Delay Likely for N.J.’s First Mandarin Charter School

Editor’s Note: With two applications pending for bilingual charter schools in Livingston and neighboring districts, both sides of the issue have been following the fate of Princeton International Academy Charter School, which would be the first Mandarin Chinese immersion to open in the state.

Princeton International Academy Charter School 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, adding that the odds of the school opening at all this fall is about 50-50.

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

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.

The state granted the school a one-year planning extension.

The most recent plan is for PIACS to open at a 41,000-square-foot liquor distribution site at 12 Perrine Road in South Brunswick, 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 get 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 Windsor-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.