Monroe board hopefuls talk about plans for a new high school

The seven candidates for the Board of Education discuss the propose high school, the land swap and how the district should plug a $36 million gap in funding.

By: Bill Greenwood
   MONROE — Most candidates for school board support building a new high school on a 35-acre parcel in Thompson Park, while three others are split and want the district to find an alternative location or nix the plan altogether.
   Seven candidates running for three open seats on the Board of Education spoke with The Cranbury Press this week about what appears to be the biggest issue on voters’ minds: a proposed new high school in Thompson Park.
   The candidates include challengers Ken Chiarella, Russell Boyd, Ira Tessler and Carol Bjornsen and incumbents Carol Haring, Amy Speizer and Lew Kaufman.
   Ellen Pugner, who announced her candidacy in February, has dropped out of the race.
   The current plan for a new high school calls for a 365,000-square-foot high school to be built on a 35-acre parcel of Thompson Park, near the intersection of Schoolhouse and Perrineville roads. The parcel is protected by state Green Acres restrictions and the state Department of Environmental Protection must approve a proposed exchange of land between Middlesex County and Monroe Township.
   The township wants to trade several parcels totaling 172.32 acres for the Thompson Park land. The DEP has granted preliminary approval, but is awaiting the results of an archaeological survey meant to ensure that the historic Bethel Mission site would not be disturbed by the construction. The mission was an 18th-century community of Leni Lenape who had been converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd.
   The township also is awaiting the result of an appeal filed by the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and local group Park Savers. The appeal argues that the DEP ignored deficiencies in the county and township’s application for the swap and seeks to overturn the State House Commission’s unanimous conditional approval.
   Upon completion, the old high school, which would be located across the street from the new one, would become a middle school.
   Mr. Chiarella, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Tessler, Ms. Speizer and Ms. Haring said they supported the plan, but Mr. Boyd and Ms. Haring said the board should look into alternative sites in order to set up a contingency plan. Ms. Bjornsen said she opposed the plan and would like to see a new site found.
   Candidates also addressed the cost of the project, which is projected to be $36 million more than originally expected, and how to handle increasing enrollment until the school is completed.

Carol Bjornsen
   Carol Bjornsen does not support the Thompson Park plan.
   "It’s an inappropriate place to put a school," she said. "That is protected park land that was bought by the taxpayers’ dollars of the citizens of New Jersey, and it is not disposable land to be used by Monroe Township."
   She said the district should begin looking at alternatives now in order to get the process moving. She said the lawsuit would most likely be taken to the next level if it is defeated, which would cause more delays for the project.
   Since she is not in favor of the park plan, Ms. Bjornsen said she would not seek the extra money needed for the school. However, she said extra money would most likely be needed to pay for any alternate site. She said a discussion as to how to raise this money should be held in public.
   "We need to work together to find some common ground, and how we can get this thing going," she said.
   To address enrollment in the meantime, Ms. Bjornsen suggested the board become more active at the township pPlanning bBoard level, requesting that new housing developments that would bring more students to the district be curbed.
   "If I was king, I would say to the township, ‘Whoa, you’ve got to stop building. Let me catch up. Let me catch my breath.’ "
   She said she did not think trailers are hurting the education of children in the district because of the high quality of district teachers. However, she called the trailers’ use a "stop-gap measure" that should be rectified as early as possible.

Russell Boyd
   Russell Boyd said he supports the Thompson Park plan.
   However, he said, he sees nothing wrong with looking at alternatives to the project, namely those produced five years ago by the ad hoc committee that proposed the Thompson Park plan.
   "I think there’s nothing wrong with looking at the report and seeing what’s still available," he said.
   He said he is not worried that researching alternatives could backtrack the approval process, which is based on the fact that no other suitable alternative sites to the Thompson Park location exist.
   "I don’t think we should be worried about that," Mr. Boyd said. "I think we need to do what’s best for the kids."
   He said the board should ask the township for help covering the $36 million extra needed to cover the new school. He said he believes most residents understand the need for the school and will be willing to pass a referendum whenever it is proposed.
   Mr. Boyd also said reducing the scope of the project to bring its cost below the $82.9 million already approved could be a good plan. However, he said doing so could delay the project by about one year because it would need to be approved by voters and the state Department of Education again.
   Mr. Boyd said a plan for dealing with increased enrollment at Applegarth Middle School between now and when the new high school is completed should be put in place.
   "I think we just need to have a very transparent process so people know what is happening and to get rid of the misconceptions that are out there now," he said.
   He said he did not think portable classrooms at elementary schools have had a detrimental impact on education at the schools but added that they will not solve enrollment issues by themselves, since common areas like libraries and gymnasiums must accommodate more and more children regardless.

