Voters get say on new school tab

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   MONROE — For the second time in four years voters will be asked to approve money for a new high school.
   Voters approved an $82.9 million referendum in December 2003 to build a new high school, but because of delays, voters will now be asked to sign off on $41.9 million more for the project, needed to cover unexpected increases in the cost of materials and services.
   Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m.
   While approved in 2003, shovels have yet to hit dirt for several reasons. The district has been eyeing a 35-acre parcel of Thompson Park as the site to build the new school. However, that land is protected by Green Acres restrictions, and only recently did the state Department of Environmental Protection give conditional approval to exchange 175 acres of open space elsewhere in the township for the Thompson Park property.
   In addition, the project has been opposed by a number of groups for a variety of reasons. Several environmental groups, including the local group Park Savers and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, sued to stop the land exchange.
   Since then, increases in the cost of materials such as steel and copper, and a jump in the prevailing wages and the price of petroleum used for transporting the materials have forced the district to pay more for the project.
   If approved, project will carry a tax rate increase of .0299 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. At that rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $175,102 would pay about $52 more in property taxes, according to Wayne Holiday, Monroe’s district business administrator.
   In addition, if the referendum is approved, the district expects to go out to bid for the project in March and break ground in the late summer. If all goes well, the school should be open by September 2011. When complete, the 365,000-square-foot facility will be able to hold 1,800 students with room for expansion. The three-story building will have a media center, common rooms and a performing arts center that can also transition into lecture halls.
   The building will be located within walking distance from the existing high school, and the schools will share existing athletic fields, eliminating the need to build new fields.
   Once done, the existing high school will be come a middle school, and the current middle school, Applegarth, will become an elementary school and a sister school to the under-construction Oak Tree School.
   If the referendum is rejected, the district’s options would be limited, said Superintendent Ralph Ferrie.
   The first option is for the district to go back to voters in March, the next earliest date allowed by law. If that referendum is passed then, the high school would be on target to open in 2012. However, Dr. Ferrie said that if that referendum fails the district will have most likely have to ask voters if it can use the $82.9 million for a different project. Or is could deal with the state stepping in and forcing the district to build a “state model” school instead, an option Dr. Ferrie said would not be in the best interests of Monroe students.
   ”(The state) just has to meet the core curriculum,” Dr. Ferrie said. “That will limit a number of our programs.”
   Mr. Holiday said that now is the perfect time to get the ball rolling on the high school because of construction slowdowns that prompt aggressive bidding and because the Federal Reserve is expected to announce another cut on an interest rate that is already considerably low.
   ”It’s a good time to sell bonds and go out to bid,” Dr. Ferrie said. “We should get in on the front end of this.”
   District officials have said that the high school is needed to deal with an increase in student population throughout the district and has required schools to use 61 portable classrooms/trailers for $1.1 million a year, said Board of Education President Kathy Kolupanowich.
   ”I’d rather have that money go toward brick and mortar,” Mr. Holiday said.
   In addition, the district moved the high school about 300 feet closer to Perrineville Road to create a buffer between construction and the Bethel Mission archaeological dig. The excavation of 4.46 acres of the site is one of the conditions imposed on the township and Middlesex County as part of the DEP’s approval of the land swap.
   The site is being excavated because 18th century artifacts were discovered there. Some historical preservationists believe the artifacts were from the Bethel Mission, also known as the Bethel Indian Town. They say the mission was located in Thompson Park at the site of the proposed school.
   An archeological study commissioned by the township says that the mission was located about a mile away. Bethel was an 18th century community of Lenni-Lenape Indians who were converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd.
   Mr. Holiday said Tuesday’s referendum might have been unavoidable even without all the legal delays considering a recent trend he has observed.
   A number of local school districts that passed a 2003 referendum have experienced similar setbacks, having to go back and ask for more money because increases in the cost of materials.
   The polling places in Monroe are as follows:
   • Ward 1, District 1: Encore Monroe, Brookside Drive;
   • Ward 1, Districts 2, 3, 4, 5: Rossmoor Clubhouse, Rossmoor Drive;
   • Ward 1, Districts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10: Clearbrook Cultural Center, Ardmore and Halsey roads;
   • Ward 1, Districts 11, 12: Monroe Township Fire and EMS Facility, Center Drive;
   • Ward 1, District 13: The Ponds Club, Waterside Boulevard;
   • Ward 1, District 14; Ward 2, District 10: Applegarth Middle School, Applegarth Road;
   • Ward 1, District 15: Monroe Village, David Brainerd Drive
   • Ward 2, District 1; Ward 3, Districts 4, 9: Woodland School, Harrison Avenue;
   • Ward 2, District 2; Ward 3, Districts 6, 8: Brookside School, Buckelew Avenue;
   • Ward 2, Districts 3, 9, 11, 12: Whittingham Towne Center, Whittingham Drive;
   • Ward 2, District 4: Monroe Township Library, Municipal Plaza;
   • Ward 2, Districts 5, 6, 7, 8: Concordia Clubhouse, Clubhouse Drive;
   • Ward 3, Districts 1, 3: Monroe First Aid Building, Monmouth Road;
   • Ward 3, Districts 2, 5, 7: Monroe Township Community Center, Monmouth Road;
   • Ward 3, District 10: Regency Clubhouse, Country Club Drive.