All but 1 Area Charter Plan Rejected: A Cherry Hill School’s State Approval Was Confirmed, but Six Other Proposals Failed

By Kristen A. Graham, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Jan. 24–Just one of seven would-be schools in the tri-county area that had hoped to receive charters from the state Department of Education made the cut, officials announced yesterday.

TLC Charter School in Cherry Hill will focus on literacy instruction, the arts, parental involvement and small classes to help students achieve.

Cofounder Harriet Beckerman announced last week that she had received acting Education Commissioner Lucille Davy’s approval to open.

Statewide, six new charter schools were approved. Davy also announced that 12 charter schools would receive five-year renewals. They include LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden, which may expand from 702 students to 780 in the fall.

Besides the Cherry Hill school, the state approved Benchmark Academy Charter High School for the Corbin City region in Atlantic County, Central Jersey College Prep Charter School for Middlesex and Somerset Counties, Bergen Arts and Science Charter School for the Hackensack region in Bergen County, Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School in Newark, and Foundation Academy Charter School in Trenton.

Some will open in the fall and the others, including TLC Charter School, in September 2007. When all are open, New Jersey will have 57 charter schools.

At the start of this school year, about 14,900 students attended charters, which are publicly funded but operate independently of district school boards.

“We expect these charter schools will join an impressive group of schools that give students alternatives in their K-12 education,” Davy said.

The state rejected several proposed schools in South Jersey, including a boarding school in Pennsauken (Camden County Academy Regional Charter) and the first charter school planned for Burlington County (Charter Prep High School in Willingboro).

Also turned down were Camden’s Pride Charter, Thurgood Marshall Law Charter High School, and Unity Community Performing Arts Charter School, all in Camden, and the Benchmark Academy Charter High School in Mays Landing.

Proposals could be denied for a number of reasons, said Rochelle Hendricks, the Education Department’s director of vocational and innovative programs.

“They have to have a viable fiscal plan, and many of them don’t,” she said. “In other instances, they’re not very clear on their recruitment strategies and how they’re going to handle enrollment strategies.

“You’re not looking for them to have a full-fledged curriculum, but you’re looking for them to have an understanding about what it means to run a public school.”

William Bzadough of Wayne, Passaic County, made the application for Charter Prep High School in Willingboro. He said he had hoped it would open in September with 180 students in eighth through 10th grades and eventually educate 300 in eighth through 12th grades.

Bzadough said he was not sure what had gone wrong.

“I’m still in the process of finding out what’s happening,” he said. “I’m going up to Trenton this week.”

State education officials have said any applicant may reapply in the next round of charter proposals and meet with them to go over their applications before reapplying.

Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 856-779-3927 or kgraham@phillynews.com. To comment, or to ask a question, go to http://go.philly.com/askgraham.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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