HILLSIDE, NJ — Students and parents cheered and applauded immediately after Superintendent Antoine Gayles announced that Christine Sidwa would be keeping her position as the Hillside High School principal. The announcement and reaction at the Dec. 20 Hillside Board of Education meeting came in response to the decision to withdraw an agenda item that would […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — Board of Education member-elect Dennis Kobitz has been disqualified from his three-year term after a background check revealed an unspecified criminal offense. Department of Education spokesman Michael Yaple, who confirmed Kobitz’s disqualification, said that when a town’s board of education is notified of the ineligibility, they aren’t given many details. “The department […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — A dispute between the township attorney and the mayor, and purportedly her assistant, has the attorney on the brink of termination unless one councilman is allowed to change his vote. Councilman Donald DeAugustine asked at the end of the Dec. 11 caucus meeting if he could change his earlier vote from “abstain” […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — Hurden Looker students excitedly guided New Jersey Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet through their “innovation lab,” showing him their 3D printer, Sphero robot and other lab technology Dec. 4. Repollet, who appeared engaged during his visit to the school, asked the children a question. “Who are you?” he asked. “Thought leaders!” they […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — The Board of Education rescinded the contract of the district superintendent at their Nov. 29 meeting and replaced it with a new one that will extend his term three years and boost his annual salary nearly $18,000. The board approved the contract for Superintendent Antoine Gayles through June 2023, with a 5-3 […]
LINDEN, NJ — An off-duty Hillside police officer was killed and another person seriously injured in an early morning automobile crash Oct. 15 that closed U.S. Routes 1 & 9 in Linden in both directions for more than six hours. Hillside Police Officer Giovanni Esposito, 30, who joined the Hillside Police Department in November 2017, […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — The township’s police union president has accused the chief of trying to turn the department against him in a newly filed lawsuit against the top cop. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 82 President Michael Flowers filed a hostile work environment and whistleblower suit against the township and Police Chief Vincent Ricciardi in […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — Tempers flared at a June 21 school board meeting between a representative from the state’s largest teachers’ union and board members over a decision to move faculty and staff in the district. New Jersey Education Association UniServ Representative Ted Tympanick responded quickly when board member Joi Stanley said it “disturbs” her to […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — A portion of the township’s police union contract affecting retirees that has gone unresolved since the previous administration left office is now being tackled by the new mayor. Superior officers in Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 160 had worked without a contract for about four years until July 2016, union President […]
HILLSIDE, NJ — Hillside High School briefly went into lockdown May 23 after a male student made a call to police falsely claiming he had a gun, authorities said. Police received the cellphone call around 11 a.m. and traced it to the high school, authorities said. “A student in the high school was determined to […]