"We expect to be just under 1,000 students over capacity by 2010," district Business Administrator/Board Secretary John Nemeth said last week
By John Tredrea
The need for a new Hopewell Valley school is on the horizon and officials of the school district and Hopewell Township, where the school would be located, have begun planning for it.
"We expect to be just under 1,000 students over capacity by 2010," district Business Administrator/Board Secretary John Nemeth said last week.
"Our enrollment predictions are coming true. We are experiencing steady growth due to turnover of existing homes and construction of new homes."
By "turnover," Mr. Nemeth is referring to houses being sold by families whose children are out of school to families with children in school.
Superintendent Judith Ferguson said she, Mr. Nemeth and other school officials plan to begin a series of meetings with officials of the 58-square-mile Hopewell Township, where the new school would have to be built. There is not enough room for a school in the district’s other two constituent towns, Pennington and Hopewell boroughs. Both boroughs are less than one square mile in size.
Dr. Ferguson said that, going into the talks with township officials, the district’s first priority is to have three possible school sites identified in the township Master Plan. She would not say what any of those sites might be, or if any school officials had any specific sites in mind yet.
Dr. Ferguson said the township officials who will meet with those from the district include Planner Michael Bolan, Engineer Paul Pogorzelski and Administrator Bruce Hilling.
"We’ll be holding our first meeting with them soon to begin the conversations on the new school," Dr. Ferguson said.
Mr. Nemeth described the process of building a new school as "long and complex. There are many steps that need to be taken."
Dr. Ferguson noted that the consensus of educators is against schools with more than 1,000 students. There are about 1,000 students in Timberlane Middle School and Central High School now. The district also has four elementary schools.
"We are already at capacity, or very close to it, at all grade levels," she said. "Because of how long the process takes, the time to start planning a new school is now."
She added that, as the planning process proceeds, the district would weigh several options, including construction of a new high school, middle school, and reconfiguration of how grade levels are distributed among school buildings. Currently, the four elementary schools are K-five. Timberlane was switched to six-eight from seven-eight several years ago. CHS is nine-12.
To assist the district in planning for new school, the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education voted unanimously Nov. 21 in favor of a contract, not to exceed $14,500, with the Ewing architectural firm of Faridy Veisz Fraytak PC Architects/Planners.