HPSD Committed to Excellence and Equity

Hoboken Public Schools Committed to Excellence and Equity

PRESS RELEASE
 
Hoboken Public Schools Committed to Excellence and Equity

Hoboken, NJ (October 15, 2018): The Hoboken Public School District is dedicated to diversity, inclusion and global learning. For the second straight year, the district has joined the New Jersey Consortia for Excellence through Equity – North. Membership in the North Consortium seats Hoboken at the table with The Penn Center for Educational Leadership in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, and other districts committed to working together to support and nurture the school and life successes of each and every student.

The New Jersey Consortia for Excellence through Equity – North, Central, and South are driven by a mission to positively transform the lives of students by preparing them for success in post-secondary education and in life. North Consortium members include the following school districts: Belleville, Bergenfield, Dumont, Garfield, Hackensack, Hoboken, Montclair, Moonachie, North Warren, South Orange – Maplewood, and Teaneck.

Hoboken, in partnership with other member districts, shares a strong collective voice. The New Jersey Consortia for Excellence through Equity gathers the resources, thought and energy needed to create and sustain meaningful educational change to benefit children served state-wide. The Consortia highlights research and best informed practices, ideas and strategies that help guide districts when addressing critical local challenges associated with reaching high level student achievement and equity in the attainment of life success for all students. Assistant Superintendent of Schools Sandra Rodriguez-Gomez stated, “There is nothing more important than building the capacity in adults that is needed to empower children.”

The Hoboken Public School District’s Diversity, Inclusion and Global Learning Steering Committee, consisting of twenty-six teachers and administrators, is set to attend the following professional development workshops:

• “Effectively Addressing the Equity Challenges Confronting Our Districts as We Strive to Meet the Learning and Developmental Needs of All of Our Students”
• “Guiding Teams to Excellence with Equity: Culturally Proficient Facilitation”
• “Supporting Equity-Driven Instructional and Facilitative Leaders”
• “Nurturing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Our Classrooms”
• “NJCEE-North Superintendents’ Sharing and Planning Meeting: Continuing the Momentum for Increasing Inclusion, Opportunity and Access”
• “Brain Based Strategies to Promote Student Engagement in the Classroom”
• “Learner Active and Technology Infused Classrooms: Lessons That Build Students’ Executive Functioning Skills”
• “Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools and Classrooms”

In addition to New Jersey Consortia for Excellence through Equity membership, Hoboken Middle and High Schools will both also serve on the General Assembly for the Holocaust Resource Center and the Council for Global Education and Citizenship sponsored by Kean University. The HRC and CGEC mission is to foster active and compassionate individuals in order to reduce intolerance, harassment, and intimidation, and to promote social justice in a democratic society. Superintendent of Schools Christine Johnson shared, “Exposing our students to contemporary issues will promote an authentic level of awareness and generate the critical thinking that is necessary for both short and long-term societal changes.”

This year, the Holocaust Resource Center will focus on the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, while the Council for Global Education and Citizenship will bring attention to the Immigrant, Displacement and Refugee Experience in New Jersey. Staff and students will participate in the meetings and workshops, and will attend lectures throughout the 2018-2019 school year.

The Hoboken Public School District is also proud to announce Tatiana Meza, World Languages and English as a Second Language Teacher, was recently nominated to serve on the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey Board and that Hoboken’s Mandarin Chinese Teachers will be participating in an intensive seminar series entitled, Teaching East Asia Through the Human Experience: Religion, Art, Literature, & Media, at Princeton University from December through March.

It is through this type of work, along with participation in professional learning experiences that teaching staff members attain the resources and content knowledge to enhance to overall school and classroom climate and culture.