To the Editor:
PIACS Responds
I want to thank Sean Sheerin for his letter in the APril 29 edition of the West Windsor-Plainsboro News. He brings up once again common misconceptions about the school. We as PIACS family members will never shy away from these discussions if the tone is respectful. Let’s take each of Mr. Sheerin’s points:
1.) Charter school applicants are to identify a location of the facility — clearly PIACS could not have fulfilled this requirement. Charter school applicants do need to identify a facility which was done in our case. However, charter schools have until June 30th to obtain a certification for occupancy (CO). The State Board is aware obtaining a facility typically is a time-intensive process that often requires months. It does not require a CO by the time the application is submitted and approved by the State Board.
2.) New Jersey does not allow private schools to convert to charter schools. Mr. Sheerin continues to compare Yinghua International School (YHIS) and PIACS. YHIS is not PIACS. YHIS is a private school. PIACS will be a public school. Each school will have separate teachers, separate Boards with separate members, separate principals, separate students, and most importantly separate operational budgets and accounts. The State Board of Education is aware of the possibility of the two schools residing in the same location, which does not affect the legitimacy of the charter school application at all.
The state language actually states a private school cannot seek a charter school designation. YHIS is not seeking a charter designation and is not going away. Some families want the smaller class sizes offered by YHIS and can afford the tuition. Some families will cross over from YHIS to PIACS but the actual numbers are currently less than 10 of the 170 slots. Those families are within their right to make that change.
Of the first and second graders enrolled in PIACS for the upcoming year, approximately 75 percent of the students are coming from their respective public schools, while the rest are from over 20 different private schools. How can that be a conversion of a private school to a public charter school?
3.) Charters are to demonstrate a “need” for the school within the districts.” Need is defined in many different ways by the state. It is not restricted to urban centers with failing schools. Many charter schools across the country are in suburban relatively affluent districts such as are own and are thriving. Examples can be found in suburbs of Minneapolis, Denver, and Springfield, Massachusetts, just to name a few each with similar educational models to PIACS.
Need can also be defined as innovation. In 2009 the New Jersey Department of Education revised its core curriculum standards emphasizing 21st century skills and themes. The objective of the revised standards is also to promote the use of innovative learning strategies by integrating inquiry — and problem-based approaches and higher order thinking skills” — something that PIACS emphasizes with its inquiry based curriculum.
Moreover, the policy guide for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (with which the NJ DOE collaborated on the revised Curriculum Standards), points out that “For the past decade, the United States has focused on closing the achievement gaps between the lowest and highest performing students — a legitimate and useful agenda, but one that skirts the competitive demand for advanced skills. Equally important is the global achievement gap between U.S. students, even our top-performing students, and their international peers in competitor nations.” The New Jersey Department of Education recognizes the NEED for innovation and approved PIACS just a few months after the revised Curriculum Standards were published.
The U.S. State Department has specifically stated there is a “need” for REAL proficiency in Mandarin that is missing in the traditional curriculum. In addition, according to the 2009 PISA test of students in 65 countries, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States currently is ranked No. 31 in the world in mathematics behind Korea (3), Canada (10), and Slovenia (2). The U.S. math score is actually below the OECD average. First on that list is China and second is Singapore, which incorporates a similar math learning program that we will use in PIACS.
In the 21st century, our children will not be competing with neighboring districts down the Route 1 corridor, but with countries across the world. Therefore, achieving a more advanced math and science program is a “need.” In other words, we are part of the solution to “Saving our Schools,” not the problem. Saving the “status quo” is not a solution.
Finally, “need” is defined as well by the demand of PIACS families in the districts. The fact is we have over 200 families who have identified this school as a “need.” They should have to the right to move their tax money where they want it to go.
Mr. Sheerin seems to be a conscientious taxpayer who cares about how his tax money is spent. For many years, PIACS families have also been conscientious taxpayers who gladly have helped fund the public education of all children in this town. It is now time for us to make a decision for our kids and we have the right to decide where our tax money will be spent. I find it disappointing that other individuals in “Save our Schools” and Mr. Sheerin want to get in the way of that right. I find it a very difficult pill to swallow that my tax dollars are being spent on lawyers who will try to block this choice.
If you are really serious about saving our schools, then perhaps you should embrace PIACS. PIACS could be a potential benefit to the housing market and businesses by drawing families and companies that are invested in global education and economies. This will filter down to greater tax revenue for the townships. That is the right way to increase the school budget.
Rajan Ravikumar
Suffolk Lane
Editor’s note: The writer serves on the board of the Princeton International Academy Charter School.
