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The Record ‘Two new charter schools OK'd for Passaic, Paterson’...“Meanwhile, the state Department of Education denied approval to the proposed Phoenix Academy Charter for Paterson, Prospect Park and Haledon and Passaic Spanish Heritage Charter in Passaic. It also said no to three groups that hoped to start charter schools in Bergen County. The department gave short explanations for denying applications, such as having inconsistent themes; lack of measurable goals, failure to show adequate staffing plans, and other problems…”
Star ledger ‘N.J. Senate committee to hear testimony from ex-education chief Bret Schundler’ ...and...‘N.J. law may bar Gov. Christie, Mayor Booker from taking active role in $100M Newark schools grant’
The Record ‘Two new charter schools OK'd for Passaic, Paterson’
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 BY LESLIE BRODY
“Meanwhile, the state Department of Education denied approval to the proposed Phoenix Academy Charter for Paterson, Prospect Park and Haledon and Passaic Spanish Heritage Charter in Passaic. It also said no to three groups that hoped to start charter schools in Bergen County. The department gave short explanations for denying applications, such as having inconsistent themes; lack of measurable goals, failure to show adequate staffing plans, and other problems…”
State officials have said yes to two new charter schools that aim to open next fall in Passaic and Paterson.
On Tuesday, organizers of the John P. Holland Charter School in Paterson were celebrating approval for a school that would start serving kindergarten to grade 7 and eventually teach 198 children through grade 8.
Christina Scano, a former administrator at two existing Paterson charters, said she aimed to offer small class size and more individual attention than public schools can provide.
“I always knew I wanted to start my own charter because parents need more quality schools,” she said, noting details are at www.johnpholland.com.
Paterson schools Superintendent Donnie Evans said through a spokesperson that he supported school choice and looked forward to working with the new school.
The state also approved the Passaic Arts and Sciences Charter in Passaic, which aims to serve 540 children in kindergarten through grade 8 with an extended school year.
Charters have long been controversial, with supporters applauding the successful ones as laboratories for innovation and detractors arguing that they siphon money from regular public schools. Charters are taxpayer funded but independently operated. There now are 72 in New Jersey, including three each in the counties of Bergen and Passaic.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Education denied approval to the proposed Phoenix Academy Charter for Paterson, Prospect Park and Haledon and Passaic Spanish Heritage Charter in Passaic. It also said no to three groups that hoped to start charter schools in Bergen County. The department gave short explanations for denying applications, such as having inconsistent themes; lack of measurable goals, failure to show adequate staffing plans, and other problems.
Overall, the state approved six out of 29 charter applications last Thursday, just as Governor Christie was holding a press conference to call for more charters and school choice, especially in low-achieving districts.
“We cannot continue to ask children and families stuck in chronically failing public schools to wait any longer,” he said. His press release noted that 104,000 students were “trapped in 205 chronically failing schools” in New Jersey. Last year, it said, 40 percent of New Jersey’s African-American students and 32 percent of Hispanic students were unable to meet basic standards on a national test.
Applicants denied approval include the proposed Bergen Regional Charter School, which aimed to serve children in Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Paramus and Ridgewood. The state also nixed requests for two language immersion programs — Spartan Academy in Hackensack and Shalom Academy that would draw from Englewood and Teaneck.
Superintendents in Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Paramus and Ridgewood had lobbied the state against Bergen Regional Charter School. They wrote in May to state leaders that the proposed charter would be an unnecessary “private school using public dollars” at a time when districts were reeling from cuts in state aid. They argued that the charter movement aimed to provide options in struggling districts, not high-performing ones like theirs.
The department’s denial letter said the Bergen Regional proposal lacked clear, measurable goals and did not show how it would integrate all of New Jersey’s content requirements, among other concerns.
Anna Vladi, who applied for three years to open Bergen Regional, said Tuesday she was crushed by the denial and was likely too exhausted to try again. A computer consultant with two children in private schools, she wanted to build a charter that would be more rigorous in math and science than she found the local public schools to be.
“We only did it for our children, the community,” she said. “None of us [was] planning to get a penny out of the school. … Some people may be happy with schools here, which is fine, but there are lots of parents that are not satisfied and this would give them an option. So many parents will be so disappointed.”
The state has set Oct. 15 as a deadline for a new round of applicants for expedited decisions.
State officials have said yes to two new charter schools that aim to open next fall in Passaic and Paterson.
On Tuesday, organizers of the John P. Holland Charter School in Paterson were celebrating approval for a school that would start serving kindergarten to grade 7 and eventually teach 198 children through grade 8.
