Superintendent Says Students Probably Won't Be Moved Out Of Connors

Interim Superintendent Peter Carter said that it's about 75 percent certain that the students will not be moving from the Connors school after all. This comes after the School Development Authority announced last month that it wasn't providing the necessary funding to renovate Connors, until further review. 

The Connors students were supposed to be relocated to the Demarest School in September. 

"I have not yet thrown in the towel on the eventual renovation of that school building," Carter wrote in a statement on the District's website. Carter had a meeting planned this morning with Mayor Dawn Zimmer, Assemblyman Ruben Ramos and New Jersey Education Commissioner Brett Schundler in Hoboken.

At Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting, Carter said that everything is in a "hold pattern." 

"It was my intent to be able to state once and for all where we stood," Carter said.

The superintendent said that events that occurred earlier on Tuesday delayed matters, but that it was "good news actually." He didn't give any specifics and it was unclear if the superintendent was referring to the meeting with Schundler, which was set up that afternoon. 

After it became evident late last month that Gov. Christie wouldn't be giving the funding to Connors just yet, Mayor Dawn Zimmer took a tour through the building and wrote the governor a letter. Assemblyman Ramos, who is a public school teacher in Paterson, also reached out to the governor, urging him to change his mind. 

"After seeing the damage first hand," Zimmer wrote to the governor, "I can assure you that this is not a cosmetic waste of money, but a critical project that needs to be funded for the well-being of the students."

The foundation of the school is sinking and when it rains, classrooms are affected by flooding, Zimmer said.

Carter said that the pre-schoolers at St. Francis most likely won't be moving either. The SDA also announced—in a separate letter sent to the superintendent on May 26—that it would no longer pay the rent for the pre-K program at St. Francis. 

Carter didn't elaborate on how the rent would be financed. He did assure the few members of the public present at Tuesday's meeting that it wouldn't involve any tax dollars.