New tab for high school gets thumbs up

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   MONROE — The Monroe School District will be able to pay for its new high school.
   On Tuesday, voters supported a $41.9 million referendum to cover expenses for the new high school’s construction, which has been on hold for the past four years due to delays in getting permission to build it on a portion of Green Acres-protected Thompson Park.
   Referendum supporters beat out the opposition by almost 1,000 votes, with 3,709 voting in its favor and 2,745 voting against it.
   The referendum is expected to cover the difference between an $82.9 million referendum approved in December 2003 to build the school and increases due to the rising cost of materials and services.
   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 transition into lecture halls.
   A crowd that had gathered at Monroe’s Municipal Building to hear the final vote tallies produced both cheers and tears as school board President Kathy Kolupanowich announced, “We’re building a new high school.”
   ”It’s nights like this that make it all worthwhile,” said Monroe Superintendent Ralph Ferrie.
   The approved project will carry a tax rate increase of .0299 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Under that rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $175,102 will pay about $52 more in annual property taxes.
   Of Monroe’s 26,839 registered voters, 24 percent cast ballots in the election.
   According to the voting results, five of the seven adult communities with polling places opposed the referendum. It passed narrowly in Clearbrook and Concordia.
   Voters at seven of the other eight polling places supported the plan.
   District officials have said they expect to seek bids on the project in March, break ground in the late summer and have it ready for students by September 2011.
   One Monroe couple, Bill and Elaine Pawelko, who voted at the Monroe Public Library, said they voted no for a number of reasons, including the increased traffic congestion the new high school could cause, the problematic situation of having middle-school students sharing a campus with high school students, and the future facility’s impact on Thompson Park.
   ”They definitely need a new high school but it shouldn’t be on protected land,” said Mr. Pawelko. “They’ve got plenty of land to do it on and do it right. What would New Yorkers say if you asked them to give up Central Park?”
   Still, the majority of those residents who voted went in another direction.
   ”I voted yes,” said Marion Peluso, as she stood next to her rosy-cheeked, 4-year-old daughter outside the Monroe Township Community Center. “I have a little one and I hope when she gets older she has a nice new high school to go to.”
   Along with its victory at the polls this week, the school board also claimed the deed to the land in Thompson Park.
   The district has been eyeing a 35-acre parcel of Thompson Park as the new school’s site since 2003.
   However, that land is protected by Green Acres restrictions, and only recently did the state Department of Environmental Protection approve a deal with the township to exchange 175 acres of open space for the Thompson Park property.
   Ownership of the land was given to the township, and it transferred the deed to the school district Monday.
   However, the DEP released restrictions on only 29.6 acres in mid-November, after the high school’s footprint was moved off the 4.46 acres of an archeological dig site.
   Some historical preservationists believed artifacts discovered at the site belonged to the Bethel Indian Town, an 18th century community of Lenni-Lenape Indians who were converted to Christianity by Presbyterian minister David Brainerd.
   Tuesday evening ended with a board member thanking the Township Council, the council thanking the public and members of the public embracing each other, some with tears rolling down their faces.
   ”I’m very pleased everybody worked together,” Mayor Richard Pucci said. “We’re going to be the pride of Central Jersey.”