Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

I used to read your blog more, before you merged them all.  I am less interested in restaurant and food, and more in Hackensack stuff.

As for the referendum, I honestly believe the Zisa's have nothing to do with it, and I wouldn't even be sure that Jack Zisa would vote YES. I think it's more the Democratic Municipal Committee, the Hurwitz's, Mark Stein, and Rick Salkin. And basically that is what is left of the Zisa machine. Jack Zisa is currently chair of the Bergen County Republican Organization, which I think has no elected officials on the County level.

Mike, going incognito got me to view 10 articles, and then apparently I still have to pay. That'll be in just a few days, I'm sure.

I do appreciate you trying, and I gave you one "clap" point on your karma.

www.northjersey.com no longer allows people to read their articles online. There's a pop-up screen that says you have to pay.

Now I see why they stopped this website, years ago, from posting the full articles. 

For public information, here is the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the Hackensack Public Schools, that I could find online. https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/cafr/search/17/1860.pdf

I find it astounding that the famously liberal Democrat, Victor Sasson, is coming out against public education. The same liberal who blasts Christie and Trump repeatedly on his blog and supports all the most liberal Democratic politicians.

Has Victor ever thought that the value of his house would GO DOWN in a school district so overcrowded with kids that the school system eventually resorts to renting trailers for classrooms. That's what they do in the majority-Latino neighborhoods of Newark when classroom space runs out.  And by the way, you can be sure that the 3 sending districts will stop sending if the high school is absurdly overcrowded and the school has to start renting trailers. And what do you think will happen to the high school's performance and test scores if there are classes in trailers and the 3 sending districts contribution reduces even further.

Also key to the entire plan is to create a new junior high school (grades 7, 8, and 9) so prestigious and filled with new technology that it will be sort of like a magnet school. This contrasts greatly with the existing Middle School (grades 5, 6, 7, that has been somewhat stigmatized for decades. Most parents in Hackensack feel that the Middle School is "the weak link", and perhaps that is not justified, unsure. In any case, that entire problem will be gone. And that's also something that affects property values.

So readers, if you don't care about your kids, and if you are not a liberal and don't care about  defending public education, vote YES to preserve the value of your house.  I think that everyone planning on selling their house within the next 5 or 10 years would be eager to vote YES, because they'll get it all back and then some when they sell their house.

Oh, and I mentioned one more thing. If the referendum passes, the State kicks in over $40 million towards the construction. If the referendum fails, lots of the work will still be done, but without any State contribution. Oh wait, that's another reason for the taxpayer-conscious voter to vote YES.

I'm not 100% on board with their decision on what and where to build, and I would have done something different, but to vote "NO" at this point would be insane.

Yes irons35, and there were two incidents in Hackensack within the past 20 years in which buildings being demolished fell unexpectedly.  One was on Newman Street and Atlantic, the demolition to prepare for the parking tower. They were demolishing one end of the building and they didn't have the sidewalk blocked off at the other end, along Newman Street. The west end of the building then collapsed onto Newman Street, and could have killed people if they were walking there. The other was during the construction of the Ice Quad. The plan was to take off the roof and leave the 4 walls, and then rebuild from there to create the Ice Quad. High winds caused at least one of the 4 walls to completely collapse.

I attended last night's forum. 90% of what is planned is really excellent.  The best part of the plan is that the High School will essentially be a double campus covering 6 grades. The existing buildings will be grades 10-12 instead of 9-12, and that will free up space for growth (even though enrollment was higher than now in the 1970's). The new buildings will be built along American Legion Drive and Comet Way for grades 7-9. That will include all the 9th graders from the sending districts in what is being billed as "the 9th grade academy". This will be a State-of-the-Art school with everything modern and high-tech, and I susepct it will be extremely attractive to the 3 sending districts. The kids will be very eager to attend it, and more parents will say "yes" to this option. The presenters expressed serious concern that magnet schools will be draining away our best kids in the future, so this new school will be competition and function as it's own kind of magnet.

All schools in Hackensack will be getting air conditioning and security upgrades. Every one will have a single point of entry and there will be street improvements for drop-off purposes. Most or all bathrooms will be modernized.

Hackensack will have free pre-school for all kids that are 4 years old by October 1st. There are about 800, and currently only about 300 are enrolled due to space issues, and it's all the way in the South Ward at the old St. Francis school. They are renting from the Catholic Archdioscese

The 4 lower elementary schools are currently K-4, which is 5 grades, and maxed out for space. They will become Pre-K to 2, which is 4 grades. Having 1 grade less per building frees up space, just a little, for future growth.

A large parking garage for students and teachers will be built along Comet Way. They are discussing with the City Council about widening Comet Way and making it 2-way, but that is not finalized. They are also eliminating the eastern block of American Legion Drive (the city council is doing that), and adding it as green space to the school campus to help compensate for the loss of one athletic field. Kathy Salvo was there asking them fencing off space on the roof of the new building for school recreation purposes, and they said the architect will consider that.

Some of the savings:
1. The school system will no longer be spending $700,000 a year to rent that space from the Archdioscese, which over the cost of 30 years would be $21 million. Actually more because that cost will probably go up every year. So it's fair to say at least $26 million. (FYI, the Board of Education is doing a bad job talking up this aspect of the savings by not multiplying it out over 30 years and explaining that on their literature)
2. If this is all approved in the Referendum, the State of NJ will kick in $41 million.  So that's $67 million
3. There are additional efficiency savings, the presenters said.

My outstanding concern was that all kids grades 3-6 from Hackensack will have to attend one school (currently the Middle School). The presenters said that the modern educational needs of pre-school and kindergarten kids is "so vastly different" from that of 5th and 6th graders that it no longer makes sense to put them all in the same building. 

They said they have thought for years about shrinking the district sizes for the existing 4 elementary schools so there will be space for the existing grades, and then building a new school somewhere in central or south-central Hackensack. They couldn't do it, they couldn't make the numbers work. I tell you what, they can pay me $30,000 and give me all the enrollment data. It might take me some time, but I could do it, I'm sure.

What I think will happen in the future is that the school enrollment will continue to grow, and they will STILL be forced to build another new school in Hackensack, somewhere near Kansas Street. That could be a Middle School South, for Jackson and Hillers. And the existing Middle School would be a Middle School North for Nellie K. Parker and Fairmount. Or perhaps, since the old Middle School is pretty huge, it would nibble a bit into the territory of the South elementary schools. My $30K offer stands on the table, in a few years when they are ready to think about this again. I am sure I could do it.

Also, if I was on the Board of Education, I would immediately use eminent domain to seize and purchase the Cinelli Brothers metal recycling property off of Lodi Street. That way the Board of Education would own a piece of property for future school construction, and it would be just about where it needs to be geographically. They could then lease the property out to Cinelli or anyone else with a similar business plan. The cost of buying that property, spread out over 30 years, would probably be less than the annual rent from Cinelli. They should consult with the appropriate realtor on this, see if the numbers work. The property might be rented out for 10 years or more before any school construction occurs.