Joe Malinconico – Paterson Press

PATERSON — The new middle school being built on Union Avenue will be named after the late philanthropist Joseph Taub, whose foundation has funded youth basketball and other programs in Paterson for decades.

The Paterson Board of Education voted to name the school in Taub’s honor at its meeting last week. The board’s president, Kenneth Simmons, estimated that Taub’s charity organization contributed millions of dollars to the district.

“To me, it was an easy decision,” said Simmons.

Joel Ramirez was the only school board member to vote against naming the school after Taub. Ramirez said the COVIDC-19 crisis prevented the district from getting enough input from people who live in the school’s neighborhood regarding their thoughts on what the name should be.

Ramirez said the district simply should call the new facility the Union Avenue School until there’s a chance for local residents to weigh in.

“I know he’s made a lot of contributions to the city,” Ramirez said of Taub, “but I don’t think that community really knows who he is.”

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