Planning for county bio-tech high school in early stages

Staff Writer

By dick metzgar

FREEHOLD — The gem of a proposed multimillion dollar five-year spending plan for the Monmouth County Vocational School District will be the construction of a new Bio-Technology Academy for Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The school will be known as Bio-Tech High School.

Although the facility is still in the preliminary stages, Monmouth County Vocational School District Superintendent of Schools Brian D. McAndrew said early estimates indicate that the facility, which will be built at the rear of the Monmouth County Career Center on Kozloski Road in Freehold Township, will cost in the neighborhood of $12 million.

The 70,000-square-foot facility will be designed to handle 250 students, McAndrew said.

"If all goes well, we expect to enroll our first freshman class in 2004," McAndrew said. "We will add a class each year after that until we have a full enrollment."

The vocational district currently operates four high-tech schools, which are open to all county residents. These are:

• The Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) in Sandy Hook, a four-year high school program that offers students the opportunity to pursue study in marine science and marine engineering areas.

• High Technology High School, on the campus of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. It is designed to offer students programs relevant to a pre-engineering career.

• The Academy of Allied Health and Science in Neptune. The mission of this school is to prepare and motivate students to pursue further education in medical sciences.

• Communications High School in Wall Township. The mission of this school is to educate college-bound and career-oriented students using the field of communications technology as an educational foundation.

"We are still in the process of establishing our goals for the Bio-Tech High School," McAndrew said. "We are still in the process of identifying what we want to do. We will be seeking partners in higher education and the business world. We will have a better idea of these in the near future."

The superintendent did say the new school will concentrate on such areas of study as chemistry, microbiology, genetics, animal science and plant biology. Among the partners sought could be those industries engaged in pharmaceuticals, chemistry and the environment, McAndrew said.

At a meeting on Jan. 17 in Freehold, the Board of School Estimate of the Monmouth Vocational School District approved a five-year spending plan for facility and program improvements that will include the Bio-Tech High School.

Although the spending plan must be officially approved by the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders in the future, three of the county’s five freeholders sit on the Board of School Estimate that has already approved the plan.

The state Department of Education must also approve the plan in order for the district to qualify for funding assistance under New Jersey’s Educational Facilities Construction and Funding Act, McAndrew said.

"The state would pick up 40 percent of the capital improvement costs," the superintendent said. "We used to have to pay 92 percent of the costs. Now we’ll pay only 60 percent. There is no better deal than this."