Secaucus Superintendent Pushes Redistricting; Many Parents Displeased

SECAUCUS, NJ — On Monday night, Jan. 29 the Secaucus school district held this special meeting solely for the purpose of a public discussion about redistricting.

The district is planning to house K - 2nd at Clarendon Elementary, and 3rd - 5th at Huber Street. The district wants this to be in place on the first day of school in September 2024. (Read: Secaucus Making A Dramatic Change At Its 2 Elementary Schools)

The plan is extremely controversial in Secaucus, with some parents shocked and very unhappy with the proposal, while other parents and town leaders support it. Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said he has not decided where he stands on this major issue, and he is meeting with superintendent Dr. Erick Alfonso Wednesday about this.

Board member Melissa Howard said she has a third grader "who will be directly affected by this." She said she supports the idea. It will improve education in Secaucus, she said.

Board member Enrico Bolognino said he was initially skeptical, but now he too backs it. (This was when the idea of redistricting was first introduced eight years ago, when his children were still in the district.)

"Having the grades under one roof, the grades can share resources and then get more resources for their children's education," he said Monday night. "I moved a couple blocks away from Clarendon (for the school). But this makes sense to me. I have to make sacrifices for my children's education ... It's not, hey we're gonna do this and screw the community. It's not what's happening here," he stressed to the public.

Alfonso told Patch Jan. 19 the idea has the support of a majority of the Board — in fact, this current school board hired him to make redistricting happen.

Redistricting cannot happen without a majority vote from the school board, so expect that vote to be taken some time later this spring.

You can watch Monday night's meeting here:

The meeting went for more than two hours, so here is a summary of what was said:

BOE president D'Addetta started off the meeting by announcing the Secaucus school district has been talking about redistricting for the past 10 years now.

"The board wants to emphasize that the issue of redistricting has dated back 10 years. This is not a new topic of discussion," she said.

It was not brought up before because of the hiring and then leaving of superintendent Jennifer Montesano, and then because of the multi-year duration of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, redistricting is such a priority that it was one of the top reasons why the Board hired new superintendent Alfonso, she revealed.

"This current Board included this as priority in hiring Dr. Alfonso, and expressed to him the importance of this initiative," she said Monday night. "We have full confidence that Dr. Alfonso will successfully move this initiative forward for the benefit of our students and families."

D'Addetta said she speaks for all Secaucus BOE members when she says this. She said they all support the redistricting proposal.

"We know that change is not easy for any of us and that some families will have to change the routines to which they have become accustomed," she told parents.

Dr. Alfonso gives reasons why he thinks redistricting will be good

Dr. Alfonso then spoke, and he thanked the parents for the "amazing turnout," as nearly every seat in the high school PAC was taken Monday night.

"This is something that was approached to me when I first came to Secaucus," he said. "It's been about 10 years in the process. Due to many constraints, it has not been seen to fruition. Hopefully we will see this through to the end."

1. Education quality will improve in Secaucus: Alfonso said the No. 1 reason why he and the Board want to do this is to improve the quality of education for Secaucus children.

He said redistricting will allow for "equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. This will ensure that all students have access to education and support, regardless of where they live in town."

All grade-levels will have the same curriculum — from the same teachers, in the same classrooms, he said. This will allow the curriculum to become more focused and more targeted per grade level. Special-education teachers and aides will be concentrated in the grades and classes that need them. If a student needs additional support, all the grade-appropriate aides and supplemental help will be concentrated in one place, in one building.

2. Third - fifth graders will be better prepared for middle school. "There will be a smoother transition for fifth graders to middle school," he said. "This will minimize the learning gap when kids get to middle school."

Alfonso, who used to be a middle school principal, almost became emotional as he recounted seeing new middle-school students "have meltdowns in the hallway when they get to middle school, not using lockers simply because they did not know how to use them."

"Being just 3rd-5th graders will give them small steps to independence," he said

This will also "end the (Clarendon) Bees vs. Huber Street Bears rivalry — who was the better school? Where do we all end up? At the high school. Ultimately, we are all Patriots."

