N.J. rejects Luongo's bid for arts charter
WASHINGTON TWP. The New Jersey Department of Education has rejected former Washington Township Mayor Gerald J. Luongo's application for a performing-arts charter school in Gloucester County.

WASHINGTON TWP. The New Jersey Department of Education has rejected former Washington Township Mayor Gerald J. Luongo's application for a performing-arts charter school in Gloucester County.
In its Sept. 30 assessment, the department recognized the strengths of a possible performing-arts school but cited "lack of a comprehensive educational plan, unlawful admissions policies, and poor financial planning" as the basis for its decision.
"I wasn't surprised it was denied," Luongo said Thursday. "There were components in there that did not necessarily follow the policies of the state, as they presently have."
Luongo, 75, is a former music teacher who spent a decade as mayor and also served a one-year term in the Assembly.
Creative Vision Charter School would have required prospective students to audition. New Jersey prohibits such admissions programs in charter schools, which are required to be open to all students.
"I think we were philosophically on opposite sides on that issue," Luongo said. "They need to look at individualizing and personalizing the charter-school program and stop standardizing everything."
Luongo, of Pompano Beach, Fla., said he mailed copies of a monograph he had written about his vision for charter-school reform to members of the Education Committees in the Assembly and Senate.
At the end of the school's first year, it would have had a fund-balance deficit of more than $500,000, the department wrote.
Luongo's application also did not indicate that the school would have a business administrator, as required by law.
The proposal also lacked basic elements of an education plan, such as a student retention policy, the department wrote.
The application dismissed the need for such a policy because "failure will not be an option."
Luongo, a former principal, said he did not believe in disciplinary actions such as suspension, preferring conflict resolution.
Luongo said he would speak with the department next week and planned to reapply.
Once seen as a rising star in the state GOP, his political career was derailed when he pleaded guilty in 2001 to misusing campaign and township funds. He spent almost a year in federal prison.
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