The Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS), which filed a suit against three school districts alleging that they had overstepped their authority in efforts to block the formation of the dual immersion Mandarin-English charter school, lost its case November 18 in the Office of Administrative Law.
The administrative law judge ruled that the three districts, West Windsor-Plainsboro, Princeton, and South Brunswick, were within their “discretionary authority” to challenge PIACS through zoning challenges, lobbying, and similar activities. The ruling will be submitted to acting state education commissioner Christopher Cerf, who can alter the decision as he sees fit. If he takes no action in 45 days, the administrative law judge’s decision will be final.
In a prepared statement, WW-P School Board president Hemant Marathe said the ruling by administrative lLaw judge Lisa James-Beavers “is a complete vindication of the school district position to represent the best interest of taxpayers and children. We are very pleased with the decision and hope the commissioner will affirm this decision.
“We believe allowing PIACS to open is an unwise use of taxpayer money in these tough economic times. PIACS has already spent over $75,000 in grant money without completing a single application. The commissioner needs to examine the running of PIACS over the past two years and hold them accountable for their actions. The taxpayers in communities served by the three school districts deserve relief from the unfunded mandate of a boutique charter school.”
The attorney representing the charter school in the lawsuit, Tom Abbate of the Teaneck-based law firm DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole, says the case is not over yet as the administrative law judge’s decision is nothing more than a recommendation. Last week he sent notice to Cerf’s office that PIACS does not accept the decision and the school’s organizers want him to review it. Abbate says this is likely “the first step of what will probably be a drawn-out legal process.”
Abbate issued the following statement following James-Beavers’ ruling: “We strongly disagree with the judge’s decision. While PIACS was disappointed in today’s decision, we are confident in our position that the expenditure of over $100,000 in public funds to oppose a charter school approved by the commissioner of education is wrong and that our position will be vindicated on appeal.
“We are determined to overcome this obstacle. . . As such, we are pressing forward with our plans, as the State has granted us permission to do.”
Abbate hopes that Cerf makes a decision in the next 12 days because PIACS is set to go before the South Brunswick Zoning Board on Thursday, December 15, at 7:45 p.m. at 540 Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction. At the hearing PIACS’ land use attorney will present plans to open at 12 Perrine Road. However, Abbate said he expects opponents to be present at the hearing, just as the lawyer for the three school districts caused trouble in 2010 as PIACS sought to occupy a space at St. Joseph’s Seminary on Mapleton Road in Plainsboro. At that time the school districts’ attorney made a procedural objection to the hearing notice, contending that PIACS did not list the hours of operation of Plainsboro’s municipal offices where site plans were available for inspection.
Abbate also referenced a situation in April of this year when WW-P Board of Education President Hemant Marathe sent E-mails and letters urging PTA members to attend a South Brunswick zoning hearing to oppose the application (WW-P News, April 15, 2011) alleging that if they did not show up to object “we’re going to have to lay off teachers and cut our programs.” Abbate said this type of rhetoric was not appropriate to circulate throughout a school district and it misinformed parents.
He says the bigger picture is even more concerning. According to Abbate, the school districts’ engagement in such a campaign makes it harder for PIACS to get the application approved.
“In New Jersey everything you do is going to require government approval, and if they’re going to appear at every hearing and raise objections then it costs money to have to defend or respond to that and it costs the school districts’ (taxpayer) money to hire people to do that,” Abbate says.
PIACS’ approval by South Brunswick’s Zoning Board after two years of setbacks would allow an opening in time for the 2012-’13 school year. The hearing must go on as planned, and Abbate says Cerf is the key to stopping interference by the three school districts.
“We don’t necessarily think anybody’s interests are served by having a site plan approval tied up by procedural objections, and if between now and December 15 the administrative law judge was wrong then the school districts should not spend money on that type of thing, and they won’t be permitted to appear at that hearing,” he said.
