By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
MONROE — Seniors living in the township’s retirement communities had a variety of reasons for rejecting a $113 million school expansion plan last week that would have included the construction of a new high school.
The referendum was defeated 5,510 to 3,744, with the great majority of dissenting votes coming from the township’s senior communities, where more than half the township’s 30,000 residents dwell.
Concordia resident Adrienne Richman, a retired educator who said she voted against the plan, said the district’s proposal was "grandiose" and too costly for senior citizens living on fixed incomes.
"These are bad economic times," she said.
The project would have cost $97 per year in school taxes for the owner of property assessed at $150,000.
The school board had "a very ambitious wish list," she noted. "State-of-the-art facilities do not necessarily mean a state-of-the-art education."
The defeated proposal included the new high school being built at Applegarth Road and Halsey Reed roads; turning the existing high school into a middle school; converting the Applegarth middle school into an elementary school; and performing renovations at the Brookside elementary school.
The plan was designed to meet the needs of a student population that is increasing by about 300 to 350 students per year.
The referendum was defeated soundly in each of the senior communities, while it was supported in all other township polling districts. Residents of the retirement communities represented approximately 64 percent of the 9,058 who voted in the referendum.
The largest retirement community votes were at Whittingham and Clearbrook, where the combined vote against the referendum was 2,468 to 551. At Concordia, some 874 residents were against the proposal, while 346 supported it. The plan was defeated by similar margins in Rossmoor and The Ponds Club.
Irwin Nalitt, who is president of the Township Council and resides in Concordia, described the outcome of the referendum as unfortunate, adding that the Board of Education was ineffective in communicating its plans to the township’s seniors.
As an example, Nalitt said he overheard one senior say that a swimming pool and an indoor parking garage were part of the referendum proposal, although they were not. School officials, apparently having heard the rumor themselves, even dismissed the claim that there was a swimming pool in the plans during a press conference a week prior to the referendum.
"There was never a swimming pool," said Sharon Vogel of the district’s administration office.
Superintendent of Schools Ralph Ferrie said district officials presented the details of the plan at every township retirement community, visiting Rossmoor twice, and sent out a variety of fliers describing the plan.
Nalitt added that 6,113 registered voters who live outside of the retirement communities did not show up to vote in the Sept. 24 referendum. If only half of them had shown up to vote, they would likely have approved the plan, he said.
Another resident of Concordia who voted against the proposal said he had concerns with the proposed location of the new high school, noting that it would generate a huge traffic impact for residents.
Concordia resident Rita Gordon, vice president of the township’s League of Women Voters, said she supported the proposal, however.
"I voted for it," she said, noting her belief that it is the community’s responsibility to adequately accommodate the children’s educational needs.
Gordon noted that many seniors who supported a 1993 proposal that resulted in the construction of the Richard P. Marasco Center for the Performing Arts at Monroe Township High School did not want to dish out any more money.
The community also supported two other referendums, in 1997 and 1999, which brought additions and improvements at the high school and enabled the construction of the new Mill Lake School, respectively.
Ferrie said this week that a school board ad hoc committee, which grew from 40 people to 73 people in the days following the referendum, is determined to devise a new plan that he hopes will be more acceptable to the community.

