By Mary Brienza and Charles W. Kim, Staff Writers
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Controversy over a proposed charter school in the area flooded the municipal building with more than 300 people during a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing on Friday night that went on past midnight.
The Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS) went before the board to request a change in use for the office research zoning so the group can open the school at 11-12 Perrine Road in September.
PIACS is a K-2 Mandarin-English immersion school that is scheduled to open with around 175 students from Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, and South Brunswick school districts, according to the school’s website.
It would share the 45,000-square-foot building with a private immersion school, according to the organization.
At one point, the crowd filled seats and stood in the building’s main meeting room. However, those standing were asked to go to the outer lobby due to fire safety concerns regarding the room’s capacity.
They then filled the lobby and even spilled a bit outside the building.
Police officers were called to maintain order because of the size of the crowd.
The people attending appeared to be equally split between those wearing blue shirts and buttons supporting the charter school and those opposed to it wearing yellow stickers to “vote no” on the application.
There were shouts from the crowd asking that the meeting be moved to a different venue.
Mr. Martin Hammer, however, decided to continue with the meeting and allow those outside the room to view the proceedings on television sets in the lobby.
Despite the size and emotions of those attending there were no reported arrests or major problems, according to police.
Zoning board member Al Adinolfi, 77, said during a break in the meeting that PICAS applied to the board get approval for a non-conforming use since the current zone does not permit a school on that property. The zoning board is a quasi-judicial body whose decisions can be appealed, he said.
Zoning board member Bharat Patel said the public can speak during the public portion of the meeting “until people stop raising hands,” no matter how many wish to speak.
Once underway, charter school attorney Andre Gruber asked the panel to keep “an open mind” about the application and not to weigh the pros and cons about charter schools in general, but to stick to the zoning and land use issues involved in the variance application.
Parker Block, who is one of the co-founders of the school, said the proposed property on Perrine Road is large enough to hold more than one school.
He said although the schools would share a building, they would be in a separate space and have separate staff.
”There’s a lot of misinformation that’s put out there (about charter schools,)” Mr. Block said. “People care about education, they are passionate about it.”
Mr. Block said the location was picked because the school wanted to give people from more than one district an opportunity to attend.
South Brunswick schools Superintendent Gary McCartney said he attended the meeting to ensure the safety of the district’s children that might attend the facility.
”Anytime we have students from our township are going to be involved in any enterprise, we want to make sure it is a safe enterprise,” he said. “We’re not here to argue whether there should be a charter. We are here to make sure no one here is exonerated from safety and zoning requirements.”
During a recent Board of Education meeting, Dr. McCartney said the district would have to hold aside some $1.6 million in funds the state claims will be used to pay to send children to this and other similar schools in this year’s budget.
While much of the testimony concentrated on the facility itself and the engineering of the property, discussion for many outside took on the issue about whether the charter school should be there at all.
South Brunswich resident Tamika Bailey said she enrolled her 5-year-old daughter in PIACS because she believes the school is a “great opportunity” for the children in the township and that there may be some misinformation about the proposed school.
Plainsboro resident Elisabeth Cope expressed her support for the school and hopes to enroll her two children in the program.
”The building is an ideal location for the school,” Ms. Cope said. “One billion people speak Mandarin. That is a lot of opportunity (for my children.”
On the other side, Jianhua Zhu of West Windsor said he felt the school is a “waste of resources” for the public schools sending students there.
”We already have a very good school system,” Mr. Zhu said. “There isn’t any benefit for this area’s kids.”
West Windsor –Plainsboro schools Superintendent Victoria Kniewel , who attended the meeting, said she doesn’t think the school is needed, especially in these tough economic times.
”This is a kind of nice to have extra, and these are not the times for nice to have extras,” Dr. Kniewel said. “These are the times to focus your dollars and provide a comprehensive education.”
During the meeting, the opposing sides watched the proceedings side by side, sometimes interrupting the meeting with jeers, cheers, and laughter. As the meeting went on, some of those who watched on the screens outside the meeting room sat on the floor.
Princeton resident Jean Durbin said that allowing PICAS to open, it would be putting tax dollars into a private school since the two schools will share the building are both immersion schools.
”Basically, (it is) taxation without representation,” Ms. Durbin said.
Princeton resident Dina Shaw said the public and charter school were “cohabitating” and the charter school would not be regulated.
PICAS’s request will be discussed again at the June 2 meeting of the board.

