District taking redistricting
plans to Marlboro residents
MARLBORO — Forty percent of the student population of Marlboro schools during the next two years will be affected by the proposed redistricting plans that are expected to be voted on Oct. 16 by the Board of Education.
While the district’s second middle school is not expected to be open for seventh- and eighth-graders until January 2003, sixth-graders will not attend the two middle schools until September 2003, and the redistricting of grades one through five is not anticipated until that year as well.
A redistricting committee, technically known as the Community Space Allocation and Enrollment Committee, will be presenting recommendations of its own to the board on Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. at the Marlboro Middle School auditorium. That meeting will be one of two board workshop and public meetings being held to discuss redistricting; the second will be held on Oct. 11 at 8 p.m., also at the Marlboro Middle School.
During a Sept. 12 question and answer session called for the press by the administration and attended by some members of the board, Superintendent of Schools Dr. David C. Abbott spoke of the anticipated changes expected within the district. Supervisor of Transportation Terry Dondrea also discussed details of the proposed plans.
According to Abbott, the redistricting plan the administration has presented has been met with a generally favorable response from parents, many of whom are relieved they will have sufficient time to prepare for the changes.
"It’s been a very good dialogue and an overwhelmingly positive one," he said.
Abbott said the district, through its representatives on the redistricting committee, is accepting ideas from the public about transitional activities that will help students adjust to their new schools.
He said that under the proposal, upon the opening of the new middle school, which is under construction on Nolan Road, approximately 850 students will be enrolled in the 153,000-square-foot building. The larger, existing Marlboro Middle School, Route 520, has been projected to have about 1,300 students.
The new middle school is under construction and is expected to be completed in November 2002, with seventh- and eighth-grade students moving in during January 2003. Under the redistricting plans, students who would have attended the Frank J. Dugan Elementary School and the Marlboro Elementary School would be expected to attend the existing middle school. Students who will just have graduated from the Frank Defino Central and Robertsville elementary schools will be attending the new middle school.
At that time, those pupils who will just have completed their schooling at the Asher Holmes Elementary School will be divided; some will attend the Marlboro Middle School and the remainder will move into the new middle school.
By the time the transitions would take place for the elementary schools, the elementary school enrollments are projected as follows: Defino School, 719; Dugan School, 621; Marlboro Elementary, 650; Asher Holmes, 604; and Robertsville, 643.
"It’s very exciting to be able to do this," said school board President Terry L. Spilken.
Spilken pointed out the changes will mean science labs will be built in each of the elementary schools and additional art/music programs could be implemented into the district as a result of the redistricting plans.
With the considered plans, additional time for transporting students by bus should not be necessary for the elementary school students, according to Dondrea. She also said the addition of sixth-grade classes to the two middle schools should result in fewer bus stops for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Present plans call for all kindergartners to be moved into the new Marlboro Early Learning Center at the corner of Tennent and Harbor roads, Dondrea said. Five hundred children will move into that school, which is scheduled to open Jan. 2.
District administrators said the redistricting plans have been developed by use of the most current demographic reports with breakdowns of expected growth into developments and rural areas based on projected new developments, age of current developments, house sizes and types of units.
Details of the redistricting plan will be available at the board meetings, and maps outlining the proposed attendance areas associated with the elementary schools and the middle schools are on display at the school board headquarters.
The last time the school district underwent major redistricting was 15 years ago when the Dugan School opened.