Christina Scano, a former administrator at two existing Paterson charters, said she aimed to offer small class size and more individual attention than public schools can provide.
“I always knew I wanted to start my own charter because parents need more quality schools,” she said, noting details are at www.johnpholland.com.
Paterson schools Superintendent Donnie Evans said through a spokesperson that he supported school choice and looked forward to working with the new school.
The state also approved the Passaic Arts and Sciences Charter in Passaic, which aims to serve 540 children in kindergarten through grade 8 with an extended school year.
Charters have long been controversial, with supporters applauding the successful ones as laboratories for innovation and detractors arguing that they siphon money from regular public schools. Charters are taxpayer funded but independently operated. There now are 72 in New Jersey, including three each in the counties of Bergen and Passaic.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Education denied approval to the proposed Phoenix Academy Charter for Paterson, Prospect Park and Haledon and Passaic Spanish Heritage Charter in Passaic. It also said no to three groups that hoped to start charter schools in Bergen County. The department gave short explanations for denying applications, such as having inconsistent themes; lack of measurable goals, failure to show adequate staffing plans, and other problems.
Overall, the state approved six out of 29 charter applications last Thursday, just as Governor Christie was holding a press conference to call for more charters and school choice, especially in low-achieving districts.
“We cannot continue to ask children and families stuck in chronically failing public schools to wait any longer,” he said. His press release noted that 104,000 students were “trapped in 205 chronically failing schools” in New Jersey. Last year, it said, 40 percent of New Jersey’s African-American students and 32 percent of Hispanic students were unable to meet basic standards on a national test.
Applicants denied approval include the proposed Bergen Regional Charter School, which aimed to serve children in Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Paramus and Ridgewood. The state also nixed requests for two language immersion programs — Spartan Academy in Hackensack and Shalom Academy that would draw from Englewood and Teaneck.
Superintendents in Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Paramus and Ridgewood had lobbied the state against Bergen Regional Charter School. They wrote in May to state leaders that the proposed charter would be an unnecessary “private school using public dollars” at a time when districts were reeling from cuts in state aid. They argued that the charter movement aimed to provide options in struggling districts, not high-performing ones like theirs.
The department’s denial letter said the Bergen Regional proposal lacked clear, measurable goals and did not show how it would integrate all of New Jersey’s content requirements, among other concerns.
Anna Vladi, who applied for three years to open Bergen Regional, said Tuesday she was crushed by the denial and was likely too exhausted to try again. A computer consultant with two children in private schools, she wanted to build a charter that would be more rigorous in math and science than she found the local public schools to be.
“We only did it for our children, the community,” she said. “None of us [was] planning to get a penny out of the school. … Some people may be happy with schools here, which is fine, but there are lots of parents that are not satisfied and this would give them an option. So many parents will be so disappointed.”
The state has set Oct. 15 as a deadline for a new round of applicants for expedited decisions.
Star ledger ‘N.J. Senate committee to hear testimony from ex-education chief Bret Schundler’
Published: Tuesday, October 05, 2010, 7:55 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 06, 2010, 5:12 AM
Jeanette Rundquist/The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — Fired education commissioner Bret Schundler is expected to testify Thursday before a Senate committee on the state’s bungled Race to the Top application that cost him his job, but an e-mail obtained by The Star-Ledger says the panel may not get to see all the documents it wanted.
Schundler was subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee. Majority Leader Barbara Buono, chair of the committee, said she spoke with him earlier this week and was assured he would appear.
“I’m looking forward to hearing him testify,” said Buono (D-Middlesex).
The former commissioner could not be reached for comment today.
The CEO of consultant Wireless Generation, the firm hired to help New Jersey through the competition for federal education funding, also was subpoenaed to testify.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
• Gov. Christie, Newark Mayor Cory Booker attempt to lessen Race to the Top error with Oprah show
• N.J. senator pushes for subpoenas to compel Christie, officials to testify on Race to the Top gaffe
• Christie reserves right to invoke executive privilege despite giving up Race to the Top documents
• Gov. Christie compromises with N.J. Democrats, agrees to turn over Race to the Top documents
• N.J. Senate Democrats to compel Race to the Top officials to testify about error
But while Buono said she expects Schundler to appear, the committee may be less successful in obtaining documents, also subpoenaed, from the consultant.
The state paid more than $500,000 to the consultant to help New Jersey through two rounds of the competition, including one in which a mistake attributed to Schundler cost $400 million in federal education funds.
Buono said an attorney representing Wireless Generation told her the firm was going to produce 20 documents related to the investigation.
