Council Supports Closure of Red Bank Charter School

By Allison Perrine

RED BANK – After three- plus hours of passionate public comment, the borough council unanimously supported a resolution advocating for the closure of the Red Bank Charter School (RBCS).

The resolution was approved Nov. 23, weeks after the superintendent of Red Bank Public Schools Jared Rumage, Ed.D, argued that the 23-year-old charter school has “recklessly added and condoned a structure” of segregation in Red Bank for decades.

The Red Bank Borough Board of Education approved a resolution this summer opposing the renewal of the charter school – which expires June 30, 2022 – and the mayor and council’s latest move echoes that stance.

Ultimately, however, the decision lies in the hands of the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.

“To say the mayor and council’s approval of a resolution that would interrupt learning for 200 children is disheartening would be an understatement,” said Kristen Martello, Ed.D, head of school for Red Bank Charter School, after the Nov. 23 meeting. “Despite receiving hundreds of letters asking that they reject this resolution and listening to hours of personal testimony from parents and students, the council chose to ignore their pleas to support our beloved school community.”

The school has been a topic of discussion in the community for some time. It’s been on Rumage’s radar since 2015, a year after he was appointed in the district, largely because he feels the two-district public system has bred and encouraged segregation in Red Bank. But Martello said his claims are “false” and “have long been disproven.”

According to RBCS records, in the 2020-21 school year, the charter school student body was comprised of 53 percent Hispanic students, 40 percent white, 7 percent Black and 1 percent Asian. Comparatively, the racial breakdown of students in the Red Bank Borough Public Schools was 85 percent Hispanic, 7 percent white, 5 percent Black and 0 percent Asian. There are no testing criteria to attend the charter school; admission is conducted through a random lottery acceptance system that gives “weighted preference” to any student who comes from a low-income background.

“Our school does not cause or exacerbate segregation in Red Bank. Our student population directly reflects the racial and ethnic breakdown of families in Red Bank,” Martello said.

The random lottery system is partially why council president Hazim Yassin is advocating for the closure of the charter school. At the Nov. 23 meeting, he said a system that determines children’s educational paths at random “doesn’t seem right.” “The idea of choice implies two separate education paths that are not similar,” he said. “I feel like a unified school district is the best opportunity for growth, education, learning, understanding other cultures, things like that.”

Some public commenters agreed. Red Bank public school parent and borough resident Jill Burden spent time highlighting the district’s recent accomplishments and assured others that Red Bank schools are “not failing” and the children “are thriving.” “I am proud to say that Red Bank schools’ student growth not only surpasses Red Bank Charter School but also some of our affluent neighboring towns,” said Burden.

Resident Jessica Naulty, the senior pastor of United Methodist Church of Red Bank, agreed with her sentiments. “With such a strong and award-winning traditional public school system, I believe it’s redundant and an unfaithful use of taxpayers’ dollars to support a duplicative school system in such a small town,” she said.

Red Bank school board president Fred Stone spoke on behalf of the board of education in favor of the resolution. “We are not laying blame or hurling accusations toward anyone for this long-institutionalized two-district system of education in Red Bank. The facts speak for themselves,” said Stone. “The most effective remedy for the inequities and other costs of this system is the joining of the two districts.”

Various other attendees came to the charter school’s defense. That includes recent graduate Ella McCourt, now a junior at Red Bank Regional High School. As the charter school’s 2019 valedictorian, Ella said had it not been for RBCS she “would not be the person I am today.” “The charter provides a very unique experience for students that is very difficult to truly understand unless you yourself have been a part of it,” said Ella. “The smaller class size allowed for me to experience more individual help from my teachers and provided me with the second family that I still keep in touch with today.”

Resident Matthew Taetsch, who currently sends his child to RBCS, said he felt “very disheartened” by the conversation that night and felt the proposed resolution was not one in support of the board of education but one “in support of just displacing 200 children for no good reason at all.”

“This is basically just a resolution in support of one individual’s opinion of a program; that same individual is the same reason why we don’t want to send our children to the primary school,” said Taetsch. “This is just a completely shameful resolution. If you support this resolution, you’re just basically supporting the notion that 200 kids don’t mean anything, the alumni of this school don’t mean anything, the people who work in this school don’t mean anything, and the parents who send their children to school and pick them up every day to see the smile on their face don’t mean anything.”

Resident Allison Gregory urged the council to reject the resolution and noted that the borough “is thriving under the current option of school choice. We feel the children have been through enough trauma and disruption with the current pandemic,” she said.

Lifelong borough resident Matthew Deponti, who graduated from Red Bank Primary and Middle schools, currently sends his children to RBCS – a decision that “had nothing to do” with race. “I think that race has nothing to do with this other than the fact that you guys as politicians and you guys as social justice warriors, make it about race. It’s notabout race,” he said.

At the end of the night, shortly before votes were taken, Councilwoman Kate Triggiano said going through this renewal process every five years could take “a major toll” on the town and therefore voted in favor of a unified district.

Mayor Pasquale “Pat” Menna also noted that during his time on the dais he has seen a number of contentious issues come up, but “never in my 32 years on the governing body have I received as many letters and correspondence and emails and information as I have going into tonight’s meeting.

“This was obviously something that is extraordinarily important to those who have a vested interest and those who do not,” he said. In order to open a charter school, an application must be approved by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) commissioner. Initially, the charter might be approved for four years and in five-year intervals thereafter.

The renewal process “gives charter school operators an opportunity to present clear and compelling evidence of their achievements over the course of the charter term, and to demonstrate their academic, fiscal and organizational viability,” according to the NJDOE. It’s also an opportunity for charter schools to evaluate their progress toward meeting their missions, goals and objectives; to assess their strengths and weaknesses; and to plan out a path for the future, the department continues.

Once a charter renewal application is received, the NJDOE conducts a site visit and interviews with the school’s board of trustees, administrators and teachers. The commissioner also evaluates state assessment results, annual reports, the application, monitoring reports, public comments, financial reports and other related evidence, the NJDOE states. A decision on whether or not the charter will be renewed is made from there.

The article originally appeared in the December 2nd – 9th, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.