Marlboro school board may change entrance date

By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer

MARLBORO – The Marlboro K-8 School District Board of Education has introduced a policy change that would, if adopted by the board, switch the cutoff date for children entering kindergarten and first grade in the district.

The board will hold a public hearing on the policy change on June 7 and may vote to adopt the change that evening. The meeting will be held at the Marlboro Memorial Middle School, 71 Nolan Road, at 7 p.m.

If the change is approved, the policy for entrance to kindergarten will state that “the child shall have attained the age of 5 years on or before Dec. 31, 2016 of the 2016-17 school year or the child shall have attained the age of 5 years on or before Oct. 1 of the 2017-18 school year and each year thereafter.”

The policy for entrance into first grade will read, “the child shall have attained the age of 6 years on or before Dec. 31 of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years or the child shall have attained the age of 6 years on or before Oct. 1 of the 2018-19 school year and each year thereafter. A child who has not had prior school experience shall be placed in a grade at the superintendent’s discretion.”

Superintendent of Schools Eric Hibbs said the proposed changes reflect policies in neighboring school districts. He said Marlboro is the only sending district in the Freehold Regional High School District with a Dec. 31 cutoff date; the other six  sending districts to the high school district have an Oct. 1 cutoff date.

“Research shows that the youngest of any cohort of students struggles,” Hibbs said. “In our case, closing the age gap from a possible 15 months to 12 months will mitigate this.”

The superintendent said being the youngest when starting school affects academic achievement, self-esteem and rates of ADHD diagnoses.
In other business, the board has entered into an agreement with the architectural firm of Fraytak, Veisz, Hopkins, Duthie for construction documentation, bidding and permitting, and construction administration phases for the renovation of existing computer classrooms. The firm’s fee for that work will be $121,600. The renovations to the computer classrooms are part of a plan to implement full-day kindergarten in the district.
The agreement with the architectural firm was approved in a 6-3 vote.
Board President Debbie Mattos, board Vice President Stephen Shifrinson and board members Michael Lilonsky, Joanne Liu-Rudel, Robyn Wolfe and Ellen Xu voted yes on the motion to hire the firm.
Board members Victoria Dean, Dara Enny and Craig Marshall voted no on the motion.
According to the board, once a plan for the renovations has been developed it will go to the construction committee before it comes back to the full board for final approval.
And, the board awarded contracts for a partial roof replacement at the Marlboro Middle School, landscaping services and a back-up generator.

The board awarded a contract to MTB, LLC, for a partial roof replacement at the Marlboro Middle School at a cost of $1.026 million. MTB was the lowest responsible bidder of five bids received by the district, according to administrators.

A contract was awarded to Clintar Landscape Management Services for landscaping services from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 at a cost of $65,989, with an optional one-year extension from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018 at a cost of $73,589. Administrators said Clintar Landscape Management Services was the lowest responsible bidder of five bids received by the district.

A contract was awarded to Warshauer Generator, LLC, for back-up generator services from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 at a cost of $6,995. The contract comes with two optional one-year extensions from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, and from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019. Both extensions would be for a fee of $6,996. The firm was the lowest responsible bidder of five bids received by the district.

Board members approved the appointment of Brown & Brown Benefit Advisors as the district’s insurance consultant for the 2016-17 school year at a cost of $31,500.

Administrators announced that the June 14 workshop meeting will be held at the Marlboro Middle School, 355 Route 520, at 7 p.m.