Decision due on Patock suit vs. charter school

BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK - State Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Quinn was expected to render a verdict today in the $500,000 lawsuit brought by Patock Construction against the Red Bank Charter School.

The suit was brought last December by Patock Construction, which claimed the company had not been paid in full for work on the charter school's Oakland Street property.

The suit alleges that of the total cost of $2.2 million, only $1.7 million has been paid.

Theodore Parsons, special counsel for the charter school for financial issues, responded to the claim by filing a motion claiming that the Red Bank Charter School Foundation, the school's main fundraising entity, contracted with Patock for the work; therefore, the school and its board of trustees are not responsible for payment.

Although the suit also names the charter school foundation as a co-defendant, an investigation by the state Department of Education (DOE) Office of Compliance Investigation (OCI) in May 2005 found that the school and the foundation are one entity and, therefore, share the same debt.

The work that Patock did included the renovation and addition of the Century House, which was moved in 2003 from its former location on East Front Street to the Oakland Street property, renovation of the existing former Oakland Street school and construction of an addition, as well as the construction of an addition to connect the two structures.

The original estimate for the job was about $1.8 million.

The school is also being sued by Short Term Money LLC, a loan firm that lent the school a total of $800,000 in two loans to pay for the work performed by Patock.

Those loans have not been repaid, according to the suit filed by Short Term on April 10 in the Law Division of New Jersey Superior Court, Freehold.

The board is also currently contesting a $1 million penalty imposed by the DOE for failing to go out for public bid for the construction project.