School Board Moves Election Date, Not Without Commotion [video]

Hoboken will be choosing its School Board representatives in November from now on. 

In an extremely heated meeting on Tuesday night—following yelling, screaming, threats and near fights—the measure to move school board elections from April to November passed in a 5-4 vote. 

"I can’t possibly vote to extend my own term," said Board Member Maureen Sullivan, who voted against the measure together with colleagues Peter Biancamano, Frances Rhodes Kearns and Carmelo Garcia. 

Sullivan's term is up this year, as is Ruth McAllister's and Theresa Minutillo's. 

One of the opponents' issues with the move, is that the public won't be able to vote on the school budget anymore. Hoboken is currently a minimum levy district, which means that, even if voted down, the budget won't be able to be lowered. 

"One third of the voters don't even vote on the budget," said Board President Rose Marie Markle. "I can't even remember the last time a budget (was voted) down." 

She said also that she had received positive feedback from residents about the issue. 

Meanwhile, roughly 2,600 petitions were submitted to the City Clerk on Tuesday afternoon, in an effort to try and put the measure on the ballot in November. The petition drive was supported by the minority council members, some of whom attended Tuesday's meeting. 

, a city council, a school board or a public referendum can decide the date change. 

And while the rest of Hoboken may have been on hot Valentine's Day dates, the members of the public as well as local officials present in the Wallace School basement were eager to express their views on the matter.

"In april less than 10 percent shows up," said former school board member Jean Marie Mitchell. "This also allows many more people to vote."

Other school districts in the state have already made the move, something that proponents see as a reason to follow suit. 

"I couldn't really care less what the other 500 districts are doing," said school board member Peter Biancamano, 

Several council members also attended the meeting and spoke agains the measure. 

"You are seeking to take away the public’s right to vote on $62 million," said Councilwoman Beth Mason. 

"Let the people decide if they want to vote in april or November, or both," said Councilwoman Theresa Castellano.

The public portion before, however, didn't happen without commotion. After Markle announced that public speaking time would be cut down to three minutes, yelling and screaming broke out multiple times during the meeting. At a certain moment, two women in the public almost started fighting, causing some members of the school board to get up and temporarily leave the room. (videos of the meeting are attached to this story). 

Nick Calicchio—a frequenter of council meetings and a former staffer of Assemblyman Ruben Ramos Jr., who is a proponent of the new law—got into a screaming match with Markle when he wouldn't leave the microphone, wanting to speak for five minutes. 

The same was true for former school board member and involved resident Perry Belfiore. Belfiore said that after serving on the board for more than 11 years and sitting through many contentious board meetings, he had never seen the public speaking time limited. 

"You are stifling the public input," Belfiore said. "You're doing a lousy job tonight."