School officials gearing up for September referendum blitz
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Brick Township Board of Education member Virginia Reinhold said she is "frustrated to no end" at those who are fighting the Sept. 29 referendum.

"How could we pass up $57 million from the state?" Reinhold said at the July 23 board meeting. "I'd like to know what you all are thinking out there. This is for the kids. We don't pass budgets in this town. I just don't understand what is so wrong with this referendum."

Residents are being asked to approve four ballot questions totaling $172,743,908. The district is slated to receive $57,620,342 in state aid for the massive referendum project if all four questions are approved, school Business Administrator James Edwards has said.

If all four questions are approved, the taxpayers' share would total $115,123,566, according to school officials.

"It's hard," Reinhold said, acknowledging the tough economic climate. "It's not going to be easy. I don't understand why we won't come together. When are we going to stop? When are we going to come together? We are constantly fighting. What for?

"If you don't want to pass it, don't pass it for the right thing," she added. "Please do the right thing. I'm just getting frustrated to no end. " The first question asks voters to approve $27 million on safety and security concerns to update locks and move the main offices and school entrances to prevent intruders from entering school buildings. The district would receive $8.9 million from the state if the question is approved.

The second question calls for replacing heating and air conditioning systems, boilers, lighting in all schools, and the installation of solar panels on the Lake Riviera and Veterans Memorial middle schools. The total cost of the project is $41 million, with total state aid of $16.4 million if the question is approved.

The third question asks voters to approve $12 million to expand the Primary Learning Center on Chambers Bridge Road and renovate the current Educational Enrichment Center on Hendrickson Avenue to be used instead for Early Childhood Education, to provide for an all-day kindergarten. The state would reimburse the district $2.2 million if the proposal is approved by voters.

The fourth and costliest question deals with $90.8 million in major renovations and an addition to Brick Township High School, which was built in 1958. Plans call for a science and classroom wing addition, new gymnasium, main office and entry additions, renovations of bathrooms, cafeterias, the kitchen, replacement of water heaters and water coolers, upgrades to the electrical system, windows, doors, a new fire alarm system, new geothermal system, exterior and parking lot lighting, and conversion of rooms for the Pathways Alternative School, which will be relocated to the high school. The district would receive $29.8 million in state funds if the question is approved.

Resident John Underwood, who is a member of the school district's Strategic Planning Committee, asked the board if they had considered changing the order of the questions. Underwood said the Brick Township High School question had a better chance of passing if it was first on the ballot.

"It's really a sad situation when you see a building in such poor condition," Underwood said. Several parents also questioned if money would be better spent on curriculum needs, since total school enrollment is declining.

But Edwards said the district was "severely overcrowded" with a population high of 11,600 students several years ago.

"We are still above our functional capacity," he said at the meeting. "We still have a need for additional classroom space."

The district has already received $25 million out of a $200 million in state funds, providing the referendum questions pass in September, school officials have said.

"When that first allocation of money became available…because we were so far along in the process, we were able to get a hold of more money than anyone else in the state," Edwards said in an earlier interview.

"We've got 57 million of it," he said. "I believe that for 2010, a lot of other districts will be in a position to apply for that money. It's going to be much greater competition for that money. If we are not successful, it's highly unlikely we'd be able to get another $57 million for the project."

And the poor economy will actually work to the district's advantage if the referendum goes through, Edwards said.

"Contractors are hungrier than they have ever been," he said. "There are very competitive construction prices because of where we are in the economy. From a cost perspective, now is the time to do it."

"What they have to realize is that it sounds like a huge number, but we are also a huge township," Edwards said before the meeting.

The district would receive roughly 4.5 percent of state funds up front, then more payments over a period of time, until each project is finished, he said at the meeting.

"We need to pay for the contractors who are doing the work," he said.

The district is coordinating with members of school Parent Teacher Associations to promote the need to pass the referendum questions, Board President Daniel Woska said.

Some PTA members may be going door to door in the township and working at Summerfest to get the word out, he said.

School officials plan to do a referendum presentation at the Aug. 4 Township Council meeting, Hrycenko said.

They also plan to set up a meeting with members of the Strategic Planning Committee during the first week in August, he said.

School officials also plan to air spots on BTV detailing the need to pass the questions, Hrycenko said.

"In my opinion, we need to show the schools," Underwood said.