Lawmakers Want CAPS Investigated, As It Seeks Expansion To Middletown (2024)

Schools

Three state lawmakers are now asking the NJ Department of Education to investigate CAPS charter school, which seeks to move into Mater Dei:

Posted Thu, May 9, 2024 at 2:22 pm ET|Updated Thu, May 23, 2024 at 10:30 am ET

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The plot continues to thicken around CAPS charter school and its attempt to move into the old Mater Dei High School campus in Middletown.

Middletown has still not granted College Achieve Public School (CAPS)-Asbury Park a much-needed certificate of occupancy to move into Mater Dei.

If and when Middletown grants that CO, CAPS plans to have students inside Mater Dei as early as September, St. Mary's business administrator Glenn Holck previously said.

Patch was told by an anonymous source that CAPS-Asbury Park will pay $30,000 a month in rent, plus a $150,000 sign-on bonus to Middletown's St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, which owns Mater Dei.

This was not confirmed by Holck, but he also did not deny it.

Rather, Holck said he would not answer any questions about the CAPS/St. Mary's business deal.

But new this week is that three state lawmakers are now asking the NJ Department of Education to investigate CAPS: Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) and state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).

Gopal sent a letter to acting DOE Commissioner Kevin Dehmer Wednesday, asking the state to investigate extremely high salaries at CAPS.

Gopal said he wants the state to investigate after he read last Thursday's bombshell Star Ledger report that unveiled the high salaries: CAPS founder and CEO Michael Piscal is paid $697,528 a year. CAPS Paterson director Gemar Mills makes $433,734 a year. Jodi McInerney, director of CAPS Asbury Park — who graduated from Red Bank Catholic — is paid $323,245.

(McInerney did not respond to any of Patch's questions for this article. She has never responded to any questions we've asked about CAPS, or their potential move into Mater Dei in Middletown.)

"I've been (to CAPS), I've toured their campus in Asbury Park," Gopal told this Patch reporter Thursday. "But after I read that report, clearly the salaries are an issue. The transparency is an issue. And the loophole in the basketball team is an issue. I sent my letter and now it's up to the DOE if they want to investigate. We'll see."

He's referring to the CAPS-Asbury Park basketball team, which just Wednesday night mysteriously withdrew from the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).

The NJSIAA confirmed CAPS withdrew from the league, but said they did not give a reason why.

CAPS-Asbury Park's basketball team stunned — and saddened — the Shore last winter when they won the South/Central state championship in their first season of existence. Matthew Stanmyre, the same Star Ledger reporter who investigated CAPS' high salaries, broke this story in March that revealed CAPS may have manipulated a loophole that allows students from outside of town if a charter school is not at full enrollment: CAPS put 11 of the most highly ranked basketball players in the state on its '23/'24 team, from towns such as Trenton, Keyport, Newark and Irvington.

College Achieve coach Dave Boff (previously of Roselle Catholic) told Stanmyre Wednesday night CAPS-Asbury Park will find an independent league to play in this winter. He did not say which league.

“The competitive imbalance in this year’s Group 1 state tournament was nothing we wanted or planned on happening. During recent discussions, it's become clear that the best decision for all of the students involved at our school and in other Group 1 schools is for us to leave the NJSIAA for a period of time and remove that competitive imbalance.”

As we told you last week, Middletown Township is requiring CAPS fulfill a number of health/safety/fire checks before it grants them a certificate of occupancy to move into Mater Dei.

Last week: CAPS Awaits Approval To Open In Middletown, Amid Bombshell Report (May 2)

St. Mary's Plans To Bring Urban Charter School To Mater Dei Campus (April 11)