Referendum, cost will be discussed at Oct. 9 meeting
Sayreville to hire
professional estimator
to look at plans
By jennifer dome
Staff Writer
SAYREVILLE — The Board of Education has scheduled a meeting for Oct. 9 at the Sayreville War Memorial High School library to approve a resolution for the Dec. 11 referendum and provide the public with details about the project.
At the 7:30 p.m. meeting, officials will outline the plans to relieve overcrowding by expanding the Samsel School, Ernston Road. They will also announce the cost estimates, the amount of state funds to be awarded for the project and the total cost they will ask borough residents to approve.
"We’ll have a mock-up of the facility, of what it will look like," Board of Education President Kevin Ciak said.
The board also approved the hiring of a professional estimator, at a cost not to exceed $5,000, who will look at the construction plans for the Samsel School addition as submitted to the state. The estimator will have a cost estimate finalized by the Oct. 9 meeting, board members said.
Superintendent of Schools Dennis Fyffe said he is concerned that if the estimate by the district’s architect, John Schnitzer, is not confirmed by a professional estimator, then they could risk losing the proposal altogether. He said that contractors could come to the board with a bid that exceeds the amount approved by residents in the referendum, and then the board would be back to square one.
On Tuesday, board members voted against hiring a construction management firm to oversee the progress of the Samsel School addition if it is approved. Only two of the nine voting members supported hiring the firm. The cost of the firm would have been added into the Dec. 11 referendum and could have cost between $350,000 and $450,000.
The firm would have been hired to supervise the construction once it begins and to ensure that progress is being made, Fyffe said.
The board, however, did not approve the request to hire the firm. Board member Curtis Clark said that he feels their current architect, Schnitzer, already did "an amazing job" of keeping costs down during the renovations to the Arleth Elementary School. He said that, since Schnitzer is a resident of Sayreville, he will make sure he keeps the costs down since he pays taxes there.
"I think Mr. Schnitzer can more than handle this, and we can save the $350,000," Clark said.
If the referendum is adopted, the Samsel School, now used by the Middlesex County Educational Services Commission, will be taken back by the Sayreville district. The lease agreement with the commission was supposed to run through 2002, but the group announced earlier this year that it will no longer need the space.
"The school district has had a lot of increase in enrollment," Fyffe said of Sayreville’s student enrollment in late June. "The middle school in particular is a problem."
Enrollment has increased in the district by 31.4 percent, school officials said. There were 4,273 students in the district during the 1991-92 school year. Now, there are 5,616 students.
The Board of Education had organized a Blue Ribbon III Committee to research solutions to the overcrowding in Sayreville schools. Their recommendation was to expand and renovate the Samsel School and use it for fourth and fifth grades.
This would alleviate overcrowding in the elementary school by removing the fourth grade, and in the middle school by removing the fifth grade.
If the referendum is approved, the Samsel School would be open for the 2004-05 school year.
In the meantime, to relieve overcrowding in the middle school, temporary modular classrooms and a structure that will serve as the cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium will be constructed on the grounds.
At an August meeting, the board awarded a contract to Rivardo, Schnitzer and Capazzi for architectural and engineering services. The contract, in the amount of $133,622, retains the firm to design the modular structures.
The board will advertise for bids for the construction of the modular units at a later date.
Ciak said he believes the temporary modular classrooms could be available for use in early 2002. However, the cafeteria structure is more difficult to construct, Ciak said, and may not be available until the beginning of the next school year.
"We hope it will be earlier," he said in August.
Fyffe has continually stressed the seriousness of overcrowding in the middle school. The average class size in middle schools in the state is 21 students, he said, but "the average at our school is 27."
The board received state approval to allow 75 students to eat their lunches in the hallway due to overcrowding in the cafeteria.
At the board’s July meeting, Fyffe said the cafeteria is still too crowded and students will also have to eat lunch in the library-media center. Fyffe said he is concerned about the effect that lunch periods could have on the condition of the library, not to mention that the use of the library for research will be compromised three periods each day.