HOBOKEN - The Hoboken Dual Language Charter School has been approved as a charter school by the New Jersey Board of Education and plans to open its doors next September.
The new school, dubbed "HoLa," is one of eight new charter schools in the state Gov. Jon Corzine announced yesterday will be coming on line next year.
HoLa co-founder and Hoboken resident Barbara Martinez said the news is especially meaningful for children in the city.
"The amazing thing about children is their ability to pick up language. (Adults) can't even fathom that," said Martinez, who has spent the last couple of years pushing for the school along with her co-founders Jennifer Hindman and Camille Korschun.
The school plans to follow a "two-way immersion" approach, in which children of both English and Spanish language backgrounds will learn together in both languages.
In kindergarten and first grade, the students will be immersed primarily in Spanish, with English slowly incorporated into the curriculum.
During its opening year, the school will teach 132 students in kindergarten, first and second grades, and each year thereafter the school will add a grade until it reaches its projection of 264 students, kindergarten through Grade 5.
"We know the demand is there," said Martinez, referring to waiting lists at Hoboken's two other charter schools, Elysian and Hoboken Charter.
The school plans to open at the Boys and Girls Club of Hoboken, 123 Jefferson St., which is largely not in use during the day. Six classrooms will also be renovated to accommodate the new school.
Last February, the Hoboken Board of Education voted 4-3 not to implement the HoLa model. One month later, Hindman and Korschun filed the application for charter status.
HoLa, Martinez said, is "another option in a vibrant, diverse city, for young families who don't want to have to move out."...
