Evidently the State Commissioner of Education is still deciding Maywood's application. His name is Dr. Lamont O. Repollet, and he was appointed by the current Governor, Phil Murphy. He's a minority and a Democrat, so my guess is it's going to be a tough sell to convince him to let a suburban town leave an urban school district.
One serious obstacle is that State Senate President Sweeney has announced a plan to consolidate local Boards of Education, and Maywood along with Rochelle Park and South Hackensack are all targeted for elimination and consolidation with the Hackensack Board of Education to make a Hackensack Regional Board of Education. Maywood would effectively gain partial ownership of a major asset that it didn't pay to build, which is the high school. And that is in the best interests of Maywood.
I have to wonder openly if the municipalities will be consolidated next, based on having a common Board of Education. That could be 5 or 10 years out, it's entirely possible. The politics seems to be moving in that direction. So a lot is at stake here, and I feel that our Hackensack elected officials haven't thought this through thoroughly.
If a municipal consolidation ever happens, I think each town should "come in" as a unit with it's own Neighborhood Council with significant decision-making authority. And then Hackensack should be divided into several Neighborhood Councils, one for Fairmount, one for the hill south of Passaic Street, one for what is traditionally called "the first ward" up to Essex Street and Green Street, and one for Central Hackensack. So there would be a strong sense of community for each area and lot's of local decision-making, and maybe even a Zoning Board for each. And then there would be a regional Mayor and Council elected for all of Hackensack, Maywood, Rochelle Park, and South Hackensack. And one regional Planning Board.
Really a lot is at stake, and for Maywood to leave the high school jeopardizes a whole lot more than people realize. It's like the future is being decided now, and everyone is asleep at the wheel.
I am aware of no official call for public comment on the school secession plan, but I did send a long and detailed letter to Dr. Repollet in opposition to the proposal. I didn't mention anything about any possible municipal consolidation.
The only other news on this is that the Borough of Maywood passed a Resolution in favor of severing the sending relationship, based on it saving Maywood about a million dollars a year. To Maywood, that's a lot of money. I did the math, it comes to less than a dollar a day to the average homeowner.
I live in Maywood, and my goal is to make $100 or more a day buying and selling stocks. Does anyone think I care about a dollar a day on property taxes??? Even if I owned a house and wasn't renting, it's peanuts compared to $100 a day. It's not even worth thinking about. It's a small-minded concern, and I'm far more concerned about how much time Maywood kids will spend on buses travelling so far. And how I will have to jump through hoops to get my child to school, or to home, if she misses the bus ride either way.
And I have a longer view on what may happen with municipal consolidations.