Schools

PIACS Won't Open in South Brunswick in September

The odds of Mandarin-immersion charter school opening at any location in September is 50-50, school spokesperson says.

The Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS) will not open in South Brunswick this fall, the school’s spokesman confirmed on Saturday.

“The likelihood of us using that location for this fall is very low,” said PIACS co-founder Parker Block, adding that the odds of the school opening at all this fall are about 50-50.

“We're telling parents to keep the reality of the situation in mind and to be prepared for the eventuality that this might not take place,” Block said.

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PIACS was approved by the state Department of Education in January 2010 as a dual-language Mandarin-English immersion school to serve students in kindergarten through second grade from Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro and South Brunswick school districts.  

School officials hoped to open in September, 2010 at St. Joseph’s Seminary on Mapleton Road in Plainsboro, but problems with the school’s municipal zoning application caused the hearings to be delayed and the school could not open.

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The state DOE granted PIACS a one-year planning extension.

The most recent plan is for PIACS to open at a 41,000-square-foot site that is currently a liquor distribution warehouse at 12 Perrine Road, but developer 12 P & Associations, LLC’s hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment has been continued until July 7, dangerously close to the July 15 deadline (if an extension was granted by the state) for the school to gets the necessary occupancy permit to open.

PIACS’ application before South Brunswick calls for the school to share the Perrine Road location with the YingHua International School, a private school founded by PIACS lead founder Dr. Bonnie Liao.

Block said school officials are still looking at four other locations that would allow the school to open in September. Those locations are in Princeton Township and West Winsor-Plainsboro and none would require zoning variances, he said.

The Perrine Road location is where PIACS hopes to be located long-term because it is centrally located and offers room for growth, Block said.

PIACS is projected to open with 170 students. One in four of those students currently attend private schools, Block said, noting that parents of those children may end up withdrawing from PIACS in order to reserve space at their child’s current school, given the uncertainly surrounding PIACS’ opening in the fall.

“They would need to make a decision and if they decide it's too late and they decide to enroll in private school, we would take someone from the waiting list,” Block said.

There are at least 80 students on the PIACS waiting list, he said.  


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