by 1,766 votes
By Sandi carpello
Staff Writer
Monroe voters overwhelmingly rejected a $113 million school expansion plan Tuesday that would have included the construction of a new high school.
The vote was 5,510 to 3,744 against the district’s proposal, with a turnout of nearly 40 percent of the township’s registered voters.
School officials noted that the majority of the negative votes came from the township’s retirement communities, whereas the proposal was actually supported at other voting locations.
At the Whittingham retirement community, some 1,243 voters were against the proposal, while just 303 supported it. In the Clearbrook development, the vote against the proposal was 1,225 to 248.
Some 57 percent of registered voters at the Ponds Club cast ballots, rejecting the plan 436 to 118.
Meanwhile, at other polling locations, such as the Woodland School, the referendum was supported by a count of 620 to 172. At the Brookside School polling location, 631 voted yes and 151 voted no.
"We are very disappointed," said Board of Education President Joseph Homoki. "We felt we had a good plan."
Due to an escalating student population in the district — officials estimated enrollment to growth of 300 to 350 students per year for the next five years — the board proposed a $113.26 million expansion plan that would build a new high school on a 112-acre property at Applegarth and Halsey Reed roads; turn the existing high school into a middle school; turn the Applegarth Middle School into an elementary school; and perform renovations at the Brookside Elementary School.
Having received a commitment of $15.29 million in aid from the state Department of Education, the school district would have had to bond for almost $98 million.
Under a recently lowered municipal bond interest rate, homeowners assessed at the township average of $150,000 would have paid about $97 more in annual school taxes until the debt was paid off in 25 years.
Homoki said yesterday that the school board is not ready to back down. Along with the district’s 40-member ad hoc committee, the board and administration will analyze and revisit the defeated plan and come up with something that is more acceptable to the community, he said.
Homoki noted that the cost of the proposal might have been too excessive for the community.
However, several parents said they were disheartened by the referendum’s defeat.
"I wanted it to happen," said Charlie DiPierro of Spotswood-Gravel Hill Road. "Kids need the proper tools to learn."
"It’s a disgrace," said resident Lucy Cioffi, whose children attend the school district.
Homoki could not say when the district would present another proposal.
Superintendent of Schools Ralph P. Ferrie could not be reached for comment for this story.

