Schools, Liquor Licenses & Fraud with Former AG Matt Platkin. Plus: Are We Really Still a Magnet System?

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This episode of The Montclair Pod moves between local crisis and statewide context.

School Budget Crises: Montclair and Hackensack

We dig into the growing reality that Montclair is not alone in facing financial trouble in its school district. We look closely at what’s unfolding in Hackensack, where an independent audit revealed a staggering $15 million budget deficit, prompting lawsuits against former administrators and vendors.

State Power, Schools & Segregation

Former New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin helps explain how the state approaches oversight of local governments, consumer protection and fraud, and ongoing legal challenges tied to school segregation, including litigation involving district boundaries and magnet systems

We also ask the uncomfortable but necessary question:

Are we still operating a true magnet school system—or has that promise quietly eroded?

New Jersey Politics: A Transition Moment

We preview our upcoming conversation with Terrence McDonald, editor of New Jersey Monitor, including a brief tease of our discussion about Mikie Sherrill’s first week as governor—and what her early moves could signal for education, oversight, and state-local relationships.

Local News & One Big Thing

• Ani Ramen’s tutoring initiative for students and teachers
• A look at Montclair’s shuttle bus survey results—and why even drivers want another option
• New restaurant renderings, new town hires, and old intersections that keep causing accidents

Grab tickets for Ian Frazier and Jamaica Kincaid, in conversation at Watchung Booksellers (Children’s Room) 

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