Panel: Seventh high school needed
Committee suggests
giving Howell priority
in search for property
A facilities advisory committee is recommending that the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education "begin the process of preparing for a building referendum to add one high school as soon as possible."
The Ad Hoc Facilities Advi-sory Committee, which included board members, citizens, district staff members and administrators, and a professional demographer, presented its recommendations to the board during a Jan. 28 meeting held at Freehold Township High School.
Board members received the report and President Patricia Horvath asked the committee to continue its efforts to seek a site for a new high school, said Teresa Rafferty, public information officer for the district.
The ad hoc panel recommends that the board "begin to search for a site for the new school. Priority consideration should be given to Howell in the search for a site, and unless there is no suitable land available in Howell, the new school should be located there.
"Current enrollment shows that nearly 30 percent of the district’s students come from Howell (Man-alapan and Marlboro each contribute about 22 percent of the enrollment; Freehold Township, about 15 percent; Freehold Borough and Colts Neck, about 5 percent each; Englishtown and Farmingdale, less than 1 percent each). Projections for future en-rollment indicate that number (from Howell) is likely to increase, as residential development, and thereby future student enrollments, outpace the other constituent communities," the committee said.
It is noted in the committee’s report to the board that the recommendations were not approved unanimously. On most votes there was one dissenting voice, and on some votes there were two, according to the report.
Board member Ronald Lawson of Howell chaired the 22-member committee. He was joined by board member Dr. Steven Mish-kin. Citizen members of the panel were Stephen Roberts, Barry Fulmer, Vincent Domidion, Rebecca Ginsberg, Steven Leone, Kevin Wendt, John Jennings and William Satz. District staff members who served were Laura Savage, Robert Pepe, Rich Eason, John DeVincenzo and Barbara Loftus, with administrators Barbara McMorrow, Tony Procopio, Wayne McChesney, Zina Duerbig, Arthur Washburne, Tony Tirrell and Norm Mopsick.
After studying demographic data and information about the current schools site sizes and existing and target capacities, the facilities advisory committee reached the following conclusions:
• The enrollment increases are likely to continue into 2006 and then level off for roughly the next four years. Projections beyond 2010 were discounted by the committee.
• The district’s current schools, after additions have been made, are overcrowded.
• The district’s post-addition student capacity will be 10,700, with a maximum of 11,200.
• The district’s foreseeable enrollment peak will be 12,500.
• Available land for school building programs is becoming a scarce commodity.
• An optimal size, in terms of student capacity, is an average of 26 students per class, and 1,700 to 1,800 per building.
Committee members said they believe it is important for the board to make a statement regarding its philosophy as it relates to class size. The panel said such a statement would help to provide a standard target that all future efforts could shoot for.
Board members did not discuss the committee’s report on Jan. 28 and no meeting has been scheduled to discuss it, Rafferty said.
Mishkin, who is Marlboro’s representative on the board, offered a comment on the committee’s recommendations, saying, "There has been a whole range of numbers submitted. We tried to be really practical as to what is reasonable."
Domidion, of Colts Neck, took the position that a seventh high school is not needed. Quoting numbers he said were reflected in the 2000 census, Domidion, who is a former member of the regional board, said that for the next four to five years the district should "live with the present capacity" due to the fact that the number of incoming school children is likely to decline after that time.
As one of its tasks, the members of the ad-hoc facilities advisory committee reviewed a report prepared by a land acquisition committee the board had impaneled in the past year. That panel identified three potential sites for a new high school. According to Rafferty, those sites were:
• a 100-acre parcel on Route 33 near Iron Ore Road in Manalapan.
• the Hascup farm on Route 524 in Howell.
• a 127-acre site at West Farms and Yellowbrook roads in Howell.
Those sites remain under consideration, Rafferty said, although there is some question as to the feasibility of obtaining the Hascup farm in Howell. The property is the subject of litigation between U.S. Home and Howell.
The district’s eight sending communities are Colts Neck, Englishtown, Farmingdale, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro. High schools are located in all communities except Englishtown and Farmingdale. Current enrollment in the six schools stands at 9,712 students (as of Oct. 2, 2001).