A small Downtown school may be forced to close if it does not create a simple emergency exit for its children, which has sparked outrage from parents and the school’s founder.
Wait a minute, you might wonder. Why don’t they just make an exit?
The answer: They can’t.
In a Catch-22 that only Yossarian could love, The Montessori School of Jersey City, which is located on Erie Street near First Street and educates children aged 3 to 6, has been required by the state to provide an additional emergency exit out of its backyard. A reasonable enough proposition. But that potential exit would lead children into a private parking lot whose owner said he does not want to accept the risk of children streaming onto his property. On top of this, the school says a mix-up in communication led the school to believe they could go ahead with an expansion, but only later learned of the emergency exit snafu.
Now, parents and Edith Jarquin – founder and teacher at the school – are desperate to find a solution. Jarquin, who has invested $75,000 into the school’s expansion, said she cannot keep up with rent, utility and loan payments. Under current guidelines, she can have only five students in the building at any one time, but she would like to have as many as 27 students altogether.
For parents like Karen Hazel, the situation is frustrating and worrisome.
“We’re frantic,” she said last week. “We don’t want the school to close.” Hazel, who lives in Newport, said she had begun looking to buy property Downtown and keep her daughter in the school, but fears she may have to move out of the city. With the uncertain predicament, other parents are considering similar moves. One parent will be taking her son out, three other students have left, and another said her 5-year-old son has not been able to attend the school since July as a result of the restrictions, but is getting take-home work from Jarquin.
“The program is phenomenal,” said Laura Washington-Parchment of the tuition-based school. “If we lose this…” she said, not completing her thought.
When asked why she did not place her son in a public school when she learned her son could no longer attend, she said, “Why put him in a public school who won’t recognize his talent?”
Full-time students pay $800 per month for the school. Part-timers pay $400.
The old school in the brownstone
Standing anonymously in a row of brownstones directly across the street from the city’s police headquarters, the school teems with life. Since 1989, Jarquin has provided child care and schooling for children in the city.
Tupperware containers filled with shells, colored pencils, brightly colored chairs, and even brighter students fill the building. The children are very ahead of the game. Thomas, a blond-haired blue-eyed 6-year-old works on his multiplication tables and cursive writing. Rachel Dennis, a 3-year-old, counts to 10. Another reads a book. Parents speak glowingly of Jarquin and the program.
“This is the jewel in the crown,” Washington-Parchment, the mother of Jacob.
“Jacob,” she said last week, “wakes up this morning and says, ‘When am I going back to school?'” Washington-Parchment has written a letter to Downtown Councilman Mariano Vega asking for help.
Montessori schools like Jarquin’s are privately run. She said the philosophy of the school is to get children to “achieve a certain degree of independence,” by doing things like learning to tie their own shoes and wash dishes.
Confusion
The problems really began when Jarquin determined she wanted to enlarge the school. She informed the state’s Division of Youth and Family Services of her intentions, and they sent down an inspector to the Erie Street building.
The inspector, Nancy Duryea, found several items that needed correcting in her July 1999 report, one of which was the need for an additional emergency exit out of the back yard.
According to Jarquin and the architect she hired to make the alterations, the state agreed that providing a folding ladder that would allow children to climb over a wall in the back of the building would sufficiently fix the problem.
Debra David, an architect whose child attended the school at the time, even drew up plans that included the ladder.
But the state disputes this version of events.
“On our initial life safety inspection,” said Joe Delmar, a spokesman for the Division of Youth and Family Services, “The architect had already drawn up plans for a ladder. At that time, we raised concerns about the use of a ladder.”
The city raised concerns, too. Construction code official Mike Regan would not issue a certificate of occupancy, citing safety concerns.
“But why would I have drawn it?” asked David, the architect. “It’s not like I pulled it out of the sky.”
The state says that the school must provide a full exit into the adjacent parking lot.
“The best alternative would be a hole in the wall,” said Delmar.
And that’s where the next problem begins. Jarquin said she was more than happy to comply, but found out that she could not put a gate in a fence on the other side of her property’s wall that leads to the parking lot.
The owner of the lot, Colin Danzis, a Roseland, N.J. attorney, said he fears potential lawsuits.
“The last thing my insurance company would want to hear,” he said, “is that in an event of a fire they’d have screaming children coming through a fence.”
Danzis said he empathizes with Jarquin.
“I don’t mean to be a hardass,” he said, “But this is not a problem of my making.”
The parking authority, which leases the space from Danzis, may be looking to buy the parking lot property, said its executive director. He was unsure whether an exit from the school to the lot was a good idea.
“Is this the best solution for the safety of these children?” said Parking Authority chair Carmine Venezia. He noted that people could hide behind cars in the lot. “We have some criminal elements and perverts and people who prey on children,” he said. “Why would we want to give them easier access?” A gate, were it to be installed, could not be locked. He suggested the state try to devise a solution.
Delmar said he will arrange for a joint inspection between the city’s fire department and their own inspectors. Tom Gallagher, Mayor Bret Schundler’s chief of staff, said he is also looking into the matter, but he sounded a note of caution.
“If there’s an obvious solution to the problem, I’m sure the construction code official would have come up with one,” he said. “Right now, I’m not really optimistic.”
Jarquin said she has few options remaining.
“If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to move out,” she said. “I’ll have to close.”