Three school board seats will be filled in April

Two seats are open in Hopewell Township and just one in Pennington Borough, which loses a seat this year, because of population changes within the school district.

By Ruth Luse
   On April 15 — income tax day — some Hopewell Valley voters will pick members of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education and voters in all three municipalities will make decisions about the proposed 2003-2004 school budget.
   This year, only voters in Hopewell Township and Pennington will pick school board members. Two seats are open in Hopewell Township and just one in Pennington Borough, which loses a seat this year, because of population changes within the school district.
   Those interested in running for the three seats must file nominating petitions no later than 4 p.m. Feb. 24. Information about those petitions and about school board candidacy can be obtained by calling the school district’s business office at 737-1511. The school board office is located at 425 S. Main St., Pennington.
   Those currently holding the township seats on the school board are longtime member Sally Turner and Lisa Marin Main, who was elected last year to fill Hopewell Township’s brand new seat for one year.
   Ms. Main was elected in April 2002 to a one-year term. Her seat will be contested for a three-year term on April 15, as will the seat now held by Ms. Turner, current president of the school board. The one Pennington seat filled on April 15 also will be for a three-year term.
   The township’s new seat was created in response to the 2000 U.S. Census count, which resulted in the township’s gain of one seat and Pennington’s eventual loss of one of its current two.
   After the April 16, 2002 election, Pennington kept it two posts — now held by David Goldschmidt and Ari Gabinet — meaning that during this year, which ends on April 15, the board has been composed of 10 members (seven from Hopewell Township, two from Pennington and one from Hopewell).
   But, when the school board reorganizes after the April 15 election this year, it again will be composed of nine members. One of Pennington’s two seats will be retired, the township will have seven seats (as a result of its population growth relative to the two boroughs during the 1990s) and Hopewell Borough, one.
   Most of the township’s growth can be attributed to the 1,300-unit Brandon Farms development, which was built during the 1990s. Hopewell Borough lost one of its two seats on the regional school board in the early 1990s.
   A formula in state law determines how many seats each town in a regional school district will have on a school board. Application of data from the 2000 Census to that formula is what will cost Pennington its seat, effective this April.
   In a memo to the school board last January, John Nemeth, school board secretary/business administrator, said the 2000 Census determined the population of Hopewell Township at 16,105. Pennington and Hopewell boroughs had 2,696 and 2,035 residents respectively. Mr. Nemeth noted that state law "regulates the apportionment and election of board member seats for each constituent municipality in the school district."
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   The Hopewell Valley Regional School District was formed in 1965 after voters in the three affected municipalities voted to create it. In 1965, population counts of two of the three towns — Pennington and Hopewell boroughs — were not unlike their counts today. It is Hopewell Township, with its 58 square miles, that has seen considerable growth during the last 38 years.
   Prior to regionalization, Hopewell Borough had its own school board, which oversaw only Hopewell Elementary School, a K-8 school. High school students attended Princeton High School on a tuition basis.
   Hopewell Township and Pennington Borough were covered by one school board, the Hopewell Township Board of Education. High school students attended Central High School, which was built in Hopewell Township in 1958. Pennington Central High School, which was housed in what is today the district administration building, served high school students prior to that time.
   Several elementary schools, no longer part of the system, existed prior to and during the early days of regionalization, including Titusville School, Harbourton School and Pennington Primary.
   Bear Tavern School, which came on line about the time the schools were regionalized, eventually absorbed the Titusville School population and the latter was closed. Primary School (now the Academy Court complex in Pennington) served as administrative headquarters for a time after it ceased being used as a school. Eventually, it was sold.
   Harbourton School — a one-room building— became the property of a private individual.
   Toll Gate School, once a high school (as noted above) and later an elementary building, eventually became the administrative headquarters the district uses today. The school once known as Pennington Grammar School was merged with Toll Gate and became the Toll Gate Grammar School students attend today.
   Hopewell Elementary School served Hopewell prior to regionalization and still serves the Hopewell area school population today.
   Stony Brook Elementary School was added at the beginning of this school year to accommodate children from the township’s growth area, the Brandon Farms region.