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Hoboken superintendent: district opened school year with higher enrollment; public hearing set for preschool lease
Summary
At its September 2025 meeting the Hoboken Board of Education heard that K–12 enrollment is up from last year, learned the New Jersey Schools Development Authority has agreed to fund the Demarest façade project, and was told a public hearing will be held Sept. 23 on a planned preschool lease at 38 Jackson St., Superintendent Dr. Johnson said.
At its September 2025 meeting, the Hoboken Board of Education was told the district opened the school year with more kindergarten–through–12th-grade students than it had last year, Superintendent Dr. Johnson said.
The enrollment news came as Johnson outlined a slate of near-term items that touch facilities, programming and community engagement. “Our school doors opened this school year with more kindergarten through twelfth grade students than we had last year,” Johnson said. She said an enrollment count will be finalized and a fuller update — including a demographic study and a draft long-range facilities plan — will be presented at the October meeting.
The superintendent also said the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) has agreed to fund the Demarest façade project. Johnson said the district will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 in the Demarest Auditorium to provide information and take comments on a lease the district intends to enter into for a new preschool location at 38 Jackson St.
Why it matters: higher enrollment affects space, staffing and capital planning; SDA funding advances a facilities project the district has been planning; a formal hearing on the preschool lease gives the public a chance to comment before the district proceeds.
Johnson described preparations for the year and community events tied to instruction and student life. She said new teachers and paraprofessionals are settling in after orientation, and the district will resume student-of-the-month and monthly staff recognitions. She also previewed back-to-school nights (Brandt Elementary Sept. 16, Connors Sept. 18 and Wallace Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m.; Hoboken Middle School Sept. 25 and Hoboken High School Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.).
The superintendent highlighted Project Reboot, a program led by Dino Ambrosi that addresses recreational technology use. Ambrosi will run staff workshops and student assemblies on Sept. 17, and Johnson invited parents and guardians to an adult workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Hoboken High School auditorium. “He is absolutely not someone who does not advocate for educational technology or technology in education, but he does see a lot of dangers when it comes to recreational technology,” Johnson said.
Johnson also reported that fall athletics are under way, with several early-season wins for high school teams and middle-school teams conducting tryouts. She thanked facilities staff for recent work to reconfigure space at Demarest to accommodate higher enrollment.
The board’s committees provided routine recommendations for the consent agenda (curriculum approvals, field trips, mentor and nursing plans, and facilities requests limited to PTO events). Those items were placed on the consent agenda for formal approval later in the meeting.
The superintendent’s remarks were informational; no formal district action on enrollment or the long-range plan was taken at the meeting. The public hearing on the preschool lease remains scheduled for Sept. 23; any lease approval would occur in a later action if the board votes to proceed.
Ending: The superintendent’s full demographic-study presentation and a draft long-range facilities plan are scheduled for the board’s October meeting, when the board and the public will get updated enrollment figures and additional project detail.
