Henry Hudson Doesn’t Want to Hear You

It may be a new board of education; it may be the first elected board to serve the three schools in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands under one supervisory position. And its members truly are wonderful volunteers, generous with their time and talent, and dedicated towards ensuring the education of the students is the best it can be.Hear

But make no mistake about it. This board, like every other board in recent years, doesn’t want the public involved.

They don’t even want the public to know what they are doing, let alone encourage them to attend meetings or speak publicly.

In fact, they don’t even want to listen to a suggestion from one of their own, let alone the public.

There have been so many little nuances over the past that show this board as well as the appointed or elected ones before, don’t care if the residents know what’s going on.

Regionalization with Sea Bright has been an ongoing issue for years now. Wise local leaders have researched and shown the savings it would make for the three towns. Researchers who follow the news have warned that if boards of education across the state don’t regionalize, there will come the time the state will mandate it. Districts like Henry Hudson could well be wiped out, and students from these towns could be part of a larger, probably Middletown school district. The fact the state is cutting back on aid, Middletown is facing serious money problems as it is because of schools, consolidation seems more likely than ever.

Yet the question about Sea Bright helping to make Hudson even a little larger doesn’t appear to be settled in time to let the voters make their decision in the November election.

Still, the regionalization committee appointed by the current chairman has not made any reports. And when asked by a board member at this week’s meeting for some update, it was made clear: in their attorney’s opinion, the board cannot take any action, including so much as approving a spot on the ballot, until it has all the facts.

So barring a special meeting, it seems clear the Sea Bright question will not make the ballot in November so the people can decide if that town should be in the Henry Hudson District, bringing its millions of dollars with it.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

Again, at this week’s board meeting, once the regionalization issue was put to sleep, another board member spoke up. She was reasonable, soft-spoken, and simply making a suggestion. She pointed out the three boards each had their own meetings so schedules of all involved, including the public, were limited. But now there’s only one board, Henry Hudson Regional.

And it chose to have its regular monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of every month.

What a coincidence. That’s the same night as the Highlands Borough Council meeting.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

Highlands established its meetings for this year last January. Still, at their reorganization meeting in June, the Henry Hudson board set its meetings for the same night, forcing residents to make a choice between knowing what’s going on in the school district or in the borough. Holding a conflicting meeting also prevents the Highlands Mayor and council members from attending school board meetings.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

Yet at this week’s board meeting, when a member suggested the meeting night be changed to accommodate Highlands residents, there was no action taken, let alone indicated it would even be considered.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

The Board of Education also chose to hold all of its meetings at Henry Hudson School. Not in the Atlantic Highlands school, which is in the heart of town; not in the Highlands school which is the closest midpoint between the two towns in the district. They chose to have the meeting at Henry Hudson, the least accessible of all their properties. They did not even choose to alternate the location for the meetings.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

Over the years, there have been many other incidents that show the board doesn’t want to accommodate or even help its residents to keep informed.

The meetings are held in the gym, a large room where school plays and musicals are also on stage. But the audio equipment for the big productions doesn’t work for little board meetings. For meetings, board members did not even have microphones. Their U-shaped table was a far distance from the seating set up for observers.

Following a series of complaints, there were modifications to both of those complaints. The table was moved a smidge closer to the resident seating. A Handful of microphones were made available and then shared by whoever was speaking at the time. More recently, each board member appears to have his own microphone.

But still the speakers for the audio are mounted high in the gym. Not at ground level, where they would help everyone hear. But mounted high, so even loud voices are difficult to hear; members who do not know how to hold mics come across either garbled, indistinct, unintelligible or incomprehensible.

But board members don’t care. The chairman even shows signs of irritation when told he cannot be heard.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

There has been a complaint filed by a local resident for a solution for problems of age-related vision and audio that make it impossible to be as informed and have the same privileges as any other resident.

The state has found the filed complaints are legitimate and the resident certainly has the right to have her problems adjusted. The complaints have been in the hands of the state Attorney General for years now. The AG’s office has met with the school board officials, more than once. Yet the situation still exists, while the board takes absolutely no action to rectify, improve or address the complaint or the disabled’s predicament.

Does that sound like the Henry Hudson Board of Education wants the people to be heard?

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