Hackensack, you can stop Zisa virus from infecting schools

A change in landing patterns ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration to keep noisy business jets away from Hackensack University Medical Center, as reported by The Record, hasn't brought much relief to city residents. This jet, with its landing gear down, was one of four or five to pass over southwest Hackensack homes and the Fanny Meyer Hillers School in about 30 minutes on Monday afternoon.

Many parents picking up their children at the Hillers School were unaware a Board of Education election is taking place today. The Record's local-news staff has ignored the issues or the attempted political comeback by the Zisa family. Three seats on the school board are up for grabs, and voters can say "yes" or "no" to a $79 million tax levy in support of a bloated $104 million school budget.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The powers that be don't want you to vote in today's Hackensack Board of Education and school budget election.

First and foremost are former Mayor Jack Zisa; brother Ken, the disgraced former police chief; their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa; and Ken's son, high school teacher Anthony Zisa.

The Zisas ruled Hackensack for decades, and stigmatized the small city with the accursed name of "Zisaville."

Now, they are attempting a political comeback by backing three Board of Education candidates under the banner of Team Hackensack. 

The world may be worrying about the Zika virus, but Hackensack fears the spread of the Zisa virus throughout the schools.

Three other candidates are believed to have the support of the political machine that propped up the Zisas for so many years before Citizens for Change, a slate of reformers, was elected to the City Council in May 2013.

This campaign flier urges voters to pick candidates 1-4-6, but someone ordered removal of the numbers on today's school ballot, below.

The ballot in today's election lists nine candidates for three seats on the Board of Education, center, and a proposition on the school budget, right.

Citizens for Change

Citizens for Change is supporting three other candidates, who call themselves Citizens for Better Schools:

Lawrence E. EISEN, Lancelot POWELL and Victor E. SASSON.

Their platform includes improving poor test scores and engaging parents in the education of their children.

Last week, the Zisas obtained the addresses of all of the members in the teachers union, and sent them an invitation to a Team Hackensack barbecue at Anthony Zisa's home, which was handed down from his grandfather, Frank C. Zisa, who was on the City Council for 16 years and mayor from 1977-81. 

Teachers union President Michael DeOrio blasted the Zisas, and called for "sanctions and/or discipline" for those involved.

The ballot

You need a PhD to figure out the ballot in today's school election.

Citizens for Better Schools is appealing to voters to pick candidates in positions 1-4-6, but someone ordered the numbers removed.

So, voters should look for candidates' last names in capital letters: EISEN, POWELL and SASSON.

Many residents also don't know they can vote on the school budget, which represents 44 percent of the property tax bill in Hackensack.

A tax levy of $79 million is up for a "yes" or "no" vote, but the total school budget is about $104 million.

The budget is bloated by administrators' salaries (some make nearly as much as or more than Governor Christie); legal fees and high rent for a Catholic school building.

A "no" vote would send the budget to the City Council, which has the power to trim it.

Campaign signs on Main Street in Hackensack.

Voter suppression

The powers that be have long conspired to suppress the vote in school elections by holding them in April, and not opening the polls until 2 p.m.

Today, the polls will be open until 9 p.m.

Although Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters, only about 1,300 cast ballots in the last school election.

That apathy is fed by Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record, which moved out of Hackensack in 2009.

Sykes was elevated to editor this year after many years of running the paper's local-news section.

Her distaste for local elections is well-known, and a couple of decades ago, she streamlined coverage of Boards of Education by reporting only on contested elections.

Now, she is ignoring even the hotly contested Hackensack school election.

Update

At 2 this afternoon, when the polls opened, only a small sign indicated where voters should cast their ballots at Hackensack High School, above and below.

Most of the voters I saw between 2 and 2:30 this afternoon were seniors from the neighborhood, which includes many of the high-rises on Prospect Avenue.

Today's paper

Three of the four major elements on Page 1 today are what editors call "process stories."

None of them are news, just endless descriptions of the process of repealing the estate tax in New Jersey, electing a president and how the Supreme Court will rule on a better deal for undocumented aliens (A-1).

The fourth major story is an incredible waste of space describing the legal pissing match between a millionaire with 30 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, and The Plaza co-op high-rise in Fort Lee (A-1).

This Atlantic City front page is irrelevant to North Jerseyans

Jackson Avenue School is one of the poorest performing elementary schools in Hackensack, earning only a 2 from state education officials on a scale of 1-10. The Record, which doesn't cover Hackensack school board meetings, also isn't reporting on issues in Tuesday's election for three board seats.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The words "Atlantic City" in big type on the front page of The Record today sent droves of North Jersey readers back to sleep.

And that's before they saw the piece was another long, boring column from Mike Kelly, whose first paragraph was little more than a weather report.

Meanwhile, in Hackensack, nine candidates are campaigning for three seats on the Board of Education, which has done nothing to improve test scores or engage parents in the education of their children.

In a race that is being ignored by the local-news staff of The Record, three candidates calling themselves Citizens for Better Schools say they will work with city officials to build a new school.

Wasteful lease

Now, the board is leasing a Catholic school building for more than $3 million over five years, with an option to renew for another five years.

The building is worth only $1.2 million.

Six other candidates are backed by the Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades, or the political machine that propped them up.

Attempting a political comeback, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother, Ken, the disgraced former police chief, announced the formation of Team Hackensack, which is backing three candidates.

The Zisa brothers upset the teachers union when they somehow obtained the addresses of members and sent them an invitation to a barbecue at the home of Anthony Zisa, a high school teacher and Ken's son.

