Hatikvah Files OPRA for Access to Legal Fees

The 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."

seeking to overturn former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’s decision to approve the school because it did not meet enrollment requirements at the time.

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.