Hatikvah Files OPRA for Access to Legal Fees
Hatikvah International Academy Charter School wants to know how much East Brunswick has paid in legal fees to fight it.
The Hatikvah International Academy Charter School thinks East Brunswick is spending too much in its fight against the school.
On Wednesday, the school announced that it had filed an Open Public Records Act request requesting the district to release exactly how much in legal fees the Board of Education has incurred in its fight against the school. In addition, in a letter to Robin McMahon Esq., of the law firm Clearly, Giacobbe, Alfier, Jacobs, LLC (CGAJL), it also asked the district to withdraw its Notice of Petition for Certification to the Supreme Court. School board attorney Matthew Giacobbe is a member of CGAJLaw.
"Our friends and neighbors in East Brunswick should be clear on the facts here," said Hatikvah board member and spokeswoman Pam Mullin in a press release to the East Brunswick Patch. "Three times the school board has attempted with specious arguments to try to shut down our school, and each challenge has been rejected out of hand. The last three state education commissioners, the career attorneys in the attorney general’s office, and now three independent judges have all said the same thing: Hatikvah has a valid charter and has the right to deliver a high-quality, dual-language curriculum to the families who choose our school as the best educational option for their children."
District officials filed documents in Appellate Court in April seeking to overturn former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’s decision to approve the school because it did not meet enrollment requirements at the time. In December, the court said the school met all enrollment requirements before opening in 2010 and that subsequent dips in enrollment before the actual opening were not grounds to revoke the charter.
According to the December decision, the school board was urging the court “to revoke Hatikvah's charter and remand the matter to the commissioner to set a timetable for it to wind down its operations, or take other steps as a result of Hatikvah's purportedly deficient application.”
Questions from East Brunswick Patch regarding the OPRA request and how much the district has paid in legal fees to fight the school were referred to Giacobbe.
Hatikvah representative Dan Gerstein said the district is appealing the December decision as well. As a result, Hatikvah said it wants East Brunswick taxpayers to know exactly how much the district is paying to fight the school.
"We would have hoped that the school board would heed its fiduciary responsibilities to East Brunswick's taxpayers and stop this pointless fight, which has already wasted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars without accomplishing anything other than unfairly punishing a group of parents and students who believe in our approach,” said Mullin. “Sadly, the school board decided last week to file yet another frivolous appeal and throw away even more precious resources that should be spent on preparing all of East Brunswick’s students to succeed in career and life.”
However, during the 2011 school budget discussions, district officials have said East Brunswick’s responsibility to help fund the school has been a drain on its resources.
Deca
10:41 am on Thursday, January 19, 2012
It is interesting that Hatikvah chooses this tactic as recently PIACS, a yet unopened charter schools for the South Brunswick, Princeton and other areas, tried the same legal tactic and lost. I think that the issue is misrepresented by the Hatikvah representative here. The issue is NOT with Hatikvah - it is with a Department of Education that sets out certain rules that we all must play by and then changes those rules at the 11th hour. If they can change the rule regarding enrollment, what is next? Much of this could be solved moving forward if communities were allowed to vote as to whether to open a charter school in their district - just as we as voters would vote to open an new traditional public school or renovate one. Let the majority rule, not the DoE!
Michael Hill Goldstein
1:12 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
How come the bigger issues aren't being questioned- such as:
What are the total costs of all lawsuits brought by the EB Board of Ed over the past five years.
How does the EB Board of Ed choose the lawfirms for these suits- is it by public bidding, rfp- or is by the old quid pro quo. You give me business I will give your private firm business.
Why aren't EB township lawyers used in cases like this- why do we have to hire private firms?
Why isn't there a public referendum to decide if taxpayers want to pursue these frivilous lawsuits -just as they are asking for public referendums for new charter schools.
If the costs of these lawsuits are in the hundreds of thousands as many believe they are- who is accountable for the waste of taxpayer funds? Who monitors the spending by these lawfirms on paperclips, copying, hourly billing of $300 for attorneys and $200 for paralegals, billing for phone conversations, trips, travel expenses, legal services, court appearances,reporters etc... Is their any oversight???
Is this why we have a Board of Ed in the 1st place- to pursue these types of legal challenges- some going to high appellate courts after constant losses.
What are our goals and why are we pursuing these issues when we lose on them so many times?
Kelly
4:22 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
As an East Brunswick taxpayer, and as a parent, I fully support the BOE using the court system to challenge the opening of Hatikvah Charter School. My position has nothing to do with the merits of Hatikvah or charter schools in general. It has everything to do with the school being allowed to open despite not meeting all the states requirements to open. Let us not forget the shady nature of the school opening being pushed through (despite non-compliance) during Commissioner Shundler's exit from his office.
As the PIACS lawsuit and court decision confirmed for us, it is part of the Board's responsibly to us to safeguard our school funding.
It is too bad that charter schools are not subject to the same local scrutiny and referendum that all other local school spending is held to. If voters in East Brunswick has a say in whether to spend our local property tax dollars on this boutique school, no lawsuits would be needed in the first place.
Rob
12:07 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
This would all be over much more quickly if our state government allowed citizens in successful school districts to vote on whether we actually want and need a school like this. If the citizens wanted it and voted for it, it stays. If they vote against it, it goes. If it really is as necessary and popular as charter school members say it is, then there's nothing to worry about. But, we have politicians protecting their own personal ideologies and self-interests and charter schools that cater to their own self-interest groups. It was only a few years ago that my Jewish, Greek, and Chinese friends went to Hebrew, Greek, and Chinese school that their parents paid for. Now, we have people who learned how to work over the system so they no longer have to pay for this schooling out of their own pocket but can get the taxpayers to pay for their kids Hebrew lessons on our dime. Sounds like a great deal for them. Just to boost their enrollment numbers, hey, how about a full time kindergarten so that parents of kindergartners will take up enrollment spots so they don't have to pay extra for outside babysitting since the elementary schools only have half day? What a system. Take out the Jewish students there for Hebrew and the kindergarten students solely there for their parents to save money, and how many students would be left? I can't blame the people for working the system, but I think it's only fair the public gets to say whether they want to support this school or not.
Christine
9:05 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
The charter school laws in New Jersey are broken. They are some of the weakest in the country in terms of accountability and transparency. Communities deserve a voice on the openings of new charter schools in their community, no different than we would have a voice in the opening of a new traditional public school in town. If you agree, please let your representatives in Trenton know, by signing our petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/new-jersey-communities-want-local-control-over-new-charter-schools-2