RBR board considering repairs, renovations School would be able to alter vocational program with changes

Staff Writer

By john burton

RBR board considering repairs, renovations
School would be able
to alter vocational
program with changes

LITTLE SILVER — Nearly 30 years after being built, Red Bank Regional High School is ready for a face-lift.

There are a number of reasons for the renovation project, according to Dr. Edward D. Westervelt, the district’s superintendent of schools.

As with any 30-year-old structure, he said, there are inevitable repairs that become necessary. The high school building, 101 Ridge Road, has a roof that is leaking, and it would seem a new one would in order, the superintendent said.

Westervelt also said there are tentative plans to upgrade the school’s air conditioning and ventilation system.

"We have had, since the school‘s been built, some ventilation problems," he acknowledged.

The Red Bank Regional Board of Education last week revealed those plans and more, including proposals to renovate the school’s six science labs, which are antiquated and are currently not equipped for computers or other contemporary science equipment.

Another reason to renovate, Westervelt said, is the changing educational dynamic of the school.

With the renovations, the school hopes to eliminate certain vocational programs, such as building trades and auto mechanics, because of diminishing student interest in those programs.

With a growing number of trade schools and other facilities offering comparable programs, student enrollment has dwindled.

"Frankly, we weren’t competing well" with those programs, Westervelt said.

With the renovations, the superintendent said, there are plans to reconfigure that vocational instruction space for some additional classrooms and design it for future vocational programs, such as computer repair.

"We’d like our vocational level to be more high tech," he said.

There also are plans to have the areas used for the school’s visual and performing arts program more centralized than is currently the case; renovating the dance studios is also on the wish list.

When the school was built 30 years ago, open-space classrooms were considered on the educational cutting edge, but that initiative has since been abandoned, and the tentative plans call for enclosing those spaces, Westervelt said.

There are also plans to repave the school’s parking lots, he said.

The district hopes to take advantage of available state funding, which could reimburse Red Bank Regional for up to 40 percent of the total cost.

"Right now, time is of the essence," observed Westervelt, fearing that with the current state budgetary constraints, money might not be available in the near future.

"Our feeling is we have a good chance [to receive funding] if we can file in time for this year," he said.

The outstanding debt on the high school is scheduled to be paid off in April, and the district could possibly take the costs associated with the proposed project and "fold it into our current debt structure so they’ll be no additional tax burden to residents," Westervelt said.

The district has not made any decision regarding the need for a referendum for this project. However, Westervelt said, the district has not asked voters to approve a referendum for 30 years, since the time of the original school project.

Districts are required to submit a five-year facilities plan to the state, and this renovation project will be incorporated into that plan. The Board of Education has retained Gibson Tarquini, a Camden architectural firm, to develop plans for the project, according Westervelt.

Currently there are 1,160 students attending the regional high school. But, Westervelt said, the reason for the proposed renovations is not because of any expected increase in enrollment (although Westervelt said he expects a "a little bump up in enrollment."), but because of program needs. There are no plans to enlarge the 257,000-square-foot facility, he said.

At this stage of the planning, no cost has been associated with the project, he said.