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Editor, Asbury Park Sun,

The College Achieve Charter School, recently approved to open in Asbury Park, and for whom our school board has had to carve out $3.5 million of our budget, is currently seeking approvals before the Zoning Board of Adjustment so it can open in the basement of a church.

If its application is approved in accordance to the minimum requirements set forth by the State and the City, so be it.

My concern is College Achieve’s founder, Michael Piscal and his supporters have decided to create a PR campaign based on ideology, inflammatory remarks, and distorted facts about our school district, in an apparent attempt to foment public pressure at this critical moment for the Charter School’s survival.

Instead of playing it straight, Mr. Piscal has called our schools “disrespectful” of kids’ parents, whom he is fond of calling his “clients”. He rails against our public schools, calling them a “monopoly.”

Right-wing columnist Ernesto Cullari just this week called Asbury schools a “notorious failure.”

He has urged people to tell the zoning board to “desegregate our schools”, as if that has anything to do with the rather-dry details of a zoning board application.

It’s time to set the record straight.

Up until the recent past, our school district was a “notorious failure”, decimated for decades by incompetence, malice and corruption. Five years ago, if one were to tell me that another charter school was needed in Asbury Park, I would’ve agreed.

But, finally, we are headed on the right track, under the leadership of Superintendent Lamont Repollet. The proof is in the numbers:

Our High School Graduation Rate increased from 49% to 73%. 68% of students exceeded one-year growth targets through literacy intervention programs.

41% of students exceeded two-year growth expectations through literacy intervention programs.

In six grade levels, the percentage of students performing ‘on grade’ level increased in Language Arts.

Our new leadership has established career pathways at Asbury Park High School by partnering with Brookdale Community College to form the Dream Academy, an Early College Dual Enrollment Program beginning in the 9 th grade.

We’ve established a comprehensive dropout prevention program.

We’ve established the Asbury Park College & Career Readiness Institute that has resulted in jobs and internship opportunities for the APHS Students.

Do we still have a long way to go for our schools to succeed? Absolutely.

Are there viable [and free] options for parents that aren’t ready to send their children to Asbury schools? Of course.

I send my child to Deal School through its School Choice program. It’s public. It’s free. It’s open to any resident of Asbury Park. And it’s a quality education for my daughter as Asbury Park public schools continue to improve.

My dream is for APHS to be a viable option for my eight-year old daughter, by the time she reaches high school age. And with the new leadership in place, the dream is closer to reality than ever.

When Mr. Piscal and his ilk use public pressure, hyperbolic rhetoric, and blatant insults toward our schools, instead of the facts, we, as a community, should reject those Trump-like tactics.

Our North Star should be an inclusive public school system that continues to improve year by year, mirroring the same unlikely success that has made Asbury Park one of the premier small cities in America.

Anything less is unworthy of our students.

Joe Grillo

[Joe Grillo is a member of the Asbury Park Board of Education. The remarks above are solely his, as a private citizen, and not that of the Asbury Park Board of Education or any entity affiliated with the City of Asbury Park.]

[This letter represents the opinion of its writer and is not representative of any opinion of the Asbury Park Sun staff. All readers are welcome to submit Letters to the Editor to news@asburyparksun.com for our consideration. For guidelines on letter-writing and submission, click here.]

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