Camden students seeking to transfer outside the district at the state's expense will have to wait

Three Camden students seeking to transfer out of their poorly performing district on the state's dime, with a petition that is seen as an effort to enable school choice in the city, will have to wait for a final decision.

That's the result of the New Jersey education commissioner's siding with an administrative law judge's decision to deny swift relief to the students.

In the petition, filed in October, lawyers for the three children and their parents asked the state to waste no time in reassigning Keanu Vargas, 12, a seventh grader at Pyne Poynt Family School; Freddy Hernandez, 5, a first grader at Davis Elementary; and Emmanuel Roldan, 8, a fourth grader at Dudley Elementary, to better-performing parochial or other schools not part of the Camden School District, claiming the boys were losing valuable time academically.

Administrative Law Judge Edward Delanoy denied the request last month, saying the petitioners had not proven that the children would suffer irreparable harm if swift action were not taken.

Delanoy's opinion went to Education Commissioner Chris Cerf for final review. On Nov. 21, Cerf denied the application.

"Although petitioners may ultimately prevail after a hearing on the merits, the record as it stands does not support the requested emergent relief under the applicable standard for granting such relief," Cerf wrote.

The students' petition, which argues that the Camden district has failed to meet the state's constitutional requirement of providing a "thorough and efficient" education, will move forward in the Office of Administrative Law.

Lawyers for the boys' parents hope to expand their legal battle into a class action, allowing the district's nearly 15,000 students to transfer to private schools or to public schools outside Camden with the cost to be paid by the Camden district. Camden currently spends $22,000 per student.

Angel Cordero, South Jersey coordinator for the pro-charter school Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), who connected the children and parents named in the petition with their attorneys, said giving parents school choice was the only way to turn the Camden district around.

"If kids and money are taken out of the district, it forces these schools to reform itself and get their act together," Cordero said. "I want my kids to go to neighborhood schools."

The three students named in the petition have applied for interdistrict public school choice, a state program that lets participating districts accept a limited number of students from outside.