School construction to be included in referendum
Voters will be asked to approve $64 million bond referendum this April
BY JAY BODAS
Staff Writer

EDISON – If township residents pass a bond referendum proposed for April, a nearly $80 million construction project on Edison’s elementary and middle schools could begin as early as May 2008, school district officials say.

“I like the approach of putting our arms around the problem that has been plaguing this district for a number of years,” said Board of Education member Joseph Shannon at a Dec. 14 caucus meeting. “It has been said that Edison has been the gold standard in terms of education and test scores, but we are not the gold standard in terms of facilities we provide our kids. This would be the gold standard for our facilities as well.”

The planned construction project for the township’s elementary and middle schools is meant to accommodate a growing student population due to new housing that is currently being built.

“From everything that is pointing with all the development that is going on, there will be 2,400 more students in the next 10 years, and we will be up to 16,000 students, which does present a bit of a crisis to our school system,” said schools Superintendent Carol Toth.

“I want people to realize that our smallest middle school right now is TJ [Thomas Jefferson Middle School] at 786 students,” she said. “That is without Rivendell West being totally open. Ben Franklin has 536 students, so wait until the Woodbridge Avenue place opens up also, when there will be a great influx. And we found out the other day, at Camp Kilmer there will be more low-income housing coming.”

Toth said that the proposed bond would “max out” the capacity of the township’s existing schools.

“To ‘max out’ means that when we finish with this bond, there would be no more room at any of our schools for [further] expansion,” she said. “You will see that some of the schools are only getting little additions because that is all they can take.”

The district’s two high schools along with elementary schools James Madison and John Marshall will not be included in the plan.

Small learning communities have already been proposed for the high schools as part of a separate proposal, major construction has already broken ground at John Marshall, and James Madison has little room for additions, Toth said.

Peter Campisano, a partner with USA Architects, based in Somerville, gave a presentation at the meeting regarding the school construction plans.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson middle schools would each receive new additions, as would nine elementary schools, he said.

“At John Adams, there will be three additions, a gym addition to expand the gymnasium, an expansion of the cafeteria, and additional classrooms,” Campisano said. “At TJ, we will expand the existing cafeteria, with a rear addition that would be an expansion of the gymnasium. Also, a five-classroom addition with small group rooms will create a circular link.”

“Woodrow Wilson would get a 10-classroom addition,” he said. “We are creating a separate wing which creates a loop. It could be for sixth grade or for subjects like fine arts or social studies or math or whatever.”

The project could take as long as 21 months and might begin as early as May 2008, according to Maurice Logue of Hill International, a construction consulting firm.

“The earliest start would be May or June 2008 with completion Dec. 31 of 2009, though we would try to have them done to be open for September,” Logue said. “My personal opinion is to do it now because costs are not going down, they are going up. Do it in bulk, do it now, and get it done.”

Toth said that she had received feedback from the public to no longer do the “band-aid” approach to fixing overcrowding issues.

“That is what we did; we are doing the 10-year approach and we are maxing all of the schools out,” she said. “Can I say this is going to be the cure-all for the next 10 to 15 years? I hope so. Because I have heard there is no other property in Edison to build something as large as a new school.”

Of the projected $80 million cost, Business Administrator Daniel Michaud said they are estimating that $16 million would be paid by the state in the form of “debt service” aid.

“It would bring the total amount to just under $64 million in what the taxpayers would have to pay,” Michaud said.

If the project is approved by residents, according to one funding scheme, the average homeowner may see a tax increase of $83 a year for the next 20 years.

The planned April 2007 referendum may also include a separate $6.4 million proposal to replace the fields at the high schools and middle schools with artificial turf.

If both proposals are ultimately approved, the average homeowner may see a tax increase of $90 a year for the first 10 years, followed by an $83-a-year increase for the remaining 10 years.

“The four middle schools … I guess the best way to describe their athletic fields is something worse than horrendous,” said Board of Education President William Van Pelt. “I have had coaches actually refuse to play on our fields because the conditions are so pathetic. Our fields take such a beating that we cannot properly aerate and seed them because they are being used year-round.

“It is proven that these new fields will cut down on major injuries, including concussion, neck, back, and ankle-type injuries in a sport like football anywhere from 35 to 48 percent,” he said. “These are the major type of fields that you see in pro football, and Metuchen, Sayreville and Piscataway have one. As we have discussed, we feel at this time it is appropriate.”

After the meeting, Van Pelt said that the board was planning to send a brochure to every household in Edison explaining the construction project, school by school.