School board candidates went door-to-door in Hackensack's Fairmount section on Sunday, above and below.

Campaign flier for Citizens for Better Schools, above and below.

Local news?

There is so little local news today that most of L-2 is filled with photos.

One is an unusually large one of traffic on Route 80, near The Record's Woodland Park newsroom, after a motorcyclist was "seriously injured Sunday when he rear-ended a Toyota Camry." 

The editors lead the section with an incomprehensible story about "pi" that holds even less interest than the Page 1 takeout on Atlantic City.

Editors cheat us on local school elections and so much more

A sample ballot for Tuesday's school election in Hackensack shows voters can choose three out of nine candidates to fill seats on the Board of Education, above. They also will have their say on a tax levy of $79 million to support a total school budget of $104 million, below.

School taxes represent nearly half of the total property tax bill in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can't miss the big, black headline on the front page of The Record today:

"Battle for New York"

But what about the battle over Hackensack schools and those in other towns that are having Board of Education elections next Tuesday?

In the past 10 days, Editor Deirdre Sykes has been choking readers will endless reporting on the City Council race in Paterson (see the latest on Tuesday's L-6).

Sykes, who hated covering school elections when she was running the local-news section, seems to find them just as distasteful now that she is running the whole paper.

$104M budget

She ignored the Hackensack board's March 31 approval of a $104 million school budget for 2016-17, and still hasn't reported nine candidates are fighting over three seats on the board that runs Bergen County's biggest system.

Today, an ad for one of the slates, Citizens for Better Schools, appears on Page 5 of the Hackensack Chronicle, the weekly delivered on Fridays with the Woodland Park daily, North Jersey Media Group's flagship. 

That slate represents the first chance in many years to end the status quo on a school board that ignores low test scores and fails to engage parents in the education of their children.

Yet, trustees have been known to spend more per pupil than the well-respected Ridgewood system.

Plus, they are paying the superintendent and top administrators almost as much or more than Governor Christie.

What does Sykes think about that? Who knows? 

She has virtually ignored Hackensack schools in recent years, and hasn't assigned a reporter to cover a board meeting in many moons.

Voter forum

All nine candidates were invited to speak to parents and grandparents on Thursday night at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack, but only three attended.

Lawrence E. Eisen, Lancelot Powell and Victor E. Sasson -- who call themselves Citizens for Better Schools -- heard complaints about a rude and dismissive Board of Education president.

That stuffed shirt has shown his abiding distaste for the city's schools by twice running unsuccessfully for City Council since 2013.

And even though 90 percent of parents are in favor of school uniforms, trustees have turned a deaf ear to their appeals.

Veteran board member Francis W. Albolino attended the forum with his wife, and announced that he is leaving the board for good at the April 26 reorganization meeting.

In view of the sad condition of some Hackensack schools, no one at the forum put him on the spot and asked him to explain just exactly what the F he has been doing for 24 years.

A photo of Food Editor Esther Davidowitz from her Twitter page.

$1 tacos

Elisa Ung, The Record's chief restaurant critic, thinks nothing of blowing a couple of hundred dollars of the company's money on a meal at an expensive steakhouse.

Today, though, her Informal Dining review has her literally bottom feeding at Mexico Deli Restaurant, which slings $1 tacos in the city of Passaic.

Yummy. You can order tacos filled with tongue, head or ear from animals that were pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, and likely were raised in horrifying conditions.

I don't know about you, but I stopped eating shit years ago.

I've eaten plenty of tacos and other Mexican food in Passaic over the years, but today stick with fish tacos, such as those served at Taqueria Los Gueros.

In a tweet today, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz refers to Ung's review and describes Mexico Deli Restaurant as "taco bliss," but I'll bet she wouldn't touch one with a 10-foot pole.

3 board seats, $104M budget at stake in April 19 election

Citizens for Better Schools say they will usher in a new era of cooperation between the Hackensack Board of Education and City Council.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

School taxes make up nearly half of the property tax bill in Hackensack, where nine candidates are vying for three seats on the city Board of Education.

Residents also will be able to vote "yes" or "no" on a proposed school budget of more than $104 million.

Polls will be open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on April 19.

Three candidates, calling themselves Citizens for Better Schools, believe the current school board has done nothing to improve poor test scores and engage parents in the education of their children.

They are:

• Lawrence E. Eisen, president and a math tutor at Project Literacy, and a 3rd-grade reading mentor at the Nellie K. Parker School in Hackensack. 
• Lancelot Powell, a native of Jamaica and an educator for 23 years, has a son who is a freshman at Hackensack High School.
• Victor E. Sasson, a retired reporter and copy editor at The Record, saw his son graduate from Hackensack High School in June 2015.

Zisas try comeback

Three other candidates are being backed by the Zisa family political dynasty, which ruled Hackensack for decades before a reform City Council slate was elected in May 2013.

The Zisas were so dominant Hackensack became known as "Zisaville," a curse the city still is trying to live down.

Property taxes soared a total of 30% in three years before the recession hit in December 2007.

The Zisa cadidates, calling themselves Team Hackensack, are incumbent Timothy Hoffman, Johanna Calle and Modesto Romero.

Team Hackensack is headquartered at 77 Hudson St., where former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. has his law firm. 

Prominent at the kickoff of Team Hackensack in February was the disgraced former police chief, Ken Zisa, who once also served as a state assemblyman.