BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — School officials, students and the community made it clear that a charter school has no business in a school district like the Old Bridge Township Public Schools.
Schools Superintendent David Cittadino addressed a large crowd that attended the Superintendent’s Forum meeting on Jan. 31 at Old Bridge High School.
“I’m not against charter schools,” he said, explaining that there are areas where charter schools are needed.
However, Cittadino said with the many successes of the Old Bridge Public Schools, which he highlighted during the meeting, the proposed charter school would be detrimental to the progress that the district has made since he became superintendent.
In October of 2016, Cittadino said the proposal for Albert Einstein EnergySmart charter school at the Sayre Woods Bible Church, 2209 Route 9 south, came to his attention.
The school is proposed as a K-2 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) school for one year with 160 students.
By the 2020-21 school year, the proposal calls for the expansion of grade levels to fifth grade with a student enrollment of 360 students.
The cost from the Old Bridge school budget would be $1.6 million in the first year and $3.6 million by 2020-21.
The New Jersey Department of Education is expected to decide whether or not to approve the proposed charter school application by Feb. 15.
For more information, visit http://www.oldbridgeadmin.org/.