Hoboken News

Charter school is proud

Whitman lauds Hoboken success

01/10/01

By Journal staff

HOBOKEN - Some 20 students from the Elysian Charter School sat eagerly around a television yesterday afternoon to watch Gov. Christie Whitman deliver her annual State of the State Address.

But that doesn't necessarily indicate a keen interest in New Jersey politics among schoolchildren. Rather, the kids were waiting to hear the governor mention one of their own, fifth-grader Gabe Azaceta.

"I'm here because she's going to say something about our school and about Lydia and Gabe and Susan," third-grader Nathanael Lewit said, referring to Principal Lydia Becker, 10-year-old Gabe and his mother.

"We're waiting to watch the principal, Lydia Becker," third-grader Luis Colon chipped in.

Second-grade teacher Joanna Weintraub said that after reading about several successes at Elysian, Whitman asked if she could share Gabe's story with the people of New Jersey.

So the kids gathered around the TV, hoping for a glimpse of familiar faces. When the cameras focused on the audience and they caught sight of the trio, someone would yell "Look at Gabe!" or "There's Lydia!" or "It's Susan!"

There was some restlessness as Whitman's 28-minute speech progressed, touching on topics that ranged from a $250 million plan for parkland maintenance to up-grading the FamilyCare health insurance program.

"I have chosen to focus on these few plans today - FamilyCare, land stewardship and high technology - because I believe, along with education, they reflect some of the most important and, I hope, lasting legacies of our seven years together in Trenton," Whitman said.

Finally, toward the end, she began to speak of a boy struggling in public school.

"As a first-grader, Gabe was having academic and behavioral problems, and was missing school all the time," Whitman told the joint session of the Legislature, moved from the Assembly Chamber to Trenton's War Memorial to accommodate the crowd.

"His mother found out about the Elysian Charter School in Hoboken and sent him there. Now Gabe is a high-achieving fifth-grader, he's in several enrichment programs, and he's so interested in his studies that his mom says she has to pull him out of the science center at night."

Weintraub said Gabe is just one of Elysian's success stories, and she was "thrilled" the governor mentioned the charter school.

"It's been a real struggle for charter schools, and to hear a success story being acknowledged is simply wonderful," she said.

The Elysian Charter School opened in 1997 and is free and open to all Hoboken children, as well as out-of-district students if space permits. The school, on the corner of Third and Garden streets, currently serves approximately 180 students from kindergarten to fifth grade, but eventually will enroll eight-graders, officials said.

Its approach is built on the belief that the world is a laboratory for students. Becker, the principal, has been a New Jersey public school educator for 29 years, and she holds master's degrees in education from both City College of New York and Bank Street College of Education in New York.

"The Elysian School has come a long way," said after-school teacher Latrice Ladson. "It's very exciting to be mentioned by the governor."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.