The announcement this week that a North Arlington not-for-profit is planning to build a charter school campus near Caven Point was just one of several recent news stories indicating renewed momentum for the independently managed public schools in Jersey City.
According to filings published in Jersey Digs, the four building “Canal Crossing Charter Public School Campus” proposed for a vacant lot next to Caven Point Avenue would create 2,000 new student seats to be shared by BelovED Community Charter School and Empowerment Academy Charter School. The developers hope to open the campus by 2025.
The news comes on the heels of an announcement that Kindle Education Public Charter School will open in September in a new building in Journal Square. Last month, Kindle also announced that it would be receiving $1.25 million from the U.S. Department of Education.
Recently, BelovEd has taken pains to some of its more notable achievements. Last week, the school, located on Grand Street near Downtown, announced that its economically disadvantaged students were almost twice as likely as their statewide peers to meet their grade level’s proficiency standards on a statewide exam following the Covid-19 pandemic.
While test scores released by the state in December showed a significant overall loss of learning throughout the state, BelovEd students scored 55.8 percent compared to the state’s 30.6 percent in English Language Arts and came in at 34.5 percent compared to the state average of 16.6 percent in math.
BelovEd also let it be known that senior Amaya Jiminez, who grew up in public housing was accepted by Princeton University and will receive a full scholarship.
On Thursday, the New Jersey Public Charter Schools Association announced that the the state Department of Education will allow 11 high-performing public charter schools to offer more grade levels and seats for students throughout New Jersey. Included on the list was Jersey City’s The Ethical Community Charter School.
TECCS Head of School and Principal Chloe Lewis told the Jersey City Times that the school “is thrilled to know that our renewal application was approved, and we are very excited that we will be expanding into Pre-K. We are still at the beginning stages of planning next steps for the expansion, but we are delighted to offer this to the Jersey City Community.”
Featured image: Rendering of Canal Crossing Charter Public School Campus Image courtesy of KSS Architects