$76 million school expansion proposed
Sweeping changes planned for
Old Bridge district
Old Bridge school officials have unveiled a $76 million plan that would increase capacity in district schools and create a single high school campus.
The township could receive approximately $20 million in aid from the state, reducing the cost to taxpayers to $56 million.
If the plan is approved by the School Board, a Sept. 25 date has been set for a referendum election.
If the plan is approved, the cost to an average homeowner with a $135,000 assessed valuation, would be $165 per year, or $13.75 per month. According to Gregory Quirk, assistant superintendent of finance, the debt would be paid off over a 30-year period.
The plan was unveiled Monday night at a special meeting at Carl Sandburg Middle School, Route 516, by Old Bridge Schools Superintendent Daniel Rodriguez.
"You may ask why now?" Rodriguez said to attendees at the meeting. "Student enrollment is increasing — just drive around town and you will see the growth."
According to Rodriguez, the plan, which affects the district’s 12 elementary schools, two middle schools and two high school campuses, is designed to meet student growth over the next five years.
School Board president Frank Weber said that in 1985, enrollment in elementary school grades kindergarten through five was 3,500. Now that number has reached 4,700, an increase of 1,200 students.
Rodriguez said the district has "exhausted all other remedies" to accommodate increased student enrollment.
"Old Bridge needs an educational plan to meet the needs of the 21st century," Rodriguez said.
The plan is expected to increase the district’s capacity by 372 students and includes renovations at five elementary facilities: Raymond E. Voorhees, Memorial, Alan B. Shepard, Madison Park and Southwood schools.
Architect Scott Spiezle, of the Spiezle Architectural Group, Trenton, presented plans to construct new all-purpose rooms at the five K-5 schools.
According to Spiezle, the new 7,000-square-foot all-purpose rooms would feature private entrances, kitchenettes and bathrooms for students.
Each planned all-purpose room would be comparable to the size of the existing all-purpose room at James A. McDivitt School, said Rodriguez.
Voorhees school is expected to increase capacity by 75 students. A media center and one classroom will be created from the existing all-purpose room and two classrooms from the current media center.
Spiezle’s plans for Memorial School call for the current multi-purpose room to be turned into a storage room, a work room and a media center. The current media center would be converted into one classroom and the architect said six new classrooms would be constructed under the plan.
At Shepard School, space would be added for seven classrooms. Spiezle said the district would construct five new classrooms and convert the current multi-purpose room into two classrooms, while at Madison Park School, the old library would be converted into one classroom and the old all-purpose room would be turned into a media center, work space and office.
The plan also calls for converting Southwood School’s all-purpose room into a media center, building four new classrooms and adding two from the old media center, which would replace the existing rotunda’s six classrooms.
According to Rodriguez, the goal is to create an equity of programs, upgraded technology and air conditioning for all elementary school all-purpose rooms, and adequate core facilities.
The proposal is part of the district’s plan introduced last year that would create a single high school campus.
The plan would create one high school campus by converting Carl Sandburg Middle School and the East Campus of the high school into one high school, with a walkway connecting both buildings.
The West Campus of the high school would be converted into a middle school, which would accommodate overcrowding at Jonas Salk Middle School on West Greystone Road.
To help districts defray costs associated with school renovations, the state legislature passed the Educational Facilities Construction and Finance Act.
The act raised the minimum level of state support for the construction and renovation of school facilities projects to 40 percent, according to state Sen. William Gormley (R-2).
Historically, school districts received a minimum level of 10 percent of state funding to offset construction costs.
The next phase of the project is the establishment of a Referendum Committee, said Rodriguez.
According to Rodriguez, the plan is not set in stone and any input from the public is welcome.
The first Referendum Committee meeting is scheduled for Jan. 23.
The board is expected to take action on the Superintendent’s recommendations and public input on Feb. 13.