FRANKLIN – The Latino Coalition of New Jersey and Franklin C.A.R.E.S. sent a civil rights complaint to federal Departments of Justice and Education Friday asking them to investigate alleged segregation in two charter schools operating in the township, the organizations said in a news release.
The groups are requesting the actions against Central Jersey College Prep and the Thomas Edison Energy Smart Schools.
“Charter schools are supposed to educate all the children in their given districts not a select demographic,” said Lazaro Cardenas, spokesman for the Latino Coalition of New Jersey, a civil rights organization. “The data is striking.
“The Franklin Charter schools have failed to enroll representative numbers of Latinos, African-Americans, low-income students and students with disabilities. They are using taxpayer funds to run segregated schools.”
Both organizations have also called on New Jersey Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington to reject the expansion proposal by Central Jersey College Prep and rescind its charter.
Furthermore, the groups have requested the closing of the Thomas Edison Energy Smart School because of its failure to integrate.
“We haven’t been notified of any such action,” Dr. Namik Sercan, school lead at Central Jersey College Prep, told NJ Advance Media. “But we select students through a random lottery. I’m not sure what type of segregation these organizations are alleging.
“Once we’ve had an opportunity to review the concerns of these organizations, we’ll address it. We serve all students. We deny all allegations of segregation.”
Oguz Yildiz, principal at Thomas Edison Energy Smart Schools, was unavailable for comment.
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John Felix, a spokesman for Franklin C.A.R.E.S., an organization of concerned parents, said that one of the strengths of Franklin Township and the school district is its “diversity and the myriad of world cultures represented in the community. The charter schools do not represent that diversity.
The organizations claim that the student body at both schools do not mirror that of the school district and that students at the schools are denied the essential and important experience of “being educated in a diverse and vibrant environment.”
The complaint and a separate letter was sent to Harrington and included the following data:
For Central Jersey College Prep: “CJCP’s enrollment of Students with Disability is 7% compared to 16% at FTPS. The data for English Language Learners (ELLs) is even less representative; CJCP did not admit any students in the 2014-2015 school year; whereas 5.6% of FTPS students were ELL.
For Thomas Edison Energy Smart: “FTPS [Franklin Township Public Schools] educates 38% African American students and 30% Hispanic students compared to TEECS’ 13% and 4% respectively.
Furthermore, only 8% of the Thomas Edison Charter School’s students qualify for free and reduced lunches, an indicator of poverty, while 45 percent of the students in the Franklin Township schools qualify for the nutritional program.”
In its complaint, the organizations said the New Jersey Constitution requires the commissioner to “take measures to prevent racial segregation in the public schools.”
The complaint also states that “The Charter School Program Act of 1995 specifically mandates that charter schools “seek the enrollment of a cross section of the community’s school age population including racial and academic factors.”
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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