Hoboken is a town in New Jersey that is one-mile square. The charter industry is opening schools there, draining away white and middle-class students.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Education Law Center have filed a lawsuit to block the further expansion of charter schools.
To read the brief for the Plaintiffs, click here.
I received the following letter explaining the rationale for the lawsuit:
“Dear Ms. Ravitch,
As a cogent analyst of the national charter school movement and the insidious harm that that movement has caused our traditional schools, you often write about how communities deserve “strong, well-resourced, equitable public school systems” and that the national charter school movement “increases segregation and inequity”. (*Salon, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, Our real charter school nightmare: The new war on public schools and teachers – Salon.com)
You have also included on your blog a post about the segregative affect the Hoboken charter schools are having on the district public schools. Now there is a new chapter to write. The Hoboken Board of Education (HBOE) is suing the New Jersey Department of Education for ignoring its own rules, New Jersey law and, most striking, New Jersey’s Constitution when reviewing a charter school renewal and expansion application. The HBOE, in petition and briefs, has detailed the segregative effect and the financial impact that Hoboken Dual Language Charter School‘s (HoLa) expansion has had and will continue to have on the Hoboken District. A District that serves a majority of the City’s neediest children because of their financial circumstances or special educational needs.
Now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey Foundation and the Education Law Center (ELC) have filed an amici brief in support of Hoboken District. They state that “with both New Jersey’s commitment to eradicating segregation and its historical failure to do so in mind, the Commissioner cannot be permitted to ignore the realities that present themselves in Hoboken.” They rightfully fault New Jersey’s DOE for its blatant failure to perform its duties and to ensure our schools, and Hoboken specifically, do not allow school districts separated by socioeconomic and racial classes. Classes often linked in terms of their impact on success in education. The impact is stark when the districts in issue share the same mile square city.
The ACLU/ELC explain the harm segregation causes all children and the benefits to society of integrated schools. The DOE has that duty and the obligation to stop segregation and those harms so as to encourage quality education outcomes for as many students as possible regardless of race or affluence. That obligation extends to de facto segregation, even if unintentional, which must be struck from our educational landscape. The ACLU/ELC recount the history and current state of segregation in New Jersey’s schools based on economic and minority status and note, notwithstanding New Jersey’s long held policy against racial discrimination, discrimination continues in New Jersey to the point that New Jersey has some of the most economically and racially segregated schools in the country.
The ACLU/ELC state that: “consistent with not only the law, but also deeply held legal principles that undergird New Jersey’s system of justice, the Commissioner’s decision cannot stand.” They conclude with their request that New Jersey’s Appellate Division Court “reverse the March 20, 2015 decision of the Commissioner of Education granting the requests for the renewal and expansion of the charter of HoLa, unless and until it can be shown that such renewal and expansion will not result in the continuation or exacerbation of school segregation in Hoboken.”
I encourage your readers to read the ACLU/ELC’s amici brief (attachd pdf) for additional insight as to what happens when a state government refuses to support strong traditional public schools and the fight a District has to undertake to prevent the segregative effect resulting from the State’s failure to do its job.
I appreciate any and all support you may offer in sharing this story.
Thank you.
Theresa Minutillo
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It would be helpful to see some data about this particular charter school. Usually dual language schools help integration as they draw a mix of native Spanish-speaking and native English-speaking students. Minutillo references a pdf. Can that be uploaded for your readers?
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You should read Jersey Jazzman’s extensive research into the yuppie charters they are establishing in Hoboken. The intent of these schools is to provide quasi private schools for the children of those that work on Wall St while they drain the public schools to do this. The hedge fund crowd is using the tax credits and tax loopholes in current laws to avoid paying taxes to “do good.” They are “donating” (unloading excess cash to avoid taxes) funds while they exploit our biased charter school laws.
As for dual language programs, the successful models include speakers of both languages. Using cooperative strategies, students work together in academics in both language with each students having the opportunity to serve as the “knower.” This type of program creates mutual understanding and respect. The Hoboken program is mostly for the yuppie children whose parents understand the benefit of learning more than one language. It contains none of the social and academic benefits associated with dual language programs.http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/01/in-hoboken-charter-schools-rule-part-i.html
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I’m curious to see how this plays out in Hoboken. A district in a nearby town is in receivership and I didn’t hear about it until I attended a forum sponsored by NYSAPE. I hadn’t seen it in the local news, and I certainly hadn’t heard anything from NYSUT (state level union in NYS.)
The district has the largest minority student body in the area by far and it’s the only district in the area that’s in receivership. The first thing that struck me was that there had to be a civil rights angle. I contacted the ACLU but they declined to get involved, as they had other actions they were pursuing in the area.
I know the ACLU had more than enough work to do. And I’m not faulting them. But I can’t think of any more pressing civil rights issues in our day than those that impact the ability of children to get a free, appropriate education that actually prepares them to become citizens in a democracy. Nothing about the receivership process is indicating improvement and progress towards that end.
So I wonder, once again, where is the public outcry? The moral indignation?
I worry about the deafening silence that, intentional or not, implies acceptance or even complicity.
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The relevant demographic data is indeed telling about what appears to be HoLa’s goal: to draw largely White students from Hoboken’s public and private schools (there are 4 at the elementary level). A true dual language school has close to a 50-50 mix of native English and Spanish speakers. Sometimes this is difficult to achieve because the population of one of the groups is too low. Was that the case in Hoboken? The “amici curiae” doesn’t specify the breakdown of the HoLa students’ native languages but the respective % of White and Hispanic students is likely a good rough estimate. From the amici:
The Hispanic population of Hoboken’s district schools varied by school from 42%-65% for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years. Meanwhile HoLa’s Hispanic population was 28-29% during the same period. Particularly telling is this: the % of English language learners across the district schools ranges from 2-16% while at HoLa it is a whopping – 0%. That statistic by itself defies the definition of a dual language program.
The total “minority” population in Hoboken schools over the past 5 years ranged from 69-78%. HoLa’s? Never higher than 39%.
Clearly the district has sufficient numbers of White, Hispanic and other minority students to create a school whose students speak at least an approximate balance of the two native languages, or at the very least represent a balance of Hispanics and non-Hispanics. There are also sufficient numbers of non-Hispanic minority students to provide a representative mix, i.e. White, Black, Asian, etc. of native English-speaking students.
Can you spell segregation?
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I neglected to say where I got the data. Upon request Diane provided the pdf of the amici curiae.
P.S. My background includes 25 years as a parent, teacher and principal of dual language programs.
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Hoboken has the potential to create a dynamic, effective dual language program, only if the white students remain in the public schools. What some of the residents are doing is creating a separate and unequal system, and using the charter laws to do this. At the same time, they are defunding the public schools. This is a perfect example of the “vampire effect” of charters on public schools. This is happening in many urban school districts, but it is easy study the impact in Hoboken where the numbers are smaller. How is this democratically sound practice to increase segregation while making opportunity better for a few at the expense of many?
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Retired teacher: I agree with everything you say. Does my post sound like it suggests otherwise?
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