Panel unveils school sending maps

An advisory panel seeking to determine which students will attend which elementary schools beginning in September 2002 has issued two plans it says will most efficiently meet the district’s goals.

By: Nick D’Amore
   An advisory panel seeking to determine which students will attend which elementary schools beginning in September 2002 has issued two plans it says will most efficiently meet the district’s goals.

"Current


Current Sending Areas

   One plan would convert the two-building Dayton-Deans School into two kindergarten-only schools, with the Deans School serving as the kindergarten building for the new school and Dayton School providing kindergarten for Indian Fields. The new school and Indian Fields would then house first through fifth grades and the other five elementary schools would house kindergarten through fifth grades.
   The second plan would create eight K-5 elementary schools, including Dayton-Deans.
   The kindergarten center plan would require renovation of the two kindergarten buildings, but is considered more efficient by the redistricting panel because it would make Dayton and Deans much larger schools when combined with Indian Fields and the new school, respectively
   "There tends to be more efficiency with larger schools," said committee member Steve Parker.
   "The last two schools that were built have been 600- or 700-capacity schools, as opposed to the typical 400-to-500 schools," he said.

"Plan


Plan 18A

   Many residents at the meeting expressed concern about the plans, with some worrying that the kindergarten plan would separate the Dayton/Deans School into separate schools and isolate kindergartners from older students and others complaining that some students may have to travel farther than they currently do.
   The board will endorse a plan at its June 18 meeting. The new school sending districts are scheduled to take effect in the 2002-03 school year.
   "Both are viable options," said school board member Carole O’Brien, the committee chairwoman. "Neither one carries more weight than the other."
   Committee member Steve Parker said both plans have pros and cons.
   "The current Dayton/Deans link has been in place for many years. We know the issues. It has flexibility and intimacy," he said.
   However, the Kindergarten Center Plan could be more efficient, he said.
   "Also, the art and music rooms could be tailored specifically for kindergarten students," said Mr. Parker.

"Plan


Plan 20A

   The committee undertook the study because a new unnamed elementary school is scheduled to open in fall 2002 at the corner of Route 130 and Deans Rhode Hall Road and the Upper Elementary School, which houses grades five and six, will become a second middle school. When the new building opens, the district’s elementary schools will house kindergarten through fifth grade and the two middle schools will house sixth through eighth grades.
   The redistricting committee presented the final plans, outlined its guidelines and summarized the plans that were not chosen.
   The committee was attempting to meet the following criteria: allowing balanced enrollment and room for growth in the district’s eight elementary schools while maintaining class sizes of between 22 and 25 students; keeping neighborhoods together as much as possible; maximizing the number of students who can walk to school while minimizing the time students spend on buses; keeping special education students in the same building for at least two years; complying with regulations from the Office of Equal Educational Opportunities, which dictates that all schools have a mixed ethnic breakdown; allowing current third-graders the option of staying in their present schools when they enter fifth grade in 2002 and maintaining a mixed economic breakdown in all schools.


Plan by neighborhood


   Under the proposed plans crafted by the township’s redistricting panel, the following neighborhoods would be affected:

   ‡ Brookside Mobile Home park and Deans Apartments would move from Brunswick Acres School to the new school under both plans;

   ‡ Royal Oaks apartments would move from Brunswick Acres to Greenbrook School under both plans;

   ‡ Whispering Woods and Wynwood would move from Cambridge School to the new school under both plans;

   ‡ Woodhaven would move from Cambridge to Constable School under both plans;

   ‡ Monmouth Mobile Homes would move from Constable to the new school under both plans;

   ‡ Kingston village and Kingston Terrace apartments would move from Greenbrook to Monmouth Junction School under both plans;

   ‡ The Raymond Road area would move from Greenbrook to Cambridge under both plans;

   ‡ Timber Ponds would move from Greenbrook to Brunswick Acres under both plans;

