This Day in History: 1934-01-25
A special meeting of the Hohokus Township Board of Education ended with a vote to postpone the closing of the mountain school. A detailed letter from County Superintendent Harding urged that several specific steps be taken to asses the educational needs of the pupils at both the mountain school and School #2 in Mahwah. Harding noted that attendance at the mountain school had decreased for a number of years, and that the 21 students currently enrolled came from only six families. This pointed to the eventual closing of the school. Before that happened a series of diagnostic tests to measure intelligence and achievement and a survey of the physical and mental health of the pupils in school #2 should be undertaken. In the meantime the school should be kept open and a competent “man” be hired to teach there at least until the end of the school year. The eventful solution, he stated, might be the creation of one or more “opportunity classes” for some of the special needs children in both schools. The testing program would be effective and not expensive. The Board responded by voting the postponement unanimously, hiring Andrew J. Donneley of Paterson as the mountain school teacher, cancelling the bids for bus transportation for the mountain pupils and making final plans for the Board’s annual meeting and the elections to take place on February 13th.
(Bristow)