Local charter school to offer Mandarin program

In addition to its language program, the school will follow an International Baccalaureate curriculum, co-founder Parker Block explained. He said that these two “elements” made PIACS distinct and were “not offered by any other school district, public or private.”

Block explained that the school’s mission is to provide students with “the kinds of skills that children would need when they went out in the world in the 21st century.”

“One of these was the ability to compete effectively on a global level, a skill which children are lacking,” he said.

The benefit of a language immersion program beginning at a young age is the potential for fluency, not just proficiency, Block added.

The school, which hopes to attract a student body where as many as half of the students have had no previous exposure to Mandarin, will provide a complete immersion experience in its kindergarten class, introducing English in 10 percent increments to each successive grade level.

“It’s an inquiry-based education — it’s not just about facts,” said Yibin Kang, a molecular biology professor at the University and PIACS co-founder.

The school will use the best educational systems the world has to offer, Block explained. For example, PIACS will likely use Singapore’s math program over New Jersey’s state guidelines, Block said.

Despite the innovative academic design promised by PIACS’s plans, the school has experienced a strong backlash from the three school districts it will serve. Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro and South Brunswick have all expressed “formal opposition” to the state of New Jersey for granting it a charter.

“We were specific about our opposition to this application ... We will continue to oppose future applications for charter schools that might impact our resources and ability to continue to perform at a high level,” Judy Wilson, Princeton Regional School District superintendent, said, according to a Feb. 3 article in Town Topics.

School boards and local residents are afraid that the charter school will pull top students from regular public schools and, with them, their state funding, Block said.

Kang said he disagreed with that characterization.

“It’s not that they’re losing money,” Kang noted. “It’s just that the money goes with the student to the school they’re attending.”

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Block said the new charter school will actually benefit the school districts by forcing them to improve.

“In any job, people don’t want to be pushed, and they think they’re doing the best job … The school districts are going to use every tactic they can to get parents not to go to these schools,” Block said.

The Princeton Charter School (PCS) experienced similar backlash from the community when it opened in 1997 and will serve as a model for PIACS as it deals with local responses, Block noted.

“The people who founded PCS have told us, ‘Don’t be daunted.’ And we won’t be,” he said. “If anything, it makes our job more important. Because we knew that there were people who were just in it to protect the status quo. And that’s a little bit disturbing.”

Despite the opposition its founders have faced, PIACS will open with a kindergarten and first- and second-grade class, with a new group of incoming kindergarteners being added until the fifth grade is reached, at which point the school’s charter will be up for renewal. The founders hope that the school will eventually go through the eighth grade, and perhaps beyond, Block said.