   ‡ Dayton Center, sections I and II, East Garden Apartments, Kingston Lane and Kingston Meadows would move from Indian Fields School to the new school under the Dayton-Deans kindergarten plan and to the Dayton-Deans School under the K-5 plan;

   ‡ Falcongate and the Major Road area will move from Monmouth Junction to the new school;

   ‡ The Grand, The Reserve and the rural southeastern area of the township will move from Monmouth Junction to Indian Fields;

   ‡ Stonehenge, Monmouth Walk, Southridge Hills and New Road from Route 1 to Route 522 will move from Monmouth Junction to the new school under the Dayton-Deans kindergarten plan and to Indian Fields under the K-5 plan;

   ‡ Deans Lane between Route 1 and the Amtrak tracks will move from Dayton-Deans to Greenbrook under both plans;

   ‡ Deans Lane from the tracks to Georges Road, Deans Pond Crossing, Deans Pond Lane, Fresh Ponds Road, Georges Road north of Route 522, Nanci Woods, Regal Point, Oak Tree homes and the rural northeastern area of the township will move from Dayton-Deans to the new school under both plans;

   ‡ Willow Hill Estate and Jeffrey Circle will move from Dayton-Deans to Indian Fields under both plans;

   ‡ South Ridge Woods South and Woodland Meadows will move from Dayton-Deans to the new school under the Dayton-Deans kindergarten plan and stay at Dayton-Deans under the K-5 plan;

   ‡ Summerfield will move from Dayton-Deans to Indian Fields under the Dayton-Deans kindergarten plan and to the new school under the K-5 plan.

   Building capacities were determined by state fire codes and the way classrooms are used. According to the committee, Brunswick Acres can accommodate up to 519 students, Cambridge up to 536 students, Constable up to 431 students, Dayton up to 175 students, Deans up to 225 students, Greenbrook up to 400 students, Indian Fields up to 673 students, Monmouth Junction up to 485 students and the new school up to 700 students.
   In addition, fifth-graders would be allowed to remain in the school in which they attended fourth grade.
   The plan met criticism from many in the crowd of about 50 Monday night. Residents, especially those in The Reserve in Monmouth Junction, complained the plans would make their children attend Indian Fields School instead of Monmouth Junction. The neighborhood has 39 homes with 20 kids attending school in town, said Reserve resident Scott Ruddy.
   "We were told our neighborhood would not be affected because all of our kids are walkers," said Mr. Ruddy.
   Mr. Ruddy said redistricting the community out of Monmouth Junction School defies many of the guidelines the committee was following.
   "Their plan will maximize our kids’ time on a bus by 100 percent, remove eligible walkers from the neighborhood and remove them from their neighborhood school," he said.
   Another Reserve resident, Joan Puchalski, said she lives around the corner from Monmouth Junction School and that the sidewalks in her neighborhood provide safe and easy access to the school for children.
   "I’m appealing to your sense of reason," she told the school board.
   Both residents received standing ovations from Reserve residents in the audience.
   Some teachers and parents said they disliked the kindergarten center plan.
   Joan Kee-Louie, a kindergarten teacher at Indian Fields School, said having older students attend school with the younger kindergartners is beneficial to the academic growth of the kindergarten students.
   "Older kids read to them, they have buddy lunches and are good role models for the kindergartners," said Ms. Kee-Louie.
   "The kindergarten wing is specifically designed for children that are 4 and 5 years old," said Jackie Pang, another kindergarten teacher at Indian Fields.
   Committee members had acknowledged that if the board chose the kindergarten center plan, the Dayton/Deans buildings would have to be renovated to accommodate the smaller kindergarten students.
   Debbie Rossi, a resident of Dayton Center, said the board has committed to a K-5 schools. "I, and most of the community, asked for and voted for a kindergarten through fifth-grade school at Indian Fields," said Ms. Rossi.
   Sylvia Lee, a school nurse at Crossroads School, proposed that the board make Dayton/Deans a fifth-grade school instead of solely kindergarten.
   "It wouldn’t need any retooling," she said.