New
round of charter school requests is largest in 3
years
Thursday, July 22, 2004 • BY JOHN MOONEY
• Star-Ledger Staff
Parents dreaming of a French-immersion school, some
church leaders and a coalition of public school districts
are among 16 applicants for new charter schools in the
state, the biggest application pool in three years.
Filed with the state this week, the bids to open the
schools in 2005 or 2006 are predominantly in New Jersey's
cities where the charter school movement has a foothold,
including Newark, Camden and Jersey City.
But there continue to be bids to open or expand the
experimental schools in the suburbs as well, including the
French-immersion Ecole de la Mer in Cape May County and the
first-ever application from a public school district, in
this case a coalition of Sussex County districts.
Led by Newton's and Sussex County Vocational Schools'
superintendents, the districts want to use the charter
statute to open the Thomas Edison Charter School, a grade
7-12 school that would serve the whole county. It would be
modeled after the popular Project Adventure program that
focuses more on project- and experienced-based
learning.
"There was a general interest to create something
different and innovative," said Joseph Cammarata, Sussex
Tech's superintendent. "We wanted something unique that can
handle students' individual differences in a way a massive
school may not."
If history follows, the state Department of Education
will likely approve fewer than half of the applicants, with
a decision set for January. But charter advocates said the
rising interest is a good sign for a movement that had
appeared to be ebbing in recent years.
There were nine applicants last year, and eight the year
before. Of those, five were approved. With five new schools
planning to open this fall, that will bring the total to 52
charter schools in the state, serving about 14,000
students.
"There is starting to be a little more public
understanding of the schools, and as that happens, I think
we'll see interest build," said Jennifer Langer, director of
the New Jersey Charter Public Schools Association.
Langer was especially pleased with the continued rise of
interest in cities such as Newark and Jersey City. "It helps
bring a critical mass and offers a real choice in these
communities," she said.
Advocates say the success stories of several of the
charters in the six years since the schools first opened in
the state also has likely emboldened potential
founders.
"There is a maturity in the movement, and also a
stability with the current administration," said Rochelle
Hendricks, director of the state's charter school office.
"And we're hearing more about the ones having success: One
can do this and do it well."
The new batch of applicants cuts across the state, from
its northern reaches to Atlantic and Cape May counties. With
some flexibility in what and how they teach, several of the
schools have a math and science focus, others emphasize the
arts. Meant to be homegrown in nature, charter schools often
start with local intentions.
A group of parents in Atlantic County wants to use the
charter law to create a new high school for their three
small communities, which now send their children out of
district and lose as much as an hour a day in busing
time.
Another group in Cape May's Upper Township is behind one
of the more unusual proposals -- an elementary school that
would teach students almost entirely in French.
The Ecole de la Mer, or School of the Sea, would be
built off a pilot program in the Upper Township public
schools but potentially on wane after three years. That
program is funded through a grant from the French
Embassy.
"It was something we as parents wanted to take a look at
in the long term," said Elizabeth Casey, one of the parents
involved in the application. "And we feel we could expand it
more in a charter school setting."
Hoping to begin as a K-4 school with 105 students and
eventually growing to K-8, the school would teach entirely
in French in the first three years, and then install English
reading and writing instruction in second grade. It's not a
novel concept, with similar schools in Kansas City and
Maryland, according to Casey.
"The second-graders, by all intents and purposes, are
fluent in French, and one of the great things about
immersion is they use those same decoding skills in learning
English," she said.
Another notable trend in the latest pool of applicants
is the religious connections, with at least three of the
applicants directly linked with churches, although the
churches themselves will have to kept separate from the
schools.
A founder of the proposed TEAMS (Technology,
Engineering, Architecture, Math & Science) Charter
School in Plainfield is a minister at the Shiloh Baptist
Church.
Members of Bethany Baptist Church, including the
director of its Bethany Academy preschool, are behind the
application for a new K-5 charter school.
"We feel an environment that is small and nurturing with
an emphasis on both academics and character education can
help offset some of the challenges that teens and preteens
face in the city," said Brenda Brown, the academy's
director.
John Mooney covers education. He can be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
Copyright 2004
The Express-Times. Used with permission.
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