By Matt Chiappardi, The Packet Group
ROBBINSVILLE School officials have unveiled conceptual designs for a K-5 school that they say would address the anticipated bulge in enrollment over the next five years.
The new school would be built on the grounds of the Pond Road Middle School and, at 90,000 square feet, would have the capacity to serve 850 students.
If the Board of Education were to go ahead with the plan, it could be placed on the ballot for a public referendum as early as March of next year, and students could be taking classes there at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, said Superintendent Steve Mayer.
He and other school officials were reticent to put a price tag on the project at the school board meeting Sept. 29, saying it was too early in the process. On Friday, Mr. Mayer added, “Any numbers I’d give out now would be purely guesswork.”
In 2005, when the district built Robbinsville High School, it cost $167 per square foot. If that price were to remain the same, the new K-5 school would cost about $15 million.
The district also is planning repairs and upgrades to the Sharon Elementary School. The cost for that was recently estimated at about $7 million, but Mr. Mayer said Friday that he believes the cost would be less. Repairs to the Pond Road School roof also are under consideration.
About 60 community members had a chance to see a PowerPoint presentation given by Trenton-based architectural firm Spiezle Group, which drafted the design, at the Sept. 29 session.
According to the presentation, the school would be two stories with six classrooms for each grade level.
Each of the classrooms would be about 800 square feet and there would be some additional small group instruction space that could be converted into classrooms if the district were to see a sharp unexpected increase in enrollment for a particular grade.
The school also would have an art room and media room along with a gymnasium and cafetorium. Both of the latter rooms could be combined to accommodate the entire student body for assemblies.
The school would be built using what Spiezle Group President Scott Spiezle called a “Main Street design.” That would consist of one major hallway with a number of smaller ones branching off from it, rather than the more traditional model of snaking hallways around different sections of a school.
The school design received some generally positive reviews, both from the board and members of the public.
Board member Faith Silvestrov said she had previously wanted to see an intermediate school built instead, which would only serve students from grades three through five. However, she said she changed her mind after hearing Mr. Mayer’s recommendation for a traditional elementary school.
”It makes practical sense,” Mr. Mayer said. “A three-to-five school doesn’t do anything to address growth in the K-2 population.”
”Also, smaller learning communities are generally better, as well as giving older students the opportunity to be mentors to the younger ones,” he added.
What would happen to the Windsor School, a four-room kindergarten schoolhouse near the Sharon School building, has yet to be discussed; however, Mr. Mayer said he doesn’t rule out changes there as well.
Most members of the public lauded the design and the fact that the board seemed to be doing something to address the burgeoning enrollment issue. A few had some questions about cost that went unanswered by the board and the administration.
John Ruch, of Spring Garden Road, said he is concerned the school would be built so close to wetlands, about 50 feet away according to the presentation. He suggested the board look into using some of the township’s open space as a site for a new school. The board did not respond to that suggestion.
Robert Brown, of Carson Street, said he is worried about how pollution from the nearby New Jersey Turnpike might affect students. Board members said traffic and engineering studies would be part of the process going forward.
The plan for a new school building is a response to the results of a demographic study the district received over the summer that forecasts a 19-percent increase in enrollment, to about 3,400 students, by 2014. That number is expected to stabilize afterward, according to the study.
The Sharon School is already feeling the effect of rising enrollment. It holds classes for more than 100 extra students in five modular classrooms outside of the school building.
