CHARTER CHAOS
DOE approves 450-student charter school in Trenton, sparking outrage and shock
The application of Achievers Early College Prep Charter School seemed to go unnoticed.
But its impact may soon be felt on Trenton Public Schools.
The New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) announced Friday the approval of Achievers Early College Prep Charter School’s application to operate a school for 450 students, grades 6 through 9, in Trenton. The charter school is slated to open next September.
In March 2015, the Trenton school board passed a resolution opposing the expansion of charters schools in the city due to the financial impact. Over the past several years, Trenton schools has laid off hundreds of employees and closed numerous schools. Trenton school leaders have blamed budget shortfalls on charter schools eating away at the district’s budget.
The anti-charter school resolution stated that the school board “will strongly advocate for a moratorium on approvals of new and expanded charter schools in the city of Trenton and a freeze on the number of school choice placements from the City of Trenton” and that elected officials representing Trenton would also be urged support the motion.
However, with all the teeth of the resolution, this time around with Achievers’ application, the district apparently did not seem to care.
Trenton Public Schools was notified by DOE by the end of March that Achievers had applied when Nelson Ribon was acting superintendent. The district was again notified in mid-July that Achievers had submitted a Phase Two application, a DOE spokesman said Friday.
New Superintendent Fred McDowell would have received that notification of the charter school a couple weeks after he started his job in Trenton. If the charter school enrolls its full capacity of students, it will take away approximately 20 percent of Trenton’s middle school population.
“There were no comments – not from the school district or the public,” DOE spokesman David Saenz Jr. said Friday in an email. “The comment period was closed earlier this year.”
There were two comment periods. Comments could have been made 30 days after the initial application on March 31 and 60 days after the secondary application on July 17, Saenz said.
Trenton School Board President Gene Bouie admitted Friday to hearing a charter school application was made but said the approval was “news” to him.
“I don’t recall but I heard that there was an application and I don’t remember in which context,” Bouie said, declining to comment on the impact of possibly losing 450 students to the charter school. “I do have some feelings about it but I can’t really comment on it. I’m going to let the folks who have responsibility for commenting on the district handle that.” District spokeswoman Alexandrea Robinson-Rogers said in a text message she was “still gathering information” and likely wouldn’t be able to provide a response on Friday.
Trenton teachers union officials blasted the district’s lack of response to the charter school application, calling Bouie’s and Ribon’s actions “irresponsible” for “simply ignoring” the March notification.
“They were notified that the Trenton Public Schools budget could take another devastating hit during the budget season and just ignored it,” Trenton Education Association (TEA) President Naomi Johnson-Lafleur said Friday. “Bouie and Ribon not only ignored they letter, but they didn’t even share the information with the public. Conversation after conversation was being held about budget shortfalls due to charter school expansion and they didn’t say a word. If that wasn’t enough, Bouie and the new superintendent were notified again in July. Again the communication was ignored. However, this lack of concern and incompetence cannot be ignored.”
The union boss said if TEA and other community members knew about the application in a timely manner, they “would have voiced their opposition.”
“Trenton has suffered enough,” Johnson-Lafleur said. “Charter schools have opened and closed disrupting students’ education. More than $40 million of our budget goes to charter schools. Trenton residents have lost their jobs to privatization. Schools have closed. This is inexcusable and they must be held accountable.”
Taking it one step further, another union official called on Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, who appoints all of the school members, to take immediate action.
“It is very clear that this was an intentional act,” TEA grievance chair Janice Williams said about the lack of notification to the public from district leaders. “What are you going to do about this Mayor Jackson? I hope remove them all for demonstrated lack of leadership. The board bears direct responsibility for the loss of potential staff and most importantly 400 students.”
Jackson did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Trenton Superintendent McDowell was notified in a letter
dated Nov. 2 by DOE Commissioner Kimberly Harrington of Achievers’ approval. The letter states that upon successful completion of the preparedness process and compliance with all state and federal regulations, including an on-site visit, a review of the program, facility and fiscal documentation and interviews, the charter will be granted to begin operating in the 2018-19 school year.
The DOE head will decide if the charter school can open its doors by July 15.
One key component is that the charter school must find a facility to accommodate 450 students.
“The only hope is that a building location will not be located,” Williams, the teachers union grievance chair, said. “Let’s hope so.”
Achievers is founded by Efe Odeleye and Osen Osagie, who works at Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia as a special education instructor, according to her LinkedIn page.
Odeleye, who previously served as a director of operations fellow at Uncommon Schools and executive director of Freedom Foundation, did not return a message seeking comment.
According to a press release on the charter school’s website, Achievers will provide students “the unique opportunity to take a twoyear, tuition-free college course of study in STEM fields following the 9th and 10th grades.”
The charter school said it received a $215,000 grant from NewSchools Invent to accomplish this goal.
In a video Odeleye posted to YouTube in June, the charter school co-founder said Achievers is working out partnerships with Mercer County Community College and Rider University.
A MCCC spokesman could not confirm this info late Friday.
Odeleye said in the video that the school will “not just give (students) a traditional secondary school education but an early college education.”
“What that means is our students will be able to graduate from grade 12 and receive an associate’s degree in an applied science or as many at least 30 college credits,” the charter school leader said.
The school will also operate differently than a typical school, Odeleye said.
“We have an extended school day and an extended school year,” she said, noting six and a half hours a day will be designated purely to instruction while the remainder will be for community building and for social and emotional building. “Our students are getting almost double of the recommended number of instructional minutes over what the state of New Jersey recommends.”
If Achievers is granted final approval, the school will join five other charter schools operating in Trenton: Foundation Academy Charter School, International Academy of Trenton Charter School, International Charter School, Paul Robeson Charter School for the Humanities and The Village Charter School.