Growth in students, programs prompt new bond proposal

Superintendent
says improvements
needed to keep pace
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer

JEFF GRANIT West Long Branch Superintendent of Schools Joan Kelly shows how the former library at the Frank Antonides School has been converted into other uses because of a shortage of space.

WEST LONG BRANCH — To meet today’s educational needs, school officials say it’s time to get out the hammers and nails.

The construction of an addition with a media center/library and other rooms to serve both borough schools and renovations to the existing schools proposed by the Board of Education are absolutely necessary, according to Superintendent of Schools Joan Kelly.

Kelly said growth in student enrollment and the required expansion of programs under state mandates have outstripped the capacity of the borough’s two-school complex.

"We want to provide better programs for our students," she said during a news conference and tour of the schools held Aug. 14 to support a bond referendum on Sept. 30.

The Board of Education is putting on the ballot a question asking voters if they will back the $7,645,999 project. Taxpayers are being asked to ante up $5,538,462 of the cost, with the state providing the other $2,107,537 share under the Educational Facilities and Construction Act.

A fact sheet provided by the public schools said that assuming a 15-year maturity schedule and an interest rate of 4 percent at the time the bonds are sold, the tax increase to support the referendum will be approximately $70 per year — or $5.83 a month — per $100,000 of assessed valuation. That means a property assessed at $300,000 will be taxed approximately $210 more per year, according to the school district’s figures.

The borough’s overall tax rate, including municipal, county, regional school and local school taxes, currently is $2.657 per $100 assessed valuation. That’s an increase of 19.6 cents over the tax rate last year of $2.461 per $100 assessed valuation.

A second question on the ballot seeks permission to refinance the remaining debt on the Betty McElmon School. Dayton Faunce, the school board’s business administrator, said the refinancing — the same as many homeowners are doing to take advantage of lower interest rates — will save the district $640,000. The debt will still be retired in December 2009, the same as now, he said.

The polls will be open from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Sept. 30.

Kelly noted the Frank Antonides School, which houses grades 4-8, was built in two stages in 1951 and 1957, half a century ago, and the Betty McElmon School, which houses K-3, opened in 1991. She said enrollment in the district has increased by 176 since 1983 and is expected to grow by another 60 students by the 2007-08 school year.

The district’s enrollment in the 2002-03 school year was 785 students, while the state Department of Education’s formulas and calculations show the current facilities have adequate space for only approximately 600 students, according to Kelly.

"This means that the district has approximately 185 ‘unhoused students’ in excess of the facility’s functional capacity according to state guidelines," she said. "The proposed construction and renovations will allow the district to meet state requirements for adequate instructional space for all students."

If the referendum is passed, Kelly said she expected construction would begin in the summer of 2004 and conclude in time for the opening of school in 2005.

The proposed 18,500-square-foot addition would be built behind the Frank Antonides School and be attached to both it and the Betty McElmon School, forming an enclosed atrium around the reading garden. Windows in the media center would overlook the reading garden.

"It is as compactly built close to the buildings as possible, so it doesn’t take space from the playgrounds," Kelly said.

In addition to the media center/library, which will serve all grades K-8, the addition will have two computer labs, an art room, a music room with three small music chambers off it, three classrooms and a small-group instruction room.

Kelly showed reporters the present music room in the Frank Antonides School and said it doesn’t have enough room to accommodate the band or allow for dance or rhythm classes. The existing music room will be converted into a regular classroom as part of the renovations, she said. Similarly, the art room in the Frank Antonides School will be converted into a classroom after the addition is completed.

Other renovations at the Frank Antonides School include splitting up the library into an addition to the school office, a small group instruction room and a classroom. The library was moved out over the summer, and is now included in the Betty McElmon library. The space that will eventually be used to enlarge the school office is now home to three "cart people" — the Spanish teacher, the resource room teacher and the speech teacher. The next small area will become the room for the two basic skills teachers, and the good-size remainder will be a classroom.

Other renovations to the Frank Antonides School include replacing all exterior doors, all exterior windows, all hallway ceilings and lighting, all floor tiles in the hallways and classrooms, all bathrooms, and both the boys and girls locker rooms, all of which, Kelly noted, are original.

In the Betty McElmon School, the present library will be converted into two classrooms and a small group instructional room. Three third-grade classrooms will be converted into a preschool handicapped classroom and two special education classrooms, so that the district can bring special education in-house.

Kelly said the district has 22 special education students now, all of whom are transported to other school districts or programs for classes, at a cost of $1 million a year in each of the two past years for tuition and transportation. She said while there will always be some children who will be sent out because of their special needs, she thought 15 to 18 could be served in-house.

Besides the new addition and renovations to the present schools, the $7.65 million project will include improvements to athletic fields and playgrounds. The athletic fields and playgrounds will be regraded and a new irrigation system will be installed to address current drainage issues. The tennis courts, which have been closed because of safety concerns, and the basketball court will be demolished and replaced.

The sidewalks, curbing and parking lot in front of the Frank Antonides School also will be replaced, and lighting will be improved in parking areas.

Kelly cited the gifted and talented program as an example of why the referendum should be passed. She showed visitors a small room in the Frank Antonides School, originally intended to be the nurse’s office, which is now the gifted and talented classroom. By state regulations, she said it can only be used to accommodate six students at a time, thereby limiting the number who can partake in the gifted and talented program.

"The gifted and talented program used to be in a regular classroom and that’s what we’d like to restore it to, so that we can serve more students," she said.

Kelly said there were only a few third-graders at Betty McElmon in gifted and talented classes. Not only is there no classroom space for gifted and talented, there’s no room for another teacher, a position the board has discussed hiring but has held off on because of the lack of room.

Addressing the current crowded conditions and how they came about, Kelly said, "In the 1950s you didn’t have computer labs, you didn’t have resource rooms, you didn’t have world languages."

Asked what she considered the prospects for passage of the bond issue, Kelly replied with one word: "Unknown." She said the Board of Education had done all it could to involve everyone in the community in drafting the proposed plan for expansion and renovations. She noted the 38 member ad hoc committee that developed the plan in concert with the architectural firm of Tomaino Tomaino and Iamello Associates of Deal included not only parents, but borough residents who have no children and members of the local taxpayers association.

"What will happen is anyone’s guess," she said. "We’re optimistic."