By Mary Brienza, Staff Writer
The controversy surrounding a new charter school proposal in town is forcing the Zoning Board of Adjustment to move the June 2 meeting to a larger venue and, as a result, it will not be televised, officials said this week.
The meeting will take place at 7:45 p.m. June 2 at the Senior Center on Ridge Road instead of the Municipal Building, according to township officials.
The meeting will be on the proposed Princeton International Academy Charter School’s request for a waiver so the school can open in September at 12 Perrine Road.
”If the public wants to comment, they have to come to the meeting,” Township Planner Bryan Bidlack said Tuesday. “We’re doing the best we can.”
The meeting will not be televised as the regular meetings in the main meeting room of the municipal building are because it would be too expensive to set up, Mr. Bidlack said.
A previous meeting April 14 on the charter school’s request flooded the municipal building with more than 300 people.
As was the case during that meeting, there will be police officers on hand next week to maintain order because of the large number of people expected to attend the meeting, Mr. Bidlack said.
The senior center meeting room can hold about 530 people, and if more people come, they will be asked to stand outside the meeting room, Mr. Bidlack said.
Many of those who attended the April meeting watched it from television monitors in the foyer of the municipal building.
Some attendees initially had stood inside the meeting room until they were asked to leave the room because of fire codes that determine room occupancy, according to officials.
Those who left the room started complaining the meeting should be moved to a different venue.
”They should change the venue,” Monmouth Junction resident Anna Disario said during the April meeting. “This meeting should not take place tonight so we all have the ability to participate.”
Police were called to the meeting to maintain order because of the large amount of people attending.
During the meeting intermission, Zoning Board of Adjustment member Bharat Patel said the next meeting on the charter school would probably be at a different venue.
The proposed charter school is a Mandarin-English immersion school for students from the Princeton Regional, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional and the South Brunswick school districts, according to the charter school’s website.
PIACS initially will open with students from kindergarten to second grade and will add an additional grade each year, according to the website.
It is planned PIACS would share the building with a private immersion school.
Parker Block, who is one of the co-founders of the school, said at the April meeting that both schools would share the building, but the space and staff will be separate.
