By John Burton
RED BANK — Borough officials are hoping to delay a plan to double the size of the Red Bank Charter School until they have a chance to study the plan’s impact on public schools and borough taxpayers.
Last Wednesday, Jan. 13, the Borough Council unanimously approved a non-binding resolution asking state Education Commissioner David Hespe to delay his decision on the Charter School’s proposal.
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, more than 200 residents marched in frigid temperatures from the Red Bank Middle School on Harding Road to the municipal complex on Monmouth Street, protesting the plan that they say would hurt the public schools.
“Obviously, the turnout this evening is an indication of the extraordinary importance,” of the state educational official’s determination, Menna said, giving further weight to the council’s request that a decision be pushed back.
More than 200 local residents marched from the middle school, carrying signs supporting the public schools and chanting “No Way We Won’t Pay!” an apparent reference to the now-regularly expressed fear that the charter’s school expansion plan would result in large property tax increases and/or draconian cuts to public school programs, as voiced by public school officials.
In response to the keenly followed debate in the community, along with seeking the delay on the final decision, Menna announced the formation and members of his “blue ribbon committee” which has been tasked with looking at the plan.
The committee is made up of seven borough residents – of more than 15 who volunteered and sent the mayor their resumes, according to Menna.
The members are: Barbara Loversidge, an educator; lawyers Jan. L. Wouters and Richard J. Angowski, who have both represented both charter schools and public school boards of education; Judy DeHaven, a writer and journalist, who is currently a vice president for corporate communications for the CBS Corporation; Jesse Garrison, a retired supervisor for the borough Department of Public Utilities and active on a number of community fronts; Michael Stasi, a local business owner and an early member of the charter school board of trustees, serving for a number of years as the board’s president; and Jennifer Garcia, a business owner and a “forceful advocate” for the Hispanic community, according to Menna.
Along with these members, Superintendent of Schools Jared Rumage and Charter School Principal Meredith Pennotti are to serve as ex officio participants, according to the mayor. (Pennotti, however, told the Two River Times last week she hadn’t yet been approached about serving on the committee and wasn’t aware of it until a local reporter asked her about it.) Borough chief financial officer Eugenia Poulos will also sit on the committee and Councilwoman Kathy Horgan will serve as the council’s liaison.
Menna said he was looking for and found a “panel of individuals who had some degree of knowledge and common sense.”
“We’re open to frank discussions about the ramifications,” of this proposal, Horgan said. She also recommended that Rumage meet with Commissioner Hespe at the soonest opportunity.
The window of opportunity for public input to the state is open until Jan. 31, Menna said, prompting the request to the state Department of Education to extend the period and delay a decision and to give his committee a chance to study the issue and draft its report.
A department spokesman said the commissioner is expected to render his decision in late February.
On Wednesday DOE spokesman David Saenz said the department was aware of the council resolution and “Any district or community comments will be reviewed before the commissioner’s decision is rendered.”
The department this Wednesday did not immediately offer a response to whether Hespe would grant the borough’s request.
State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-11), a borough resident and its representative, last week sent a letter to Gov. Chris Christie in Trenton detailing the Red Bank public school district’s dramatic state underfunding, believing if additional state aid isn’t possible the charter school expansion should be denied at this point, given the potential impact to taxpayers.
For more than an hour the mayor and council heard from impassioned residents who spoke about the issue.
“We can’t afford it,” said Branch Avenue resident Marybeth Maida. “Two school districts in this tiny, little town is ridiculous.
“We are killing our schools,” Maida warned.
The committee scheduled its first public forum on Friday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m., to be conducted at the Red Bank Middle School auditorium, due to its ability to accommodate the expected large crowd.
Those unable to attend can still offer comments on the issue by email at pborghi@redbanknj.org; or in writing, mailing them to the Borough Clerk’s Office, 90 Monmouth St., Red Bank, NJ. 07701, or dropping them off in person. Comments must be received by Monday, Jan. 25, at 3 p.m.
The Red Bank Charter School, 58 Oakland St., submitted its proposal in December to the DOE in Trenton seeking to increase its enrollment from its current 200 students to 400 over a three-year period. Charter school representatives believe this is an opportune time for the expansion to benefit the entire school population, offering families a choice from either the traditional public schools, which charter school proponents maintain, have failed to substantially improve in the nearly 18 years since the charter school was established; and private schools and their costs.
Public school officials have argued the expansion would have a devastating impact on the public school budget, forcing school officials to cut programs and staffing to the students’ detriment and dramatically raise property taxes to fund the expansion.
“I’m steadfast in my opinion that this is bad for Red Bank,” Rumage reiterated at last week’s council meeting.
