CAPS Has Not Provided Any Permits To Move Into Mater Dei In Middletown

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — CAPS charter school has not supplied any of the permits Middletown Township is asking for in order to grant them a certificate of occupancy to move into the former Mater Dei high school.

That's the latest this week from Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, who said CAPS has not provided any of the multiple code requirements the town requested.

"It's a little unusual," mused Perry this week. "School starts in September and it's already mid-June. I would think they would have supplied the necessary documents if they still plan to move in there."

Glenn Holck, the business manager at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Middletown, which owns Mater Dei and would have been CAPS' landlord, is now refusing to answer any questions when Patch asked if CAPS still plans to move into Mater Dei.

"No comment," is all he will say.

CAPS was going to pay St. Mary's $30,000 a month in rent, plus a $150,000 sign-on bonus, to rent Mater Dei. CAPS and St. Mary's already signed a lease, Holck confirmed back in April.

They were going to bus high school students from the CAPS-Asbury Park campus up to Middletown. The initial plan was to bus 140 teenagers from Asbury Park/Neptune to Mater Dei.

CAPS-Middletown was going to be CAPS' first foray into a New Jersey suburban town.

CAPS under fire, says it's running out of money to operate

CAPS is College Achieve Public School, a charter school that started in poor, urban areas of New Jersey.

CAPS runs high schools in Paterson, Plainfield, Asbury Park and Neptune, and services children and teenagers seeking an alternative from the public schools in those cities.

However, CAPS became the subject of major scrutiny in the past three months: First, this bombshell Star Ledger report revealed CAPS pays its founder and CEO Michael Piscal $697,528 a year, $125,000 more than the highest-paid public school superintendent in New Jersey. The director of CAPS-Paterson, Gemar Mills, got $433,734 a year. Jodi McInerney, director of CAPS-Asbury Park — and who herself graduated from Red Bank Catholic — was paid $323,245.

The Star Ledger also unearthed that former NJ education commissioner David Hespe now works for CAPS, where he is paid $158,892 to be their chief of staff. Hespe was a DOE commissioner when the DOE first approved CAPS to open, but CAPS says there is no conflict of interest.

That article prompted four state lawmakers, including two from Monmouth County — Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), Sen. Declan O'Scanlon (R-Monmouth), state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) and state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex). — to ask the NJ Department of Education to formally investigate CAPS.

The DOE cannot confirm or deny a current investigation.

Asbury Park school district sued CAPS

Then, the Asbury Park school district sued CAPS-Asbury Park, saying CAPS is siphoning tax dollars that should go to Asbury Park public schools.

The way charter schools work is they receive taxpayer money from the school districts where they are located: If students in those districts want to attend a charter school instead of the public school they are zoned for, the school district (or, more often the state Department of Education) has to pay the charter school to send the student there.

Asbury Park says CAPS sucked $1.4 million from the state by enrolling dozens of teenagers that do not actually live in Asbury Park; they allege CAPS enrolls teenagers from across the state and lies about their residency.

Out of 338 kids enrolled in CAPS-Asbury Park for the 2023-24 school year, Asbury Park BOE says they were only able to verify that 53 actually live in Asbury Park.

“It’s decimating our public school system and enriching them,” Asbury Park board finance chair Wendi Glassman told the Star Ledger/NJ Advance Media. “This is a theft of (taxpayer) funds.”

CAPS denies this. However, in an emergency filing in response to that lawsuit, they did say in mid-May they are "quickly running out of state and local funds to operate."

Now, back to Middletown: The Middletown Zoning Department told CAPS they need to fulfill a number of requirements before the town grants them a certificate of occupancy.

Among them are that CAPS needs to first obtain a waiver from the state Department of Education, and that CAPS needs to show compliance with construction, fire prevention and health codes. Middletown also said it is consulting with the state to determine if the Mater Dei building is ADA accessible, has ADA-accessible parking and whether the building's fire suppression system is up to date.

Charter school is bilking us out of $1M+ in taxpayer dollars, N.J. school district claims (May 16)

Lawmakers Want CAPS Investigated, As It Seeks Expansion To Middletown (May 9)

CAPS Awaits Approval To Open In Middletown, Amid Bombshell Report (May 2)

St. Mary's Plans To Bring Urban Charter School To Mater Dei Campus (April 11)