TRENTON — More than a dozen volunteer reviewers, including a school choice advocate, a few charter school leaders and a think tank director, read applications for charter schools before Gov. Chris Christie announced approval for a record number of new schools. The day after Christie unveiled a list of 23 new schools as a signature piece of his education...
Charlotte Kruetz, the Director of After School Program at the Learning Community Charter School, last week puts the numbers of children who are wait listed for the kindergarten class. Hopeful Jersey City parents and children gathered for a lottery to select students for Learning Community Charter School. TRENTON — More than a dozen volunteer reviewers, including a school choice advocate, a few charter school leaders and a think tank director, read applications for charter schools before Gov. Chris Christie announced approval for a record number of new schools.
The day after Christie unveiled a list of 23 new schools as a signature piece of his education reform agenda, several reviewers talked about the rigors of sifting through the 50 detailed applications for charter schools, and what they looked for.
The reviewers each read several applications, using a scorecard and providing detailed comments and a non-binding recommendation on each proposal. They did not have the final say, however; Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said the decision on approvals was made within the Department of Education.
"We gave these applications a fair shake," said Shelley Skinner, a board member of the New Jersey Charter School Association and director of a Jersey City charter school.
Yet even while some winners were celebrating their schools’ approval, some education advocates were questioning the process and why the state did not release a full list of reviewers.
"The lack of transparency undermines the credibility of the application process," said David Sciarra, executive director of the Newark-based school advocacy group, the Education Law Center. "The public needs to know who was brought in to review the applications, what their qualifications are, and whether they have a vested interest in the outcome."
Paul Tyalha, executive director of the Common Sense Institute, a New Jersey think tank that supports school choice and charters, was one reviewer.
"I can say with absolute certainty nobody from the governor’s office or from the Department of Education, or from anywhere else, said anything to the effect of, ‘We want you to give particular attention to these schools,'" he said. "There was a feeling among us, nobody wants a charter school approved that’s not going to do a good job."
Derrell Bradford, executive director of the school advocacy group E3, said some applications were very strong, and others "needed a lot of work." Each reviewer read about three applications, he said, and several reviewers read each one.
Bradford also said school proposals were vetted for possible conflicts. He, for example, said he did not read applications submitted by the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, whose executive director, Reginald Jackson, is on the board of E3.
The five proposals submitted by the minister’s council were approved.
Meanwhile, while some charter school applicants were beginning to plan the work ahead, others were left asking why their application was passed over.
Arthur Nunnally of Newark, whose Newark Horizon Charter School proposed linking academics and an "entrepreneurial" curriculum for elementary school children, questioned why his proposal was turned down, when all five from the Black Ministers Council were approved.
"I don’t get it. I’m not going to claim there was politics involved here ... but that to me raises questions," said Nunnally.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman ( D-Mercer) issued a statement Wednesday applauding Christie’s attention to education but asking why no new charters were approved in Trenton.
Another charter school applicant, Vashti Johnson of the proposed Bright Minds Charter High School in Jersey City, asked why nine schools were approved in Newark, but only two in Hudson County.
She also said she received no formal denial notice.
"I’m not politically connected. I’m just a group of parents and life-long residents in the community. Maybe we don’t get the same focus and consideration that more highly political people do," she said.
Cerf said he did not have answers to questions about why some were approved, and not others. He noted that the process, which began in October, was long underway before he was appointed to his post earlier this month.
Several whose charters were denied said Wednesday they hope to appeal.
"We’re definitely disappointed," said Kraven T. Cauthen of Irvington, an Irvington PTA member and telecommunications professional. His proposed John Walker Academy Charter School would bring a focus on technology and languages, including Creole, to students in his community.
He said he is hoping to appeal.
"This is a school geared for the community itself," he said. "Ever since my daughter was about to enter public school, I was interested in having an alternative school. To have a choice."
By Jeanette Rundquist and Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger