Crews putting finishing touches on new school Wemrock Brook will house 500-plus pupils in grades 4, 5 and 6

Crews putting finishing touches on new school
Wemrock Brook will
house 500-plus pupils
in grades 4, 5 and 6

DAVE BENJAMIN The new media center at the Wemrock Brook School, Manalapan, is expected to house about 20,000 volumes.

MANALAPAN — Anticipation is running high among students, parents, staff members, administrators and school board members in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District as preparations move into the final stages at the new Wemrock Brook School, 118 Millhurst Road.

Although a definite opening date has not been marked on the school calendar, administrators have said they are aiming to open the new 98,000-square-foot school during the first half of December, pending the receipt of all needed permits.

At the present time, the 545 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders who will make up the Wemrock Brook student body are attending other schools in the district in areas that had been set aside for them prior to the start of the 2001-02 school year.

Administrators said parents will be notified prior to opening day at Wemrock Brook of the district’s exact plans for transferring the students, 75 staff members and school materials to the new building. New school bus passes will be sent to the Wemrock Brook pupils prior to opening day.

DAVE BENJAMIN Workers are putting the final touches on the Wemrock Brook School cafetorium, faculty dining room and kitchen. New tables, benches and kitchen equipment are waiting for students and staff to arrive.

When administrators determine that Wemrock Brook is ready for occupancy, plans call for the move to begin on a Friday. Wemrock Brook staff members will pack the materials they are now using at the schools the Wemrock Brook pupils are attending.

Only Wemrock Brook pupils will be off from school on that Friday.

Professional movers will move the materials over the weekend and on Monday, Wemrock Brook staff members will unpack the materials and set up their classrooms. The district’s other staff members will have an in-service training day.

All students in the district will be off from school on that Monday.

DAVE BENJAMIN Wemrock Brook School, 118 Millhurst Road, Manalapan, will soon be ready to welcome 545 fourth- through sixth-grade pupils and 75 staff members.

Wemrock Brook students will begin using the new school the next day, Tuesday, and classes will be scheduled from 7:45 a.m. to 2:05 p.m.

All other students will report back to school on that Tuesday.

In the end, Wemrock Brook students will attend one less day of school during the 2001-02 school year than other students in the district, but will meet the state requirements for the appropriate number of days.

A News Transcript reporter accompanied Superintendent of Schools Joseph Scozzari on a tour of the new school last week, observing final preparations that are under way before students and staff arrive.

"As we walk in (the main entrance), the last part of the building to be completed is the cafetorium and the front hallway," Scozzari said, noting that the school is more than 95 percent finished. "Most of the remaining construction activity is in this area."

Walking down the hallway to the left of the main entrance is the cafetorium, which houses the students’ lunch area as well as a large stage to be used for school performances.

"The cafetorium is very similar to the Clark Mills and Taylor Mills renovations, with a faculty dining room and a kitchen," Scozzari said. "The cafeteria tables are here, ready to go. This is virtually finished."

The superintendent said the kitchen equipment has arrived and is waiting to be set up.

Scozzari said the stage has folding doors and noted the stage area can be closed off to become a room for instrumental music. There is a music storage room, an office and a practice room next to the stage.

"This school will start off with an instrumental music program because we have that at (grades) four, five and six," the superintendent said. "Clark Mills and Taylor Mills have the same capability although we don’t have instrumental programs at those levels."

Behind the stage is a hallway that leads to the outside of the building and a loading dock, built that way so supplies can be delivered to the school without going through the building. Classrooms for vocal music, art and music ensemble are in this area.

At the end of the hallway in the rear of the building is the gymnasium. The gym has a basketball court, extra practice baskets on the sides of the room and an electronic scoreboard.

"This is a good resilient floor," Scozzari said. "This could be a good back-up gym for the middle school, if needed."

The superintendent said the gym has been constructed so that it can also be used by the community. Outside the gymnasium in the rear of the school are two athletic fields; one for baseball and the other for soccer.

Returning down the hallway and just across from the cafetorium is the media center with wrap-around reference desk, modern lighting and rows of wood shelving to house the numerous books, magazines and other materials which will soon be available.

"The media center will hold between 18,000 and 20,000 volumes, if we fill it up," noted Scozzari. "It has several teaching areas which are part of the media center. There are two group areas, where classes can work independently, and a special reading area."

"A separate room adjacent to the media center is the computer lab," Scozzari said. "That’s being put together now."

The school office is off the main lobby. This area will house the secretary’s reception area; a communications system; teacher mail boxes and a separate teacher work room; a rest room; a conference room; and an office for Principal Jacque-line Martin.

Across the hall and to the right of the main office is the nurse’s office.

"This is the first school to have a nurse’s office which is completely separate from the main office," said the superintendent. "There is a reception area, an area with cots, a sink and a bathroom."

There are approximately three dozen instructional classrooms and some additional specialty rooms in the first and second floor instructional wings.

Sixth-grade classes will be assigned to the first floor and fourth- and fifth-grade classes will be assigned to the second floor at Wemrock Brook.

"These rooms are ready to go," Scozzari said.

Also on the second floor is the guidance suite and child study team area. An office for Melissa Foy, assistant principal, is located midway between the two portions of the second floor instructional wing.

Regarding fire safety, the superintendent noted that the entire school has an overhead sprinkler system. The school is encircled by a driveway and emergency vehicles would be able to reach any portion of the building if that was necessary.

One special safety feature of the Wemrock Brook School is the design of the parking lots and the flow of traffic. A separate drop-off area, where parents can drop off their children, is located away from the driveway where the school buses will enter and exit. The two areas are separated by a walkway so that students getting out of cars will not have to wiggle between parked buses or dodge cars in the bus drop-off area.

"The faculty and visitor parking spaces are on the east side of the school. The sidewalk and concrete cuts off that parking lot from this driveway. When people come in that driveway, they can’t exit from this main area," said Scozzari. "That’s done purposely so that we don’t have interference with the buses."

The superintendent noted there is room at the rear of the school for expansion (six to eight instructional rooms) if needed in the future.

At the same time the Wemrock Brook School has been built, a school bus depot has been constructed next door to the school. Plans call for moving the district’s fleet of buses from their present parking lot at district headquarters in Englishtown to this new depot. The office building has an office with a reception area, conference rooms and a lunchroom.

There are fuel pumps which will be used for the school vehicles and, in conjunction with the borough of Englishtown and the township of Manalapan, municipal vehicles will share the refueling facility as a cost savings measure for all involved. The pumps are all computerized and special keys are required for their use.

Scozzari noted there is a bus wash in a separate building near the bus facility.