PACKED MEETING DUE TO TALK OF EMINENT DOMAIN SEIZURE BY NA SCHOOL BOARD!
Overwhelming opposition appears evident to any legal action against the Queen of Peach Parish Community regarding the LaSalle Center.
NORTH ARLINGTON – If tonight’s meeting was any indication as to where residents stand regarding the Board of Education’s inclination to implement eminent domain to acquire the Queen of Peace La Salle Center, they will have a fight on their hands.
About 100 or so opponents of eminent domain seizure were in full force, all wearing t-shirts expressing their opposition to this controversial action to force the Archdiocese of Newark to sell their property.
The meeting was held in the NAHS cafeteria by the Board of Education on Monday evening with four of the five trustees present. Member Scott Hughes was absent. No member of the North Arlington Borough Council bothered to attend, including Mayor Dan Pronti.
Republican council candidate Amanda DeCicco was also a “no-show.”
July 28th is the last day for residents to file for school board in this year’s race for two seats. The incumbents are Hughes, who was recently appointed and Michele Higgins, both expected to seek a three-year term.
Democratic council candidates John Balwierczak and Cengiz “Jim” Sever were both in attendance.
The hopefuls are on the record opposing any application of eminent domain seizure, calling it a “dangerous and expensive legal path that forces the sale of private property.”
North Arlington was previously faced with the prospect of eminent domain seizure some 19 years ago when the controversial housing project known as Arlington Valley proposed by EnCap Holdings sought to execute the same legal process against property owners along Porete Avenue. The proposal eventually collapsed thanks to the efforts of then Mayor Peter Massa (a former school board trustee and president), and a Democratic majority on the Borough Council that made way for the Federal Express Distribution Center we have today that had bipartisan support.
“We believe both parties should go back into negotiations and work out their differences. Threatening eminent domain seizure against Queen of Peace will needlessly divide North Arlington. The time is now to build a healthy consensus,” offered Balwierczak a graduate of NAHS and lifelong resident.
“This is no time for a hostile takeover of the LaSalle Center by the school district,” offered the candidates. 
Some have wondered why school officials would need additional space when they already purchased the old Queen of Peace High School facility which housed some 600 students before declining enrollments forced its eventual closure. Queen of Peace was a 9-12 facility. The building now serves as the district’s middle school.
While the meeting was civil in tone, some in the audience urged the school board to place the question on the ballot in the form of a referendum. But North Arlington has a history of rejecting school referendums. The only major construction question that received voter approval was engineered by Massa in the fall of 1992, some 33 years ago.
The school board countered by claiming that if they had to construct facilities at the Roosevelt School, the costs could be as high as $20 million dollars.
But many were perplexed as to the need for more facility space when the district’s student enrollment for the most part has been stable, according to Public School Review & U.S News:
Here’s an overview of student enrollment in the North Arlington School District over recent years:
School Year
Total District Enrollment
2022–23
2,005 students Reddit+15U.S. News+15Public School Review+15
2023–24
2,134 students
2024–25
1,963 students
Mayor Dan Pronti and the entire Borough Council are taking an official, “no position,” as well as their new council nominee, Amanda DeCicco.
While this was the first meeting dedicated to the Board of Education’s goals and objectives regarding property acquisition, many are hoping that a standoff between the parties can be avoided.
The Archdiocese of Newark is the actual owner of the Queen of Peace Parish Community that includes a grammar school.
The Archdiocese holds significant properties in North Arlington. Holy Cross cemetery covers 208 acres and was established in 1915. This parcel accounts for one-eighth of the borough’s total land mass. Queen of Peace High School was owned by the Archdiocese until it closed in June 2017. The property—including the building, athletic field, and parking lot—was sold in February 2019 to the North Arlington Board of Education. The La Salle Center, part of the Queen of Peace Parish campus, remains owned by the Archdiocese.