ROBBINSVILLE: Referendum eyed for new school

by Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — School officials believe the land adjacent to Pond Road Middle School is the best potential site for a future intermediate school, but a referendum will be needed before any action can be taken.
   The district recently received preliminary soil testing results from the state Department of Environmental Protection from the field next to the school, indicating the site is suitable for development, Superintendent John Szabo said Monday. There were concerns the land was wetlands, he added.
   But further testing is necessary, and a “substantial amount of money” would be needed for that testing, the superintendent said. The cost of the testing could “not be paid out of an operating budget,” he said, so a referendum asking voters to support a new school — including the cost of additional testing — would be put to voters in the future.
   There is no dollar figure available for the testing, Dr. Szabo said, and no date set for a referendum vote. The site also could change, he said.
   ”It hasn’t been determined that this is the site; just that it’s suitable,” he said. “But it appears to have the best potential.”
   The district also had looked at sites near the elementary school on Sharon Road near Robbinsville High School on Route 526 and on Gordon Road, Dr. Szabo said.
   The proposed intermediate school would house grades three, four and five, which equates to about 700 students, the superintendent said. It would help to alleviate a severe overcrowding problem the district has seen in recent years.
   Both Sharon Elementary School and Pond Road Middle School house more children than they are designed to, and the district is expecting an increase in enrollment in September, school officials have said. The district has hired Spiezle Group Inc. to perform a study on available space and how it can best be utilized. A report on the results is expected by month’s end.
   According to the U.S. census, Robbinsville’s population (then Washington Township) in 1990 was 5,800, and the estimated population in 2006 was 11,900. Dr. Szabo said at the December Board of Education meeting that the number of children in the district has grown from 150 to 2,700 over the last decade, and the schools are “bursting at the seams.”
   Dr. Szabo said the district will continue to look at space modifications in the schools, such as classroom trailers and converting space in the library to classroom space.
   ”We are still in the early stages of the budget process, and the public will get more and more information as it becomes available,” he said. “We are looking at enrollment trends and what we need to do to meet the immediate needs of our students and be prepared for kids coming in.”