‘Stony Brook’ now name of new Brandon school

The school board approved the name unanimously Monday night

By: John Tredrea
   The Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s fourth elementary school will be named the Stony Brook School.
   The school board approved the name unanimously Monday night.
   Chances are very good that the new, 520-student, K-five school now under construction on Stevenson Road in the Brandon Farms development, in the southeastern tip of 58-square-mile Hopewell Township, will be ready to open as scheduled next September.
   "Overall, things are going very well" on building the school, said David Tillou of the district’s construction management firm, Tillou and Formica Inc.
   In his monthly report to the school board Oct. 8, Mr. Tillou said all concrete footings for the new school are done. The school will have two 2-story wings and one 1-story wing. Steel work on one of the 2-story wings is complete. Steel work on the other 2-story wing was scheduled to start Monday. The slab for the second floor of the school was scheduled to be poured that day as well.
   Plumbing work started Oct. 8, with two crews on the job. "The electrician is on the site and proceeding appropriately," Mr. Tillou said.
   He added: "We feel that if the entire building is enclosed — that is, if the exterior block, roof and windows are installed — by the end of December, the school will open on the first of September … every indication is we’ll make it."
   The district’s other three elementary schools are Toll Gate Grammar in Pennington and Hopewell Elementary in Hopewell Borough, both built in the mid-1920s and expanded several times since, and Bear Tavern in western Hopewell Township, built about 35 years ago and likewise expanded several times.
   Funding for the Stony Brook School was approved in a referendum last year, along with funding for an expansion of Central High School.