THE MATHEMATICS, Engineering, Technology and Science Charter School (METS Charter School) will open next month in Jersey City. School officials include, from left, Vice Principal Nicole Cruz, Principal Dr. Walter Goodwin, lead founder Dr. John Sico Jr., Business Administrator Michael Sico, and Director of Facilities Danny Sico.


Two new charter schools to open in Jersey City

Published: Monday, August 01, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Catherine Weening/ The Jersey Journal

The New Jersey Department of Education has given a thumbs up to two new charter schools in Hudson County, both of them in Jersey City.

Opening up Downtown in September with roughly 320 students will be the Math, Science, Technology, Science (M.E.T.S.) Charter School; and on Bramhall Avenue the Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter School will open with 356 students.

M.E.T.S. Charter School will open at 180 9th St., the former site of Golden Door Charter School, which is moving to 3044 Kennedy Blvd.

The first students will be in grades 6 through 9 and the school will add a grade each year for the next three years until there are 540 students, grades 6 through 12, said Dr. John Sico Jr., the school?s founder.

The school is partnering with the Liberty Science Center, New Jersey City University, William Paterson University, and NOVA University to implement a cutting- edge curriculum in math, engineering, technology, and science, Sico said.

?We expect the school to become a national model for teaching math, engineering, technology, and science,? said Sico, a former professor at William Paterson University.


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The Rev. Francis Schiller, a real estate attorney and a longtime priest at St. Patrick?s & Assumption/All Saints Church is one of the founders of the Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter School. The church closed its parochial school in June and the new school is opening at that location, 509 Bramhall Ave.

?Knowing that the Catholic school was closing, we wanted to provide the same level of education that had been previously provided,? Schiller said Thursday . Christopher Garlan, the CEO of the school, said the focus of the school will be ?character building.?

The school is named after one of the first African-American National Board certified female OBGYNs in the United States, who also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her humanitarian work in Texas with migrant workers. Edwards practiced in Jersey City for many years.

One other school in Hudson County, DREAM Preparatory Academy Charter High School, applied for a charter and was granted a planning year, New Jersey State officials said. It is slated to open in 2012 in Jersey City.

For information about the M.E.T.S. Charter School, call (201) 526-8500 or visit www.metscharterschool.org.
For information about the Dr. Lena Edwards School, call (201) 401-4306.

From the article above, this really jumped out at me.

Quote:
But Stiles disagrees with that point of view. ?How can you put a price tag on the education of 500 students?? he asked.
End Quote

I think it is pretty easy to put a price tag on the education of 500 students Mr. Stiles.
Just take the per pupil cost that the Jersey City School District has and multiply by 500.
It surprises me that a Charter School leader would make such a statement. This sounds more like a JCBOE administrator or NJ teachers union executive defending Jersey City's ongoing failure in public education.

Jersey City's Golden Door Charter School to move for more space, cheaper rent

Published: Tuesday, July 05, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Rhea Mahbubani/The Jersey Journal

Jersey City?s Golden Door Charter School will have a new home this September.

Faculty and staff are vacating the school?s 50,000 square foot facility at 108 Ninth Street and Marin Boulevard, which housed the K-8 institution for 13 years and was built by the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.

On Sept. 6, students will open the new school year at the former St. John the Baptist School and convent buildings at 3044 Kennedy Blvd.

This move has been in the pipeline for nearly two years, primarily because of rising rent, according to Brian Stiles, the school?s chief academic officer.

?Every five years we renew our lease, which increases our monthly rent by 10 percent,? said Stiles. ?We started out in the high $60,000s. The first rent increase was waived, but it did go up and now, we pay $77,000.??

?The next hike was scheduled for September 2011 and would have raised the school?s rent to $85,000 a month, he said.

To make matters worse, the school was unable to offer extracurricular activities after 3:30 p.m. because the building was used by the city as a community center and the gym is used by the St. Anthony High School basketball team, Stiles said, adding the school?s repeated offers to purchase the building were also rejected.

But city officials said it?s not in the city?s interest to sell this Downtown property on the cheap.

?Our board decided that as a long-term asset the agency would be best served by holding on to this valuable site,? said JCRA Executive Director Robert Antonicello.

But Stiles disagrees with that point of view. ?How can you put a price tag on the education of 500 students?? he asked.

After lengthy negotiations, the Archdiocese of Newark has agreed to lease the St. John the Baptist property to the school for 40 years, after which the charter school can buy the property, Stiles said. For the first year, the rent will be $31,250 a month, he said.

Renovations costing $5.2 million have begun at the St. John the Baptist property. The school has secured a $5 million loan from The Reinvestment Fund, which extends low-interest loans to nonprofits, said Meeta Kalawadia, the school?s business administrator.

The 72,000-square-foot facility will have administrative offices, a garden with benches, a library, auditorium and gym, and a computer lab, officials said.

There will also be ?more elbow room,? said Stiles, adding that the students will now have 29 classrooms as compared to a previous 24.

?We are looking forward to being part of the neighborhood and giving back to the community,? he said. ?I?m just so excited about our new place that I?m not really sad about leaving.?

Golden Door?s former location will soon be occupied by METS Charter School, a 320-student middle and high school that focuses on math and science.