Board still seeking
bid for fitness center
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — The Shore Regional High School Board of Education has agreed to go out to bid again for the construction work to convert the unused auto shop to a fitness center.
Board Business Administrator Nicholas Cammarano said he had no idea why no bids were received on the project. He said the job was advertised in the newspaper, but the school got no responses.
The plans for the fitness center were drawn up by architect Michael Savarese, he said.
Cammarano said the $380,000 cost will be paid for from a $154,000 state Economic Development Authority grant, $206,000 from the capital reserve fund which has been built up over the past three years, and $20,000 from the current school budget for the 2002-03 school year.
The fitness center was included in the budget for — and was supposed to be completed during — the current school year, "but with the time lines for compliance with the state, we ran a little bit behind," according to Cammarano.
He said the state compliance pertains to the EDA grant.
Now the goal is to complete the fitness center by the time school opens in the fall, he said.
The space for the fitness center is available because the auto repair course is no longer taught at the high school.
In other action, the board approved a policy change that would allow seniors to skip their final exam in subjects in which they have a raw grade — not a weighted grade — of 92 or higher.
School Superintendent/Principal Leonard Schnappauf said the school had allowed students with such a grade to skip the final exam in the past, but it was linked to community service.
"This is the first time it’s based strictly on academics," he said. "We have found that for large group (community service) activities, there doesn’t seem to be a need in June. We’re talking about 170 youngsters over four days."
"It has to be those four days," he said, when the exams are given.
Schnappauf announced that Dan Ryan, a technology teacher, had received a $2,500 grant from the Fort Monmouth Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association (AFCEA) which he plans to use for students to design and build numerous water crafts that will navigate a proscribed course, outlined in Franklin Lake, which is located behind the high school.
"The boats will be subjected to speed trials by a radar machine," he said.