built on uneven ground. The data expose a district that, while high-achieving on the surface, perpetuates educational inequality behind closed doors. African American and Hispanic students are systematically underperforming in every subject and grade level analyzed. These aren't anomalies—they're patterns. And patterns point to institutional issues.

It is time for Hoboken’s educational leadership to be held accountable—not just for aggregate test scores, but for the moral and professional responsibility of ensuring equity. This includes investing in teacher training, reallocating resources, and committing to targeted interventions that address the needs of underserved students. Anything less is a continued failure.

Note: Charts shown above include solid black lines for state averages and dashed black lines for Hoboken's overall performance to aid in clarity and comparison.

Richard E. Del Boccio- Hoboken Educator, Councilman, and Respected Community Member (1941-2025)

I first met Richard E. Del Boccio when I was a sixth-grade student at School No. 8—the Sadie F. Leinkauf School—in Hoboken. He was the Vice Principal then, and even at that young age, I remember being struck by his presence: calm, respectful, and dignified. He treated students with fairness and humanity, and he left a lasting impression on me.

Years later, when I returned to the Hoboken Public Schools as a teacher, and eventually as Assistant Superintendent, I had the honor of working alongside him. Richard never changed—he remained the same steady, supportive, and principled educator I remembered from my childhood. His encouragement meant a great deal to me throughout my career.

In addition to his work at School No. 8, Richard taught history at Demarest and served with distinction for 17 years as principal of the Calabro School. He also served for a time as Interim Superintendent of Schools—always answering the call to lead when his city needed him.

His dedication extended beyond the classroom. Richard was a longtime member of St. Ann’s Parish, helping at the feast for many years, and an active member of the Hoboken Elks Lodge #74, where he chaired the Scholarship Committee for over a decade. His political service as Councilman-at-Large and Second Ward Councilman was marked by integrity and care.

Richard E. Del Boccio embodied the very best of old Hoboken. He was a gentleman in every sense—respected, admired, and never forgotten. -Dr. Anthony Petrosino