3. Secaucus may improve in school rankings

D'Addetta said some of the top-performing districts in the state use this model. Alfonso said Demarest, East Rutherford, Mahwah, Little Falls, Weehawken, Summit and Rutherford all have their elementary schools like this.

All of those towns do not have "neighborhood schools."

All of those districts outrank Secaucus in statewide rankings. But he stressed he is not doing this for rankings — he is doing it to improve education quality.

"We did a building audit and all the 3rd-5th grades can fit in Huber Street," said Alfonso. "I have no doubt in my mind by September this can be done."

The following are questions submitted anonymously from Secaucus parents:

How will shuffling students from one school to another relieve overcrowding?

We are not doing this for overcrowding, stressed the superintendent. The supposed "overcrowding" at Huber Street is something parents often complain about — but it's not quite true, he said.

"The average class size in Secaucus is 23-24 kids, lower than the Hudson County average of 27 kids in a class. Is it a little bigger than it used to be? Yes. Is it a little bigger than we want it to be? Yes. But the term 'overcrowding' I don't think is truly accurate."

"I can't stress this enough," he said. "We are doing this to enhance the educational opportunities and outcomes for our students."

Why can't we just build a new school?

"It's a fair question," said Alfonso. "Building a small school is upwards of $250 million dollars. Are you willing to pay for that? It's a tremendously large investment that I truly don't believe we need at the moment .... This is not an overcrowding issue, as I mentioned."

"This is a looming nightmare"

Many Secaucus parents then stood up and spoke. One parent pointed out that while the Board said they have been discussing this for years, redistricting was only brought up twice during public meetings in 2022.

"Has this decision already been made? Because otherwise this forum feels disingenuous," mom Alison Miller asked.

D'Addetta then tried to have another man speak, but one parent shouted that her question needed to be answered. Alfonso replied "It is not a complete positive. There are still many data points that have to be analyzed before the decision is made."

Tim Mellish said he lives two blocks from Clarendon and now he will have to send his child to Huber Street. He said the district is "rushing" this.

"I just hope you guys have our kids' best interest in mind," he said. "The population is exploding in Secaucus. If this plan doesn't address what's coming, then how can we move forward with it?"

Alfonso replied the district cannot build a new school "preemptively."

"We can't build a structure when we don't have the students. It's taxpayer money," said the superintendent. "We are trying to make this transition as seamless as possible."

Another mother, Jenny Junos, called it a "looming nightmare for Secaucus parent and children."

"Kids will have to go to an unfamiliar school. It's abrupt," she said. "This appears as a superficial solution. You are springing this on us. It might have been 10 years for you guys, but for a lot of parents this is the first time we are hearing of this."

She also said many parents in Secaucus specifically bought their homes so they could be close to one specific elementary school. Now property values may drop as parents have to shuttle children across town to different schools.

This is a "monumental change," said mother Alexandra Schumann-Landolfo, the Clarendon Elementary PTA president.

She implored the Board and Alfonso to think "truly, of the timeline. And how it will impact the students, especially the 3rd- 5th age group. Children of this age group had their school lives disrupted by COVID. This is the first year they are learning in an environment that's stable, in a school that's stable. To take those same children and have them have to be relocated just seems unfair to me. There has to be a better way to transition these students."

Her comments received loud applause and cheers from the audience.

"What is the rush?" she asked. "I implore you to take a step back and think about what all of us are feeling in the room emotionally."

Her husband Giuseppe Landolfo then got up and said the district should have announced during the 2023 school board elections that redistricting was coming — because knowing what each Board member thinks would have swayed who he voted for.

His comments were also met with loud claps from the audience.

How busing will work

This was probably the part of the presentation where the fewest answers were given. Alfonso said it will not be "drastically different" than how busing is done in Secaucus now.

Anyone who lives within two miles of their school will qualify for their kid to be bused to school. Clarendon and Huber Street may also have staggered start times to allow for parents with kids in each school to get there on time.

Secaucus Making A Dramatic Change At Its 2 Elementary Schools