By KAREN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer
There is no question that the two Oceanport Borough schools — Wolf Hill School and Maple Place — are in need of major renovations.
Therefore, an Ad Hoc Committee, with a mission to improve the Oceanport schools’ infrastructure, was formed at the Oceanport Board of Education (BOE) meeting on May 25, 2016.
The committee was formed under the direction of the BOE at the authority of Board President William McVitty to address the growing need to improve the school district’s physical infrastructure.
The Ad Hoc Committee has a working group and larger advisory group of community members, with committee leaders Spencer Carpenter and Cullin J. Wible. Recent BOE meetings have been sparsely attended, and the committee would like to encourage more residents to become involved, informed and voice their opinions.
“As an Ad Hoc Committee we have different restrictions than the Board of Education itself. We can, and will, disclose information faster. We can, and will, engage with the public in a free-form dialogue. We can, and will, engage on Facebook and social media. We can, and will, talk with neighbors and at community events. And we can, and will, meet more frequently in both public and private settings to solicit feedback from every aspect of the community,” said Wible.
At the Oceanport BOE meeting on Nov. 16, the Ad Hoc Committee had submitted a significant volume of questions they wanted responses to in order to move forward with their evaluations and recommendations. At the top of the list, the committee wanted clarity on specifics such as what types of facilities are needed in the future, how many classrooms and their sizes.
Presently, the Ad Hoc Committee cannot move forward until it can obtain answers to its extensive list of questions. The committee is evaluating the two schools’ infrastructure. For the time being, the committee has shelved the concept of building new schools and are looking into what it would take to renovate and update the existing schools. However, to what extent should repairs be made remains a question to all involved.
The committee must decided if it is going to require a million dollar referendum or a multi-million dollar referendum. No action is yet been taken regarding this issue.
The committee is still questioning what the projection of the student demographics will be and how many classrooms are needed. In the current feasibility statement from the BOE, the projected student demographics did not include future Fort Monmouth projections.
The BOE has informed the committee that the state Department of Education has verbally informed the BOE that the state will not be permitting any projected future growth from Fort Monmouth incorporated into the planning.
The Ad Hoc Committee is challenging this stance with the BOE and the committee seeks to have this done in writing via a letter or official document. The committee feels that this sort of an important issue such as projected growth from Fort Monmouth should be accepted as verbal feedback.
“There is no question that we need to improve the physical infrastructure of the Oceanport School District. But at the moment, that’s about where it starts and ends. While the school buildings could use improvement, we’re not sure if we want to demolish them and build new ones, or simply renovate the facilities that exist today,” said Wible. “But first, we need an official answer from the state of New Jersey Department of Education concerning the future projected demographics from Fort Monmouth.”
Once a recommendation is made and the budget necessary to facilitate it is decided, it will have to be filed with the state 90 days before an election and voted on by residents. The earliest timeframes for such referendums in this case will be November or December of 2017.
Before the referendums are presented, the BOE and Ad Hoc Committee will hold Town Hall meetings to discuss the recommendations and the financial and tax implications. At these public meetings the referendums will be discussed and questions will be answered, so residents can make an informed choice.
“There’s very little doubt because of the scope of what needs to be done [that] there will be a referendum,” Wible said.
Wible encourages residents of the community to attend these meetings, get involved and voice their opinions.
“The goal is simple: If someone has an idea about how to improve our school infrastructure, it should be shared, researched and vetted at which point it should either be pursued or set aside and the results of that analysis will be shared with everyone.”
Those interested in volunteering or getting more information can visit oceanportschoolproject.com. The next BOE meeting is scheduled for Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. at Maple Place School.