with redistricting
revisions announced
School board will leave
many students in place
Residents pleased
with redistricting
revisions announced
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The atmosphere was much more supportive last week when the Board of Education held its second public hearing on a redistricting proposal that had upset many parents during the first hearing, especially parents with children in the Joseph J. Catena School.
Except for a few questions about minor details, the audience, board members and Superintendent of Schools Catherine Snyder were in agreement about the shape of the new proposal which takes the Catena School pupils out of the mix.
The board is working on plans to redistrict some students beginning in September 2004 when the new West Freehold School opens.
When the original Student Attendance Area Advisory Committee (SAAAC) proposal was introduced, it included moving some students from the Catena School to the C. Richard Applegate School and some pupils from Applegate to Catena.
Parents were very upset over the disruption and did not agree that the juggling of the pupils was necessary.
Last week, Snyder explained the revised plan and recommended that the board not approve the SAAAC proposal to move elementary school pupils from 22 streets currently attending Catena to Applegate.
Her comments were applauded by parents in attendance at the meeting at the Barkalow Middle School.
Snyder also recommended that the board not approve the SAAAC proposal to move students from the 18 streets currently attending Applegate to Catena.
In addition, she recommended that the proposal to move students from the eight streets currently attending the Marshall W. Errickson School to the Laura Donovan School also not be approved.
What the superintendent did recommend is that all pupils from the Applegate, Donovan and Errickson schools who will be fifth-graders in 2004-05 and are scheduled to move to the new school be offered the option of remaining in their current school. That same option would be offered to pupils at the Eisenhower Middle School who would be in the seventh grade or eighth grade in 2004-05 and are scheduled to move to the Barkalow Middle School.
Snyder reiterated that the goal of the redistricting plan is to equalize enrollment among schools and to develop long-term attendance areas. She said the plan must stand the test of time and explained that district administrators expect each elementary school to have about 620 pupils. She said the schools have a capacity for more than 750 students.
"We don’t anticipate having to do another major redistricting," she said.
A number of parents thanked the board for taking their concerns into consideration, but one resident said she did not like the way the proposal was originally presented to parents in the form of a letter because it created a great deal of stress for the past month.
Board President Grace McMillan said that as soon as the SAAAC recommendations were completed the board informed the public of the committee’s recommendations.
"We have always tried to do what is in the best interest of people in the community and do things out in the open. I know the letter that was sent led to a lot of stress," the board president said.
She said she was upset when she heard people saying that the redistricting plan as initially proposed was a "done deal."
"It’s never a done deal until the community has input," McMillan said.
Since all of the board members were in agreement with Snyder’s recommendations, they discussed voting on the proposal that night, but decided that they should stick to their original decision to vote on Nov. 11 because that is when residents had been told to expect a formal vote on the redistricting issue.

