Freehold K-8 examines need for more space

Referendum could be placed before voters in late 2014

By CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

New classrooms, renovations to existing facilities and an addition to a school are among the improvements that are required to meet the needs of an increasing student population in the Freehold Borough K-8 School District, according to district administrators.

Freehold Borough Superintendent of Schools Rocco Tomazic spoke about the issue at a Board of Education meeting on Sept. 23 when he illustrated the enrollment challenges facing the district and some possible solutions. A demographic study that was performed in July was the basis for the discussion.

District administrators are continuing to deal with an increase in the number of students attending the borough’s schools, the number of students considered to be “at risk,” the number of students who have limited proficiency in English, and buildings that are exceeding their functional capacity.

The district is currently renting four classrooms at the West Freehold School, Freehold Township, to educate kindergarten pupils.

Tomazic’s presentation offered projections from the July demographic study, which places the district’s 2013-14 enrollment at 1,515 students; the 2014-15 enrollment at 1,578 students; the 2015-16 enrollment at 1,629 students; the 2016-17 enrollment at 1,647 students; and the 2017- 18 enrollment at 1,659 students.

Tomazic said the in-district enrollment for Sept. 14, 2012, was 1,507 students; the in-district enrollment as of June 14, 2013, was 1,523 students; and the in-district enrollment as of Sept. 20, 2013, was 1,558 students. “The demographic study is based on live births,” Tomazic said. “The actual number of students this year is up 51 and is already ahead of the study’s predictions.”

The increase in enrollment “is happening for reasons other than live births. The district must react to these numbers,” he said.

Tomazic said planning assumptions include moving to a system where the Freehold Learning Center elementary school would educate pupils in prekindergarten through second grade; the Park Avenue Elementary School would educate pupils in grades three, four and five; and the Freehold Intermediate School would educate pupils in grades six, seven and eight.

Currently, the two elementary schools educate children in pre-K through fifth grade, and the intermediate school educates students in grades six through eight.

The plan is to provide thorough and efficient classroom and administrative space.

Tomazic said the functional capacity of the Freehold Learning Center is 484 pupils and the current enrollment is 550 pupils; the functional capacity of the Park Avenue Elementary School is 417 students and the current enrollment is 493 pupils (not counting 98 kindergarten pupils attending the West Freehold School in Freehold Township); and the functional capacity of the Freehold Intermediate School is 425 students and the current enrollment is 408 pupils.

Tomazic said capital improvements for “unhoused students” in five years would need to include three classrooms and renovations to the cafeteria at the intermediate school; the addition of 11 classrooms, two resource rooms, a library and a cafeteria at the Freehold Learning Center; and the addition of three classrooms and renovations at the Park Avenue Elementary School.

Conceptual planning continues for the Freehold Learning Center gym/cafeteria, the Freehold Learning Center addition, the Park Avenue Elementary School extension, and the development of educational specifications. The board may be asked to approve the specifications this month.

The cost of the work is being calculated, and approval from the state Department of Education would have to be sought. A public referendum could be placed before voters in late 2014, according to the superintendent. If everything went according to plan, the work could be completed by August 2017.

As far as space in the schools goes, Tomazic said, “For 2013-14 we are OK. We are working with Freehold Township to rent two additional classrooms for 2014-15, and in 2015-16 we will gain more space by adjusting the Freehold Intermediate School bell schedule.”

If a referendum proposing the school construction projects is defeated by voters, the state can address the situation, according to the superintendent, who said, “The county executive superintendent can override a defeated referendum and the state always has the right to step in.”