Patch Series: Meet Your Local Educators

Editor Note: The following article is part of a series. More Hoboken Educators of the Year will be featured in future posts.

Hoboken Public Schools has named its teachers of the year and educational services professionals of the year.

This year, the New Jersey Department of Education has combined the Teacher of the Year program with Governor’s Teacher/Educational Services Professional Recognition Program. Schools selected one teacher and one educational services professional to be recognized at the school level. The teacher awardees can then nominate themselves for the County Teacher of the Year program.

The following biography information is provided by the Hoboken Public School District.

Damien Arnone: Hoboken Junior Senior High School

Damien Arnone is a school counselor and testing coordinator at Hoboken Junior Senior High School.

Arnone started his counseling career in 2008, when he was hired as a school counselor for A.J. Demarest Alternative Education High School. This is Arnone’s 6th year as a school counselor in the Hoboken School District.

Arnone received his B.A. in psychology and always knew that he wanted to continue his studies in education. In 2007, he received his master’s degree in school counseling from New Jersey City University and just recently received his supervisor’s certificate as he continues working on his master’s degree in educational leadership. Arnone’s passion since he was a child was to one day improve the perception of the role of a school counselor.

Arnone has also been the testing coordinator for HJSHS, where he has coordinated state assessments (HSPA, AHSA, NJ ASK, NJBCT, PARCC). He was also able to make HJSHS an ACT testing center and plans on increasing the testing dates next year. Arnone has also coordinated Saturday programs for NJ ASK and HSPA tutoring. As testing coordinator, he sees the impact that test scores have for students’ academic futures and has therefore initiated the 1400 Club, a recognition program for students who achieve a 1400 or above on the SAT.

Arnone, since first hired, has served as a coach in some capacity. He has been the assistant coach in softball, cross country, indoor /outdoor track and also swimming. He has also coached ice hockey for several different age levels and is a certified USA Hockey Level 4 coach.

Send Hoboken news tips and releases to Eric.Kiefer@Patch.com