Millstone Township voters support new school construction and renovations.
By: Sarah Winkelman
MILLSTONE Township residents overwhelmingly approved a $34.5 million building referendum Tuesday that will allow the district to construct a new middle school and make renovations to the existing elementary and middle schools.
After the defeat of the first building referendum in September, the board decided to give residents options by dividing the referendum into three separate questions one asking voters to approve just the construction of a new middle school and upgrade of the bus loops at the existing middle and elementary schools; the second for construction of an auditorium at the new middle school; and the third for construction of six bathrooms at the elementary school.
After all the votes were counted, 1,372 people supported the construction of the new middle school while 750 opposed it. For the second question regarding the auditorium, 1,125 supported it while 984 opposed it. For construction of the bathrooms, 1,259 were in favor of it while 848 opposed it.
"I couldn’t be any happier," Superintendent William Setaro said after the results were in. "The citizens of Millstone saw that we needed this and came out to support it. This passing says to me that the residents see the value in education."
He attributed the success of the referendum to a variety of factors, including the board’s willingness to listen to the needs of the residents. After the September referendum failed, Dr. Setaro and the Board of Education mulled over the results of exit polls they had conducted and surveys sent to all 3,000 township homes.
"The public asked for choices and we gave them choices," Dr. Setaro said. "We did everything they asked us to do, from cutting back the scope of the project, to giving them choices to trimming the overall tax impact and getting rid of the transportation center."
He also attributed some of the success to the fact that the fate of the land on which the school would be built had been settled last week.
On March 2, township officials announced that an agreement had been reached between the township, Orleans’s Homebuilders Inc. and the Waters family regarding 147 acres off Waters Lane that the school was planning to use to build the new middle school. Under the agreement, the school district received 100 acres.
Residents can expect an additional 12-cent increase in the school tax rate because of the referendum. That means that a homeowner with a home assessed at the township average of $400,000 will pay an additional $480 in school taxes each year. If voters approve the 2004-05 school budget as it is currently proposed, the 12 cents would be added to the 5.8-cent tax rate increase called for, in effect forcing the average homeowner to pay just over $700 more in school taxes next year. (see related story, Page 3A).
Now that the referendum has been approved, officials can begin the final design phase for the new middle school. Dr. Setaro said it would take approximately six to eight months, adding that the public would be invited to comment on the design along the way.
Once final plans are in place and a construction contract has been awarded, Dr. Setaro said, construction of the new school and renovations to the existing schools will take approximately 18 months, which means officials are hoping the new middle school will be open by September 2007.
In addition to constructing a new sixth-through-eighth-grade middle school, the referendum calls for improving the bus loops outside the existing elementary and middle schools for better traffic flow.
Other changes to the existing middle school include converting science rooms and computer labs into regular classrooms, making small group space out of larger rooms and converting the boys and girls locker rooms into small group rooms.
Dr. Setaro said the school board is still debating the grade configurations for the existing middle and elementary schools.
There are two options available to the board. The first option is to make the elementary school a K-5 building. The existing middle school would house grades one through five, basically splitting the population in half.
The second option is to make the elementary school K-4 with half the third-grade class, and the existing middle school would house grades three through five with the other half of the third-graders.