Voters OK middle school proposal

Voters approve Upper Freehold Board of Education referendum to construct a new middle school and make improvements on the existing facility.

By: Lauren Burgoon
   UPPER FREEHOLD — Jeanette Bressi wanted to be the first person in line to vote for the middle school referendum on Tuesday. But she decided to postpone going to the polls until her two children got out of school so they could accompany her to help, as the school board president put it, "pull the lever in favor of their own education."
   It worked. The referendum question, which asked voters to approve the construction of new middle school and make improvements to the existing middle school at a cost of $38.9 million, came down narrowly on the side of approval Tuesday by a vote of 1,391 to 1,129. The measure passed easily in Allentown by 273 to 143. The vote was a bit closer in Upper Freehold with 1,118 for and 986 against.
   The Board of Education is hailing Tuesday’s outcome as a win for children and an affirmation that Upper Freehold and Allentown residents value education and how children are taught.
   "I’m so honored to live in a community that puts kids and education first," Ms. Bressi said. "I want to thank all the voters who came out to support our children. … I hope every child who goes to that school is blessed and knows that the community put them and their education first."
   Ms. Bressi said that she has never worked on a more meaningful issue. She credited her fellow board members and the grass-roots efforts of the pro-referendum Yes Committee with convincing voters that a separate middle school is needed.
   Another person who worked countless hours to support the vote is Superintendent Robert Connelly. Dr. Connelly was so anxious to learn the vote’s outcome that he drove down to the Upper Freehold municipal building at 10 p.m. to wait out delayed ballot returns.
   "I’m very pleased," he said after learning of the results. "The Board of Education did an excellent job in making the case and advancing the idea that this is the best solution for our enrollment growth."
   Approval of the referendum means that the Upper Freehold Regional School District will get its first independent middle school. The current combined middle and elementary school will be split. The existing building will house preschool through fourth grade, the fifth- through eighth-graders will go to the new building and Allentown High School will reclaim the annex. The referendum also provided for improvements to the elementary school.
   The voters’ approval also ensures that the district can use $6.4 million in state money for the project. The grant is more than 15 percent of the project cost and the money was in danger of disappearing had the referendum gone down.
   Groundbreaking is expected in early 2006 so the building is ready for occupation by the 2007-08 school year. That is when the district expects to see a growth explosion, with an increase of 851 students over the current enrollment. District officials had warned that a rejected referendum would necessitate bringing in trailers for classroom space.
   The road to the referendum was not a smooth one for the school district. Tuesday’s vote was pushed back from an expected polling date in September after the land search took longer than expected. The land search took about 18 months and although the board decided on a 40-acre Ellisdale Road site, even now the land isn’t in the district’s hand. According to Ms. Bressi, negotiations between the owner, Princeton Nurseries, and the district are ongoing.
   The referendum also saw massive lobbying from both sides. A pro-referendum group, the Yes Committee, organized coffees and mailings to educate its neighbors about the project. That was countered by some individuals around town who were against the Ellisdale Road location.
   Last week a monkey wrench that could have threatened the referendum’s passage was thrown into the mix in the form of rumors that a landowner would donate 50 acres to the district. The donation was said to be contingent on zoning changes that would allow the owner to develop his land as an active adult community.
   "The rumors of land donation are still just that — rumors," Ms. Bressi said Tuesday.
   She earlier had noted that no formal offer was ever made to the Board of Education for free land, nor did the owners discuss the idea with the district before the public got wind of it, nor did the Township Committee agree to zoning changes that hinged on the alleged donation.
   "No one even knows if this land is viable. There’s been no testing on it," she said Monday, adding that the state Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Education would have to approve the site.
   In the end, it wasn’t an issue with voters. But the land issue could creep back up given the right conditions. If a formal offer is made, the land is viable and the donation would represent significant savings, the Board of Education might entertain an offer. But moving the proposed location would require another referendum and, Ms. Bressi said, would be done only if the district still received state funds and the school could open as planned, among other conditions.
   Now that the referendum is approved, the project’s costs will be passed on to residents in the form of incremental tax increases for the next four years. Allentown residents will see a total of 19 cents per $100 of assessed valuation added onto their school tax rate. For someone in Allentown with a home valued at the 2004 average of $151,700, school taxes will increase by $288 over those years.
   The school tax rate hike in Upper Freehold will total 17 cents over four years. A township resident with a home assessed at the 2004 average of $244,900 will pay $416 more.
   Both expected increases could change as the years go by, especially in Upper Freehold, where a mandatory revaluation is being done this year.