By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor¶
The Princeton International Academy Charter School is scheduled to be back in front of the Zoning Board of Adjustment tonight (Thursday), but without a decision from the acting state commission of education in its behalf.¶
The proposed K-2 Mandarin immersion school seeking to be located at 12 Perrine Road is returning to the board with a new application during a 7:45 p.m. meeting to be held at the Senior Center on Route 522, according to township officials.¶
Large attendance at several previous meetings regarding the application in the last year caused the panel to move the meetings to the auditorium of the Senior Center.¶
More than 300 people attended one such meeting concerning the school in April.¶
The school, which plans to serve 172 students from the South Brunswick, West Windsor-Plainsboro and Princeton school districts, recently lost a lawsuit filed by the charter school and several parents of potential students to try and stop the districts from using taxpayer money to pay for legal help in blocking its application in front of the zoning board.¶
In a Nov. 16 decision, Administrative Law Judge Lisa James-Beavers, sitting in Quakerbridge, stated that the public school districts can use public funds to hire attorneys to oppose the charter school, and individual members of the respective boards of education also may publicly express their opposition.¶
"(The districts) have discretionary authority to perform all acts and do all things consistent with law and the rules of the state board (of education) necessary for the lawful and proper conduct, equipment and maintenance of the public schools of the district," Judge James-Beavers said in the decision. "This discretionary authority includes the activities at issue here, which were taken to protect the financial interests of the resident districts."¶
According to the decision, the matter now goes to acting Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf to be either upheld or reversed. The decision also would be upheld if Mr. Cerf decides not to take any action on the appeal, according to the document.¶
The charter then appealed to Mr. Cerf for emergency relief, asking him to decide on the appeal prior to tonight’s meeting.¶
M. Kathleen Duncan, director of the state education department’s Bureau of Controversies, said in a Dec. 6 letter to PIACS attorney William Harla that Mr. Cerf would not be issuing a decision before the 45-day requirement under state law.¶
"There currently is no procedure for shortening the 45-day statutory period provided to the commissioner for issuing a final decision," Ms. Duncan’s letter stated. "The final decision will be issued on or before Jan. 3 unless it becomes necessary to request an extension."¶
PIACS and the landlord, 12 P & Associates, are in front of the zoning board this week to gain approvals for the Perrine Road location.¶
The three districts have maintained objections to the school opening at that location and are sharing the cost of an attorney to try and stop the planned school.¶
Officials in each of the three districts said it is their duty to act on behalf of the students in the districts and their parents and to make sure public money being used for the charter school is done prudently and the safety of the students is accounted for.¶
In the August complaint filed with the state Department of Education, PIACS and the parents involved in the lawsuit claimed the districts were overstepping their legal authority and spending a combined $100,000 in legal fees inappropriately.¶
In her decision, Judge James Beavers said while there is no statutory authority to allow the districts to use public funds to oppose the charter school, there is also no prohibition, under law, for districts to oppose such entities.¶
"There is no indication that the boards so acted without a rational basis or that such actions were induced by improper motives," Judge James-Beavers said in the decision.¶
Judge James-Beavers also found individual board of education members do have the right, under the law, to publicly oppose PIACS.¶
"PIACS founders continue their frivolous claims on one hand while claiming the districts are spending taxpayer money on the other," West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education President Hermant Marathe said in an e-mail announcing the latest finding by the Department of Education. "If PIACS is truly worried about taxpayers, they will immediately stop frivolous claims and withdraw their application for charter."