Ken Chiarella
   Ken Chiarella said he is in favor of the Thompson Park plan and voted for the original referendum when it passed in 2003. He said the plan is the district’s "quickest and surest" way to get the school built at the lowest possible cost, even with the projected price increase.
   If said that if the process is stopped and started again, more time and money would have to be spent to get the appropriate approvals.
   Mr. Chiarella said he does not think the board should be researching alternatives to the site because he believes DEP approval will be granted once the archaeological study is complete. He said the board should only look at alternatives if the study reveals the Bethel Mission is indeed located on the land or if a lawsuit seeking to overturn the State House Commission’s unanimous approval for the land swap is successful.
   Mr. Chiarella said the board should try to reduce the amount of extra money needed for the project before going to voters for a referendum. He said the district should enter into a shared services agreement with the township to buy paper, food items, oil and other such products in bulk to be used by both the township and the district.
   Afterward, he said the district should look at ways to reduce its budget before sending a referendum to taxpayers.
   He said he did not think such action would take taxpayers out of the process because shared services and budget reallocation would not cost them anything extra.
   In terms of enrollment issues, Mr. Chiarella said the district must iensure that there are no delays in the construction of a new elementary school on Applegarth Road across from the Applegarth Middle School, which is expected to open in 2008.
   He said he would ask board President Kathy Kolupanowich to create a project committee that would handle oversight, phone calls, paperwork and follow-ups for all the district’s projects, iensuring they are completed on time.
   While Mr. Chiarella said he does not think temporary trailers that have been put in place at several Monroe schools to deal with increased enrollment have hurt students academically, he does think it creates a misconception about the Monroe school system.
   "I think (the trailers) create a perception that the Monroe school system is inadequate," he said. "If that perception persists, people will start to look at Monroe schools as undesirable. When that happens, Monroe becomes undesirable."

Carol Haring
   Ms. Haring, who has been serving on the board since 1994, said she is in favor of the Thompson Park plan. However, she said she is concerned because the process is taking "too long" and would like to see a contingency plan put in place.
   "I think the responsible thing is at some point we need to take responsibility and say maybe this isn’t going to fly and maybe we need to look at some other things," she said.
   She said she was concerned such a move could cause the State House Commission to backtrack on its approval but added that the state has already taken 38 months to decide whether to accept the land swap. She said waiting any longer to begin working on a backup plan would be irresponsible.
   Ms. Haring said she would like to see the district enter into a shared services contract with the township to reduce some of the extra cost for the project. However, she did not think such an agreement would come anywhere close to $36 million, making a referendum necessary.
   She said the district should deal with increased enrollment in the meantime by adding more trailers as needed. She acknowledged that they would not be a long-term solution, but said they were more than adequate to get the job done for the time being.
   "I think they’re outstanding," she said. "They’re very well-equipped, there’s a lot of space, a lot of storage."
   "I don’t think the kids are suffering from being in them," she said.

Lew Kaufman
   Mr. Kaufman, who has served on the board since 2001, said he supports the Thompson Park plan and has done so since the beginning. He said the geographical location of the school in the middle of town and its proximity to the current high school make it the ideal site.
   "This is our most cost-effective solution," he said.
   He said he does not think the board should be looking into alternative sites because the project has not been rejected by any state agency or organization up to this point. He said he believes the plan is moving forward and should be allowed to run its course.
   Mr. Kaufman said the district needs to go over its available options for raising the extra $36 million needed for the project. He said entering into a shared services agreement with the township and attempting to go out to bid in phases for the project were good ways to reduce the amount needed but added that the board was unsure of whether the latter would be allowed by the state.
   He said reducing the scope of the project also could be a good idea, but the district would have to be careful to avoid "building a building to a number" rather than "building a building to fit our programs."
   Mr. Kaufman said the district will have to deal with increasing enrollment on a year-by-year basis in the meantime. He said the new elementary school will help relieve some of the stress but added that there would still be a buildup of children in higher grades until the new high school is completed.
   He said adding more trailers would be a good way to deal with the problem temporarily.
   "I’ve been told by a lot of community members that they love them," he said.
   "If they were physically attached to the building, you wouldn’t even know they were trailers," he said.

Amy Speizer
   Ms. Speizer, who has served on the board since 1992, said she supports the Thompson Park plan and has done so since it was introduced. She said the district should not look for alternatives because moving to another location would only cause delays.
   "I think that where we are right now we should wait for the archaeological survey to be completed and then wait for the DEP approval," she said.
   She said the board was in favor of entering into a shared services agreement with the township to reduce the extra cost of the plan before asking taxpayers for a referendum. She said working with the township could also help them come up with other creative ways to raise the money, like purchasing auditorium seats and then selling them to the community.
   Ms. Speizer said the new elementary school would most likely remove the need to purchase any additional trailers. She also said crowding in the hallways could be alleviated through well-thought-out scheduling.
   "We’re still giving quality education, and that has not suffered at all," she said.

Ira Tessler
   Ira Tessler said he supports the Thompson Park plan and has done so since the beginning.
   "I think it’s still the most cost-effective option," he said. "I think having a high school and a middle school next to each other makes sense because we can share services."
   Mr. Tessler said the district should not be researching alternatives because the proposed land swap is contingent on the fact that no alternatives exist. He said he would rather have district administration working on school issues.
   Mr. Tessler said he would like to see the district enter into a lease purchase agreement with the township to pay for the extra $36 million. Doing so would allow the district to pay the amount in smaller installments. He also said he would be in favor of entering into a shared services agreement with the township.
   He said it also might be a good idea to cut something like the school auditorium out of the project, reducing its price and allowing the district to go out to bid. He said it could go out to bid on the auditorium at a later date.
   Mr. Tessler said the opening of the new elementary school in 2008 would relieve some of the stress caused by increased enrollment. In the meantime, he said the only way to deal with the problem would be to add more trailers.
   "They’re not the ultimate solution, but they’re not that bad," he said.