Head of New Jersey Charter School Office Steps Down

New Jersey's charter school director, on the job for less than a dozen months, will be stepping down at the end of this year to take a new job in Chicago public schools.

Carly Bolger, director of the state Department of Education's charter school office, said her decision was "100 percent personal," since she is moving because of a relationship in Chicago. Finding the right job as director of Chicago's New Schools Office helped determine the timing, she said.

"My time here has been an incredible experience," she said yesterday. "I have worked with great people and created a great team, and I think really charted the course for where New Jersey is heading with charter schools."

Brought on board by acting commissioner Chris Cerf 10 months ago, Bolger oversaw the state's charter school office through maybe the movement's most tumultuous time since the experimental schools first launched in New Jersey 15 years ago.

Gov. Chris Christie has pressed for the expansion of charter schools and led the way for more than 20 new schools to be approved in the past year. Cerf has also sought to step up the state's oversight and doubled the size of the charter office to 11 people, including Bolger.

But the controversy over charters has been fiery, especially from suburban districts that haven't welcomed the schools into their communities and have argued that state oversight is inadequate. Several legislative bills remain pending that would significantly tighten restrictions on charters.

"The level of the debate is justified, given the importance of the issue," Bolger said yesterday at her tumultuous press conference.

She added, "In New Jersey, more than other places, the tone of the debate has gotten beyond the real issues. Personally, I would like to see it return to the quality of the schools."

Bolger said she would remain through the end of the calendar year, and also assist in the sometimes controversial review of charter applications. The department over the past year has been criticized for using outside reviewers, whom it has refused to identify but turned out to be largely charter school leaders and advocates.

Charter advocates were not fans of the latest process, either, calling it a vague and poorly designed system that led to just four of more than 50 applications being approved in the latest round. A report by the Washington-based Center for Education Reform yesterday slammed the application process for what it called its lack of transparency and objectivity.

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