Hoboken Board honors educators, support staff and students with Governor’s awards and Students of the Month

At its March 2025 meeting the Hoboken Board of Education recognized educators, educational services professionals and students from across the district with Governor’s awards and named February’s students of the month.

The recognition program highlighted individual classroom and school contributions and gave the board and community an opportunity to celebrate staff and student accomplishments across Hoboken Public School District.

Principals from the district’s schools presented student-of-the-month honors for February. Joseph F. Brandt School recognized Hannah (last name spelled in meeting as Kohler/Koller/Koehler) for high grades, leadership, athletics and music participation; Connors Elementary honored third-grader Emma Chu for kindness and classroom leadership; Wallace Elementary honored first-grader Han Akaza for perseverance and progress; Hoboken Middle School named London Chan for academic growth and leadership; and Hoboken High School named junior Sarah Burns for academic achievement and inclusive leadership.

Hannah Kohler told the board the recognition “fills me with a deep sense of pride and joy knowing that my hard work and dedication have been noticed,” remarks read aloud during the Brandt principal’s presentation.

The board also presented the district’s Governor’s Educator and Educational Services Professional awards. Among those honored were: - Lorena Gardner, named Brandt School Educator of the Year for instructional excellence and leadership; - Aurelius Rosario, Brandt School Educational Services Professional of the Year for her work as a kindergarten paraprofessional and support of the district’s dual-language program; - Kristen Schultz, Connors Elementary Teacher of the Year; - Kenny Bates, Connors educational support professional recognized for classroom and program support; - Diana Villari, Wallace School Teacher of the Year; - Casey Povacqua (appearing in the transcript as Casey Povacqua/Povacqua), Wallace educational services professional of the year for speech services; - Patrick Benson, Hoboken Middle School Governor’s Educator of the Year and theater teacher credited with building a large junior thespians program; - Franchesca Schenkel (transcript: Schenkoff/Schenkel), Hoboken Middle School educational services professional of the year, a counselor with Fortitude Youth Services; - Adam Anderson, Hoboken High School Governor’s Educator recognized for expanding career and technical offerings including aviation and computer science; and - Maggie Tigner, Hoboken High School educational specialist (school psychologist) recognized for her work on student mental health.

Presentations included brief remarks by principals and short testimonials from colleagues, students and family members; several honorees were noted for cross-school programming, support for students with diverse needs and districtwide leadership such as participation in the New Jersey Department of Education’s promising practices project. Assistant Superintendent Sandra Rodriguez Gomez introduced the recognitions and framed them as part of Women’s History Month and a wider celebration of instructional staff and support professionals.

The celebration portion of the meeting concluded with the chair announcing a short break before moving to the business portion of the agenda.