Charter school fires back at school district

While the East Brunswick Board of Education has filed suit to stop the Hatikvah International Academy from opening this summer, the charter school claims the board is using sabotage tactics and making bogus claims.

The township school board initiated litigation against Hatikvah two weeks ago, arguing that the school, set to open for grades K-2 next month, did not have enough students enrolled. Board Attorney Matthew Giacobbe filed the motion to rescind Hatikvah’s approval, citing the charter school’s failure to show that it had enrolled at least 90 percent of its approved maximum student enrollment, as required for charter schools under New Jersey law.

Hatikvah officials said last week that they have in fact met the requirement, with 100 students from East Brunswick signed up, and countered that their plans have been repeatedly “sabotaged” by the school district. Their claims are outlined in a 30-page legal brief submitted by the charter school on Aug. 20.

“Hatikvah has met each and every legal requirement to open,” said attorney Tom Johnston, representing the charter school.

Hatikvah, which plans to offer a Hebrew language immersion program while focusing on an International Baccalaureate college preparatory curriculum, has been preparing to open its doors in September in a rented building on the grounds of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cranbury Road. The school is set to become East Brunswick’s first charter school, and the first public charter school in New Jersey to offer a Hebrew language program. Plans call for its permanent location to be built on the Y Country Day Camp property on Dutch Road, and for the school to expand up to eighth grade.

The school received conditional approval from the state last year, and final approval July 7.

The school board announced on Aug. 12 that it filed a motion with the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey requesting the court to stay the charter school’s grant. It also requested that state Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler reverse his approval of the school.

Giacobbe said the charter school was required to have provided enrollment figures by June 30 — a week before its final approval — but that the estimates were never received. He said the school district had received some certified documents in recent months, but not a full list. He noted that Hatikvah sent another letter to the school district with more enrollment information on Aug. 12. The attorney said the charter school’s maximum enrollment is 108 students, meaning that Hatikvah must enroll at least 97 students to comply with state requirements. According to Giacobbe, the school had just 68 students enrolled at the time of the motion.

“The school board has standards for taxpayer money,” he said.

The charter school has been allotted $1.22 million in the Board of Education’s 2010-11 budget, which has been subject to extensive cuts due to a substantial loss in state aid. “We need to make sure in the district that taxpayers’ money is scrutinized at every turn, and we need to make sure this charter school conforms with regulations.”

But Hatikvah officials maintain that the charter school has complied with all state regulations.

In an Aug. 20 press release, Johnston said that Hatikvah provided “precisely the type of documentation” needed to prove that it had met enrollment requirements prior to the June 30 deadline. He said the documents showed that the school had enrolled 100 students from East Brunswick, which accounted for 92.5 percent of total enrollment. The remaining slots would be available to students from other municipalities, Johnston said.

The charter school attorney said that the Board of Education had plenty of opportunities to contest Hatikvah’s application but failed to file any complaints until after its final approval.

“The East Brunswick school board had several opportunities under the law to raise questions about the Hatikvah charter application— when it was first filed in March 2009, when it received conditional approval in September 2009, or when the school filed its final enrollment documentation two months ago,” the press release stated.

Johnston said the district’s allegations are “based entirely on bogus enrollment claims that were contradicted by East Brunswick’s own records and that kept changing substantially over time.”

Hatikvah’s attorney said that even if the charter school’s enrollment fell below 90 percent after its June 30 enrollment report, it could not be penalized until the school is required to report enrollment again on Oct. 15.

“There is absolutely no factual or legal basis to East Brunswick’s request for a stay of the opening of Hatikvah,” the legal brief stated. “Hatikvah reached its enrollment goal, and looks forward to delivering an excellent education to its students in September.”

Hatikvah’s counter-argument doesn’t stop at enrollment — officials claim that the charter school has been victim to several attempts on behalf of the East Brunswick school district to undermine their operation. Hatikvah officials said the school district has made efforts to “deny parents transfer cards, delay or refuse to send transfer cards to Hatikvah school officials, harass parents who expressed interest in enrolling their students, and making false statements to the press.”

Additionally, Johnston said that the school district withheld its first payment installment, which was due Aug. 13. The school district is required to give the charter school 90 percent of the district’s overall per-pupil funding for each student enrolled at the charter school.

“By obstructing the enrollment process, their refusal to remit payments to Hatikvah and issuing media statements, East Brunswick is attempting to sabotage Hatikvah’s opening outside the appropriate charter application review procedures,” the legal brief stated. “East Brunswick’s actions are in open contempt of the commissioner’s [Schundler’s] authority, contrary to the educational interests of children and a detriment to parents and the East Brunswick community. It should be sanctioned for its contemptuous actions. East Brunswick is not above the law.”

Johnston has formally requested that Schundler bring sanctions against the school board and order the district to release the perpupil allocation.

Calls to Giacobbe were not returned at the time of publication.