Paterson can close its four choice schools, judge says
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - In what seemed to be a foregone conclusion, two Board of Education members fell short in their effort to prevent the elimination of the district's four choice elementary schools.
.....
New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Patrice Hobbs ruled on Monday, August 31, [2026] that there was nothing arbitrary and capricious or discriminatory about the district's decision to end the choice programs at Norman S. Weir School, Alexander Hamilton Academy, Renaissance School 1 and Young Men's Leadership Academy.
..... Classes in Paterson started Wednesday September 2. [2026]
Even the strongest opponents of the elimination of the choice programs acknowledged there was almost no chance to prevent the changes during the 2026-2027 school year as the litigation dragged on.
..... Board members Kenneth Simmons and Corey Teague argued in their petitions field with Hobbs that the district failed to comply with state rules on how to shut down a school.
..... But Hobbs said those four buildings would continue to be used for educational purposes and as a result they did not fall under New Jersey's school closure laws.
..... Hobbs in recent months made multiple rulings that seemed to signal her support of the district's plan.
..... Unless there's an appeal, Hobbs' ruling puts to rest seven months of controversy that started at the end of January [2026] when parents at the four choice programs received notices that their children's schools were being re-purposed.
.....
Since then, angry parents and community members have vowed to oust in the upcoming school elections the board members who supported Superintendent Laurie Newell's plan.
.....
Newell's team cited a series of facilities plans dating back to 2007 as the basis for the changes, intended mainly to convert the Paterson district to a middle school model.
..... Hobbs pointed to testimony at a 2022 school board meeting by the district's facilities director, Neil Mapp.
..... He testified that the creation of the middle school cohorts keeps the students in their neighborhoods, lessens the need for busing, and centralizes services to the schools," Hobbs wrote in her ruling.
..... Renaissance 1 and Weir schools have been among Paterson's best in terms of student test scores. But Hobbs wrote that the district has "clearly stated that the reconfiguration of the schools is to ensure equitable access to high-quality programs across all neighborhoods, improve operational sustainability and efficiency, and strengthen school communities."
..... Simmons said he has lost faith in the New Jersey Education Department "to hold this district administration accountable."
..... "The most disheartening is that students and families were not meaningfully considered in this process," the longtime school board member added.
..... Simmons said he is most troubled by "the precedent this sets.
..... "The judge has effectively ruled that along as a building serves an educational purpose, a district dismantlement a proven program, empty a school community and reassign hundreds f children without ever triggering the closure protections the law was designed to provide," he said.
..... "That reasoning treats a school as four walls and a roof, not as a community, a curriculum and a relationship between educators and the families who chose that program for their children," Simmons said.