Near the end of last week’s mammoth seven-hour City Council meeting, council members found themselves frequently looking at the clock on the wall and the watches on their wrists – much like schoolchildren stranded in class during recess. Ironically, it was because of school that the meeting took so long. Thirty-five speakers crowded the council chambers at the outset of the meeting because of a single ordinance. The ordinance, infamous in some circles, had been tabled on March 24 and was now back before the council. It authorizes the conveyance of the property at 100 Monitor St. to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. It is believed that the property, upon which a deserted warehouse now sits, will be turned into a new charter school once the JCRA has the opportunity to hear from prospective suitors. Charter schools represent the newest form of education reform, operating with freedom from many of the public school regulations enforced by local and state school systems. The “charter” establishing each school is a contract that details the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment and ways to measure success. Thirty-six states have passed charter school laws, with New Jersey setting the state charter limit at 135. There are currently eight charter schools already listed in Jersey City alone, with a ninth slated for this year, according to the New Jersey Charter School Resource Center. And some people think that’s enough. Please, no more “We don’t need more charter schools,” Thomas Favia, president of the Jersey City Education Association, said at the meeting. “We need more public schools.” “Give them a fair chance,” said Jeff Dublin, a Fulton Avenue resident. “Let them have get their charter school.” What had begun, on paper, as a land debate, quickly ripped the community members into two separate factions once the first speaker took the microphone and addressed the council. “It’s a divided issue because people want what they want,” said Councilman-at-large L. Harvey Smith, who is a public school administrator. On one side stood a group led by Deputy Mayor Eliu Rivera. The group’s comments were punctuated by cheers from eighth graders in school uniforms holding up crayon and Magic Marker signs demanding a new charter school in the Lafayette section of the city. “We need the school desperately,” said parent Miguel Colombani. “For the kids, for the neighborhood. Without a school, it will not help that neighborhood. With the school there, we are helping that neighborhood.” “I think there’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Ward A Councilman Robert Cavanaugh said of Deputy Mayor Rivera’s strong involvement in the proposed charter school. Rivera doubles as an officer of the Puertorriquenos Asociados for Community Organization (PACO), which is sponsoring the Liberty Charter School. On the other side stood proponents of the public school system and concerned residents of the area that is inside the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan. “We consider this a prime piece of land in a redevelopment area,” said June Jones, chairperson of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Association, of the land parcel that could possibly be sold for up to $10 million. If the land is used for the school, the city may net less money and will not get property taxes. “The land is more valuable in the hands of a private developer,” Ward F Councilperson Melissa Holloway said. She noted that the city is almost $30 million in debt. The ordinance, which was approved 5-3-1 by an equally-divided council, contains no literature as to the use of the land. Yet the great majority of the speakers touched on the debate surrounding charter schools. “The question of charter schools has never been debated in our community, and it should be,” said Jamie Vazquez, a former member of the council. And so it was, for just under three hours on Wednesday evening. Bringing their instruments Many charter school administrators, teachers and students – on a school night – defended the ideals and practices of the charter schools throughout the city. “Some people brought kids out here to be used as instruments,” Smith complained. At times the speakers – mostly parents, with their children in attendance – claimed that the public schools in Jersey City are not doing their job. Parents who spoke justified their reasons for putting their children in the smaller, less crowded charter schools. “Children in public school are reading at a higher level,” said Yvonne Balcer, who is a teacher. The land parcel is now the property of the JCRA, who will have the final authority on the use of the plot. Later on in the meeting, the council passed a separate ordinance, 6-1-2, that will allow a separate charter school to occupy land in Ward E. The ordinance authorized the adoption of amendments to the Montgomery Street Urban Renewal Plan. The ordinance amended the plan to include, as permissible land uses, “interim” and “educational.” In attendance at Monday’s caucus meeting, the private, Connecticut-based Edison Charter Schools company told the council that with the adoption of this ordinance, a new school will be complete and ready for operation by September of 2000. “We feel we can get it done between now and the fall,” said Steve Tracy, the vice president of the northeast charter development of Edison Charter Schools. Both of the proposed schools will house approximately 500 students, with grades K-5 enrolled.