PRINCETON: Princeton Charter School’s board meeting to decide on response to Princeton Public School’s lawsuit (Updated)

By Erica Wida, Packet Media
The Princeton Charter School Board of Trustees met Friday with counsel after being served with a pending lawsuit filed by Princeton Public Schools., Princeton Public Schools took legal action following Princeton Charter’s Dec. 1 proposal to the expand enrollment. The public school board feared the proposal, if granted, would be detrimental to the schools’ wellbeing., The PPS Board of Education has filed suit – alleging Princeton Charter to have violated the Sunshine Law, or Open Public Meetings Act, by meeting in closed session about the decision to increase enrollment., “I continue to believe that honest, open, and creative conversation with the Princeton Charter School is the surest path towards positive resolution. We are pursuing that. Nevertheless, the Board and I feel a duty to also pursue all legal avenues to protect the financial and educational interests of the District,” PPS Superintendent Steve Cochrane said., “We have filed a complaint alleging that PCS did not comply with the Open Public Meetings Act when it took action to pass the resolution on Nov. 28 to amend the school’s charter and increase its enrollment. In essence we are claiming that the community was not properly informed that the PCS Trustees were intending to take action to approve an application to increase the school’s enrollment, and that as a result, the court should invalidate that action.”, Princeton Charter’s pending request asks the state DOE to allow the school to implement a weighted lottery that would give a two-to-one advantage for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. This effort to increase access and equity was coupled with a request to expand grades K-2 from one class of 19, 21 and 22 students, respectively, to two., Princeton Charter was met with extreme opposition as soon as its board notified Mr. Cochrane and the public school administration on Nov. 28., Princeton Charter met in a closed session Friday to hear the advice of counsel regarding the application, recent developments, and the public school’s filed litigation. They decided to not yet pursue legal action., “We had a promising initial meeting with PPS last week, and expect to meet again later this week for what we hope to be productive dialogue about our application,” Princeton Charter Board of Trustees President Paul Josephson said. “In the interest of fostering that conversation, we are focused on those discussions rather than the lawsuit.”, The Department of Education’s decision as to whether Princeton Charter may expand is expected in early March.