The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Central Jersey College Prep Charter School is planning to weigh its upcoming enrollment lottery in favor of children from low-income families.
The plan is still pending final approval from Lamont Repollet, the acting state Department of Education Commissioner, said Namik Sercan, the school’s chief education officer.
Students who qualify for free or reduced breakfast or lunch, live in Section 8 housing, or whose family receives assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be given two entries in the lottery, he said.
“The final approval should be issued by the end of this month,” Sercan said.
The announcement came during teh Feb. 11 open houses held by CJCP for prospective students and their families.
Sercan said that as of Feb. 11, the schoo, had received more than 1,260 applications, a 30-percent rise from last year.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “Applications are not even due until the end of February. The way it’s trending, I anticipate about 1,600 or 1,700 applications this year.”
Sercan said there are about 200 spots available in the Somerset campus, which is located on Mettlers Road, and another 144 in the new New Brunswick campus. The school is working on an agreement with a New Brunswick church to use its former school building, but the final approval has not yet been issued, Sercan said.
Once the deal is inked, the New Brunswick campus will hold grades 6 and 7, with up to 72 students in each grade, he said.
At the Somerset location, next school year will see the addition of 4th Grade, and the 2019-2020 school year will see the addition of a 5th Grade, making the school a K-12 institution.
Sherian Perdomo of Franklin Park was just one of the parents at the open house considering CJCP for her child, who would be in the 7th Grade next school year.
“We’re trying to find a better way to get my son a better education,” she said. “He’s at a private school right now, but that’s getting a bit costly.”
Sercan said he believed the reason the school has seen such an increase in applications is “the quality of education that they would be getting at this school.”
“The quality of education is high here and the community is well aware of that,” he said.
Sercan said the school’s graduation rate is 100 percent, as is the percentage of graduates going on to college.
He said the college retention rate is 86 percent.
