Montclair Super Opposes New Charter School Application

Montclair, NJ – Montclair Interim Superintendent Ron Bolandi has several reasons why a new charter school would be bad for the district.

During the April 18 Board of Education meeting, Bolandi expressed his disapproval of The Fulbright Academy Charter School of Montclair’s recent application to the NJ Department of Education.

The proposed school would reportedly serve between 250 and 450 students in grades K-4, progressing to K-8.

• See related article: Prospective Montclair Charter School Applies To NJ DOE

Among Bolandi’s allegations:

• The public school district will have to transfer $10,500 to Fulbright Academy for every student that transfers
• Additionally, the district would have to provide a per-capita share of its federal and state categorical aids for students who count toward those aid calculations
• The proposed location of the new charter school at 151 Forest Street “doesn’t seem suitable - without major renovations - for a K-4 school”

In addition, Bolandi charges that the diversion of funds would be a “tremendous financial burden to the school district” due to Montclair’s magnet school philosophy.

“If we had to reduce the budget, we would seriously stifle the magnet concept which is a 40-year-old program put in place due to a desegregation order,” Bolandi stated.

Bolandi’s full presentation can be seen here.

QUEST CHARTER

Fulbright Academy’s current attempt to start a charter school in Montclair isn’t the only such proposition to stir up controversy in recent township history.

In 2012, following its fifth denial of its application to construct a charter school in town, Quest Academy Charter High School administrators launched a protracted court battle to overturn the decision.

In their appeal to New Jersey Supreme Court, Quest Academy administrators stated that they wanted to open a school in Montclair because for several years, Montclair’s public high school had “failed to meet educational standards (persistently scoring poorly in standardized tests) - a failure visited most acutely on Montclair’s minority and economically-disadvantaged students.”

However, NJ Department of Education officials told Quest that its application suffered from an "overall lack of quality” and proposed a plethora of educational initiatives that are "disconnected" from the needs of students.

• See related article: Quest Founders Fight On For Charter School In Montclair
• See related article: Letter: Montclair Doesn't Need Charter School

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