Red Bank Forum Is One-Sided In Charter School’s Absence

RED BANK – It was supposed to be an opportunity for both the charter school and public schools to make their cases to the community. But only one of the two parties chose to participate.
Last Friday’s meeting at the Red Bank Middle School on Harding Road attracted 300 people despite an impending snowstorm, was intended to offer representatives from the district’s charter school an opportunity to present its case for its proposed expansion and a chance for the public school district to voice its side in the debate. But those representing the charter school declined to participate.
In the charter school’s absence, Red Bank Superintendent of Schools Jared Rumage offered the district’s dire prediction of the charter school plan’s impact on the district, and offered an upbeat assessment of the recent progress in the local primary and middle schools, looking to dispel longstanding perceptions of a district in decline.
The evening was also intended to provide a forum for the public to offer comments to the committee Mayor Pasquale Menna convened a week earlier to study what the charter school’s proposal would mean for the community at large.
Menna was visibly piqued on Friday night that no one from the charter school was on hand. According to the mayor, the school principal, Meredith Pennotti, had initially agreed to participate in the forum. “If they were part of the Red Bank community they should have been here,” he said of the school officials.
According to Menna, Pennotti eventually decided to not participate in the forum because it was going to be open to the public.
Borough Councilwoman Kathy Horgan, who is council’s liaison to the mayor’s seven-member committee, said she was “surprised” and “disappointed” that the charter school didn’t appear.
Last Friday, the Charter School Board of Trustees released a statement offering a thanks for being invited but the trustees felt, “Given the short time frame and the complexity of school budgets, we strongly believe that the Committee members require more time in closed session to objectively review the data as presented by both sides…” for “an objective review of the data without outside pressure.”
Once the committee has drafted and submitted its findings, charter school representatives would be “glad to participate in open public forum to address the report as presented by the Committee.”

According to Menna, the committee was scheduled to meet in a Jan. 25 closed session to review and discuss the information and public input. The committee was expected to have something for the borough council for the Wednesday, Jan. 27 council meeting. “The clock is ticking. We have to come to a conclusion,” given the deadline to submit public comments to the David Hespe, state commissioner of education, in Trenton, is Jan. 31, Menna said.
“We want to make a fair and responsible decision,” regarding this proposal, Horgan said.
Should the charter school look to conduct its own public forum, Menna said he wouldn’t participate, stressing, “This was the community forum.”
The Red Bank Charter School, 58 Oakland St., is seeking state approval to double enrollment from 200 to 400 students over three-years and to use an adjoining Monmouth Street property to expand its facility.
Principal Meredith Pennotti said recently the timing for the expansion is right, given some state changes in the lottery system to select new students to improve diversity; the availability of the neighboring space for a facility; the consistent student waiting list; and, what she maintained was the continuing underachieving public school district, which led to the charter school’s establishment 18 years ago.
Public school supporters and others in the community voiced fears that the plan would mean a dramatic spike in property taxes and could lead to significant cuts to public school staffing and programs, at a time when, Rumage stressed, the district is making improvements.
“I see it as a lose-lose-lose,” Rumage said.

During the course of the evening the committee heard from parents, students and other community members about why the expansion was unwarranted and potentially damaging to the community and public education and how well the public schools were doing.
“I don’t think it makes much sense to have the expansion,” said Branch Avenue resident Stephen Hecht.
Rosie Perry said her 10-yer-old daughter has embraced education in the public schools and is benefiting from the array of programs currently available. “If we lose these programs how can I look my daughter in the face?” Perry asked.
“Bigger’s not better,” Brian Hanlon, Arthur Place, said, estimating the expansion would result in a $100 a month hike in his local school taxes.
State Senator Jennifer Beck (R-11) who represents Red Bank and lives here, expressed her reservations about the expansion plan. “Let’s be clear about this,” Beck told the audience, “this is a funding issue.” By that the legislator meant the public school district has traditionally received less than it should in state aid, according to the state formula and court rulings, as is the case for the Freehold school district (also in Beck’s legislative district). In Red Bank’s case the state has shorted the school district by $7 million over the past few years, according to Beck.
“The answer for us is this expansion cannot go forward unless the state of New Jersey fully funds Red Bank,” Beck said.
Joining the chorus of concern was a statement issued by Red Bank RiverCenter, which advocates for and markets the borough commercial Special Improvement District.
Albert Garcia, with Red Bamboo Marketing, West Front Street, read a statement from RiverCenter Executive Director James Scavone, expressing reservations over a potential tax increase, calling it “devastating,” and what that could mean for the business community—which account for about 50 percent of the local tax burden—and RiverCenter’s ability to attract new businesses.
During the public portion, no one offered support for the charter school plan.
“I knew from the beginning this would be an issue charged with passion,” Menna observed. But that evening, he noted, “This is an extraordinary show of community support.”
The commissioner of education is expected to make his decision sometime in February, according to a Department of Education spokesman.