But that apparently changed today.
An e-mail from Terrence S. Brody, special assistant in the state Attorney General’s Office, to Wireless’ attorney, Eric Breslin, said “we do intend to assert privileges with respect to a number of the documents you supplied us.”
Breslin, attorney for Wireless, today said “this is not something we’re prepared to talk about right now.”
A spokesman for Dow did not respond to a request for comment, and the governor’s spokesman declined to comment.
“The governor and his attorney general are trying to thwart our attempts to bring Wireless in to testify and produce documents,” Buono said.
She said 18 of 20 documents, which Wireless had initially said it would produce, were involved. Buono also said the subpoena asked for “any documents relevant to our inquiry.”
Christie last month had said he would provide Democrats some documents related to the failed Race to the Top bid, but he reserved the right to invoke executive privilege, which shields him from the state’s open records laws.
“We’re going to turn over those documents which we believe are appropriate to turn over. If there are areas that we believe are covered by executive privilege, we’ll assert them and we’ll go from there,” Christie said on Sept. 21.
The Assembly held a hearing on the botched application, but Buono said it is still important to investigate the matter further.
“In this economy, people are out of work, we have to maximize federal dollars,” she said.
Star Ledger ‘N.J. law may bar Gov. Christie, Mayor Booker from taking active role in $100M Newark schools grant’
Published: Tuesday, October 05, 2010, 9:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 06, 2010, 5:09 AM
Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — Two weeks ago, Gov. Chris Christie and Mayor Cory Booker appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and began a media blitz, proclaiming their pledge to jointly transform Newark’s failing public school system. One problem: State law does not allow for such an effort.
Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle Hendricks testified today before a joint legislative committee that the state’s school takeover statute — the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) — does not authorize gubernatorial or mayoral participation in efforts to reform a district under state control. That responsibility rests squarely on the commissioner of education’s shoulders, the law says.
"No, the state is not relinquishing its authority in the Newark schools," Hendricks said. "The governor is looking for the mayor to do what he said, which is be a mayor committed to education in the city and engage the public. We are not going anywhere in that mix and we are still committed to Newark kids getting the education they deserve."
In the frenzy of the original announcement that Newark’s troubled schools would receive a whopping $100 million donation from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, officials said Christie would name Booker his "special assistant" for education in the state’s largest school district, a role with more authority than the one Hendricks describes.
Since then, the governor’s office has backpedaled on the details of Booker’s duties in the face of community opposition and legal questions about Booker having a hand in Newark schools’ future.
Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Christie is authorizing Booker to develop and implement a comprehensive education plan for the Newark Public Schools.
"Right now, Mayor Booker is in the process of seeking widespread community input and will subsequently develop a reform plan that will be implemented with a superintendent of schools that both the Mayor and the Governor will choose," Comella said.
But whether Booker has authority to do even that much is unclear.
Asked by Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex) if any interpretation of the QSAC law permits a mayor to play an official role in school governance, Hendricks said, "No." When asked if language in the QSAC law authorizes any mayoral participation in schools under state control, Hendricks again responded, "No."
Rice’s line of questioning stemmed from his concern that Booker’s role as Christie’s "point man" for restructuring Newark’s schools is in "direct sabotage of the QSAC legislation," he said.
"One thing you learn in law school is how to interpret the law," Rice said. "I’m alive, and I know what the intent was because I helped write this legislation. There should be no questions about the intent of this legislation, and if there are, then someone should ask me."
On national television, Oprah described Booker as a "rock star" who is "putting his career on the line" for Newark’s children. But when asked for response to Hendricks’s testimony, Booker also downplayed his role.
"This is not an attempt to formally change the governance structure but rather recognition by the state that local leadership is essential to transforming our school district," Booker said. "I look forward to working with other local leaders including the School Advisory Board over the coming weeks to engage all Newarkers in a robust community engagement effort to determine the destiny of our public schools."
Though Newark was the focal point of today’s hearing, the Joint Committee on the Public Schools met seeking status updates on all three of the districts controlled by the state – Newark, Jersey City and Paterson. Hendricks could not provide specifics, but said her department would respond to written questions for updates about how much more work is needed before the state can return these districts to local control.
Previous coverage:
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker secures $40M of $100M needed to match Zuckerberg grant
• Tom Moran: Public support is integral to Newark schools reform
• Newark Mayor Booker likely to seek third term on heels of $100M schools grant
• Newark residents sound off on how to improve city's school system
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggests closing failing Newark schools in TechCrunch interview
• Newark's $100M grant is a result of collaboration, preparation and fate
