By Chris Lundy and Judy Smestad-Nunn
BRICK – A judge has shut down an illegal boy’s high school until the site is inspected and a hearing is held on October 5.
Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said that Judge Craig Wellerson determined that a hearing is needed with testimony from the professionals who have inspected the site. The hearing has been set for October 5. The school will be shut down until this time, when the court will make a determination on the situation.
The illegal boy’s high school being run by Congregation Kehilos Yisroel, Inc. (CKY) on the former Temple Beth Or site on Van Zile Road.
The school had created controversy in town since the people running it did not file with the township to open it. Normally, if a temple is converted into a school, that means that there’s a change in use for the property. Therefore, it would have to go through inspections and come before the town’s land use board. Brick officials said that none of that happened.
Furthermore, there are two nearby houses – 91 Hendrickson Avenue and 226 Van Zile Road – that are allegedly being used as dormitories. There were no applications for these, either.
Recently, protesters gathered outside the school, shouting in unison about how the school is illegal and should close.
Residents questioned why the town didn’t shut it down themselves. Mayor John G. Ducey explained that the town doesn’t have that power. It has to go through the courts, first. This is why the township filed a lawsuit against CKY in August and asked for an emergent hearing.
There are a number of safety issues regarding traffic and fire codes, he said.
“There’s school buses that are coming there; there’s sight distances problems; there are queuing problems – if a number of buses come at the same time, together with vehicles; there’s turning radii involved with the buses if there’s cars or vans that are coming up as well,” he said. “There’s got to be a system for that, how to do that properly.”
A school must adhere to the fire subcode, and currently there is a lack of prevention and suppression systems, cooking suppression systems and more, he said.
The owner is in violation of fuel gas codes. There are no fire extinguishers or carbon monoxide detectors. There are open junction boxes, egress violations and more, Mayor Ducey said.
Up until this point, the township Code Enforcement had a Cease and Desist order against the school, which says they must shut down and if they don’t, they will be fined up to $2,000 a day. One of the dorm houses is being fined $2,000 a day for overcrowding and the other is being investigated for not having a Certificate of Occupancy.
