Last week’s police blotter spoke of three juveniles who were arrested for crimes they committed on the streets of Kearny. All three were taken into custody at the Devon Street school.
Unfortunately, many read the story but only saw key words, so we needed to clarify this — to amplify this, really — for several reasons.
First, Kearny High School is a very safe school, and it is well protected, by unarmed security and by School Resource Officer Vanessa Sevillano, of the Kearny Police Department.
Kearny High School is a flourishing secondary school where so many great things are happening, whether inside the classroom, in co-curricular activities, athletics and the like.
There are too many to list.
Jacalyn Richardson, the principal, has assembled a dedicated faculty and countless alums have gone on to higher education at highly respected colleges and universities and high-paying, non-collegiate-based careers because of the knowledge they’ve gained in the four years spent at Kearny High School.
Next, if you can find a high school where students never get in trouble with the law, we’d like to hear about it, because it would clearly be an anomaly and a model each and every school should in America should be following.
Yes, in December, kids got into hot water. They were, indeed, taken into custody at school because during the day, teenagers are — well, obviously — found … at school.
But let this be clear — these incidents, though serious, should not be an indictment of an institution of learning that is safe, highly functioning and extremely successful.
To think otherwise is grossly unjust and unfair to the folks who dedicate their lives to making Kearny High School the great place it truly is, from the principal to the admins to the teachers, staff, students, the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Flora Encarnaçao and all with responsibility in the board office.
— CANESSA
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.