PIACS Denied Another Planning Year by DOE

One charter school serving local students was approved to open in September, while another was denied an additional year to find a location.

After being granted a planning year extension twice in the last two years, the (PIACS) may have reached the end of the road.

On Monday, the New Jersey Department of Education denied a request from the charter school for a third planning year. PIACS was rejected, along with 10 other charter schools, "because they failed to demonstrate sufficient progress towards readiness," according to the DOE.

Another 9 charter schools were approved by the DOE to open in September, including the Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School (TEESCS), which  in July, 2011 after failing to open for the 2011-12 school year.

TEESCS, which is set to open in September at a location in Somerset, is a K-8 school teaching students with a theme of green and renewable energy education, according to the TEESCS web site. TEESCS draws students from South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and Franklin Township schools. 

“We are deeply committed to ensuring that every student in New Jersey has access to a high-quality public school option that is a good fit for them, no matter whether that is a district, charter, magnet, or vocational school,” said Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf via release. “We are confident that the charter schools we approved today will provide great options for the children of New Jersey.”

The denial for PIACS followed by the South Brunswick Zoning Board of Adjustments.

In his letter to PIACS, Cerf said it wasn’t just the inability to find a facility for the school that led to their denial.

“The school has failed to make even minimal progress toward compliance with criteria necessary to gain final approval,” Cerf wrote.

“Based on these findings, I am denying your request for a third planning year and will not be granting a charter to Princeton International Academy Charter School.”

PIACS had a June 30 deadline to obtain a certificate of occupancy for any location. South Brunswick's zoning board voted 4-3 in favor of the application filed by developer 12 P & Associates, LLC, which is owned by former PIACS Board of Trustee member Helena May. Though the majority of the board voted to approve the school, the application was one vote short of gaining a use variance.

Immediately following the hearing, PIACS spokesman Parker Block said the school hadn't considered filing an appeal or asking for a third extension year from the DOE at the time.

"We have to regroup. There were no additional plans beyond this application," Block said. "Everything was leading up to this."

PIACS was approved in 2010 by the state DOE to serve students from the South Brunswick, Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro school districts. Problems with the school’s zoning application prevented PIACS from opening as planned at the St. Joseph’s Seminary, on Mapleton Road in Plainsboro. The DOE then granted the school a one-year planning extension. , after determining it would be unable to gain zoning board approval and a certificate of occupancy by the deadline in 2011. 

"The Princeton International Academy Charter School does not intend to open for the 2012-2013 school year," read a message on the PIACS web site from June 5. "Once again, we lack an adequate school facility within our three home districts. We continue our search for a facility, but know that anything that is identified between now and June 30 will not be ready in time for September 2012. 

"Our Charter Application was approved by the NJ Department of Education in January 2010. Since that time, we have worked tireless to find a facility that is of adequate size and configuration to be a safe and inspiring home for our school. But, zoning issues have been the thorn in our sides."

The initial application from developer 12 P & Associates, LLC  at 12 Perrine Road called for PIACS to share the 11.70 acre site with the  A second application was filed after the  

In August 2011, PIACS filed a lawsuit against the South Brunswick, Princeton and West Windsor-Plainsboro school districts. On Nov. 18, the Office of Administrative Law ruled against  in their lawsuit against the . 

The suit  and the use of governmental positions to fight the opening of PIACS.

 found that the school districts have "discretionary authority to perform all acts and do all things, consistent with the law and the rules of the state board, necessary for the lawful and proper conduct, equipment and maintenance of the public schools of the district."

In April, PIACS and upholding the Administrative Law decision.

“There is no legal authority which precludes respondents from engaging in the contested actions set forth above,” he wrote.

South Brunswick for students the state projected to attend both PIACS and TEESCS, but it was not immediately clear what the projected impact would be from the denial of another planning year to PIACS.