FRHSD redistricting vote delayed until September Board members say they need a chance to discuss the issue

FRHSD redistricting vote
delayed until September
Board members say
they need a chance
to discuss the issue

Saying they had not had a chance to discuss the matter among themselves, members of the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education last week postponed a decision on the redistricting of students.

Board members indicated that a decision could be made on Sept. 9 that would become effective in September 2003.

District administrators had previously indicated that no students would be redistricted for the upcoming 2002-03 school year.

Board members meeting on June 10 at Colts Neck High School found the web of information and comments from the public to be even more entangling as the evening progressed.

In a message to the public at the beginning of the meeting, Superintendent of Schools James Wasser said, "The board is faced with a difficult and challenging decision. It has received and reviewed extensive information regarding the modification of the district’s student attendance areas."

Wasser said it is the responsibility of the board to make the final determination which will address the needs of the district.

Over the past 10 months, a committee of citizens and board members tried to address the problem of balancing the enrollments at all six high schools in the regional district. Enrollments, demographics and building capacities were studied for a period of four months.

According to figures provided by the district, the six schools in the district will have the following enrollments in the coming year:

• Colts Neck High School (capacity, 1,600 to 1,700 students), enrollment in September 2002, 1,140 students;

• Freehold Borough High School (capacity, 1,300 to 1,400 students), enrollment in September 2002, 1,129 students;

• Freehold Township High School (capacity, 2,200 to 2,300 students), enrollment in September 2002, 1,944 students.

• Howell High School (capacity, 2,100 to 2,200 students), enrollment in September 2002, 1,891 students.

• Manalapan High School (capacity, 2,200 to 2,300 students), enrollment in September 2002, 2,442 students.

• Marlboro High School (capacity, 2,300 to 2,400 students), enrollment in September 2002, 2,323 students.

Without any changes to attendance area boundaries the following enrollments will occur in the subsequent years, according to information provided by the district:

September 2003: Colts Neck - 1,092; Freehold Borough - 1,114; Freehold Township - 1,710; Howell - 2,246; Manalapan - 2,590; Marlboro, 2,498.

September 2004: Colts Neck - 1,115; Freehold Borough - 1,186; Freehold Township - 1,755; Howell - 2,334; Manalapan - 2,712; Marlboro - 2,689.

September 2005: Colts Neck - 1,164; Freehold Borough - 1,205; Freehold Township - 1,801; Howell - 2,477; Manal-apan - 2,753; Marlboro - 2,791.

September 2006: Colts Neck - 1,210; Freehold Borough - 1,255; Freehold Township - 1,840; Howell - 2,533; Manal-apan - 2,738; Marlboro - 2,724.

"To do nothing (at this time) would severely jeopardize the quality of education of our outstanding school district and the safety of our students," Wasser said, adding that as long as the region experiences an "explosion of growth," the problem of redistricting will always be at hand.

Board member Terry Kraft of Howell said, "One of the issues that was raised throughout, when we listened to all of the various thoughts, was to take the larger number of people from a concentrated area so that children in the same schools stayed with that group. That was accomplished in the plan proposed by Mr. Wasser."

Kraft said he supports a system in which students volunteer to attend a high school based on that school’s curriculum, not on where it is located. He also said he favors adjusting class size which must be uniform in all the schools throughout the district.

"That is paramount," he said.

At a meeting held June 3, members of the public had a chance to comment on the plan put forth by Wasser that would take effect in September 2003. That plan would send high school students from Englishtown to Freehold Township High School; some high school students who are Manalapan residents to Freehold Township High School; some high school students who are Marlboro residents to Colts Neck High School; and some additional high school students who are Howell residents to Freehold Township High School.

At present, some residents of Howell are assigned to attend Freehold Township and Colts Neck high schools; residents of Englishtown are assigned to Manalapan High School; and all high school students in Manalapan and Marlboro are assigned to attend the high school in their community.

Speaking at the June 3 meeting, Manalapan Mayor Rebecca Aaronson said "I have received overwhelming correspondence and not one was in favor of displacing the students. I cannot support a plan that is not totally voluntary. I ask you to find a solution that is voluntary and not displace residents who do not want to move."

Jerome Liebers of Marlboro said, "I am here to tell you that the 114 students and their families in Marlboro don’t think (redistricting) solves the immediate problem. These students don’t want to leave the town where they have been attending school for most or all of their lives."

Some residents, however, favored the redistricting plan put forth by Wasser.

Gloria Fishkin of Marlboro pointed out some facts, but also wanted to know what the numbers meant.

"Marlboro High School is overcrowded and will remain that way in years to come," she said. "One fourth of the district’s 700-plus specialized learning center students leave Marlboro to attend other schools in the district. Without the learning centers, Marlboro would have been redistricted already. You cannot depend on volunteerism alone to bring any of the high schools to the numbers they need to be at, in order for them to function at their best."

Fishkin said she supported redistricting students from Marlboro to Colts Neck, but was disturbed there was no count of how many students, out of the 400 Marlboro students scheduled to be redistricted between 2003 and 2007, who would be allowed to remain in Marlboro High School under the district’s sibling rule or how many of those 400 would attend a private school.

In her comments to the board, Cathy Holland of Marlboro said the education in each FRHSD school is the same.

"We are all a part of a regional school system.," Holland said. "No one school is better than the other and I think it’s about time that you realize this."

She said it is not the board’s fault that there is a problem.

"It’s the overcrowding which was the result of the overdevelopment in our town," Holland said.

At the June 10 meeting, several board members, for the first time, commented on the plan put forth by Wasser and on the redistricting/enrollment issue in general. They made their comments before a vote on Wasser’s plan was called.

"I have great concerns about the plan," said board member Bernice Hammer of Freehold Borough. "One of those concerns is the fact that we’ve gotten input from the public, but the board has not discussed it."

Hammer said a citizens committee from Marlboro that has been studying the issue independently gave a report to the board that the board had not discussed.

She also noted that a four-page document prepared by board member Christopher M. Placitella of Colts Neck had not been discussed by the board. Hammer said Placitella’s document included a long-range plan which she said she did not see in Wasser’s proposed redistricting plan.

Hammer said she was concerned about trading off students from Howell, "again and again." She pointed to the changing of the demographer’s numbers, which she said were based on 1999 figures. She noted her concern about the movement of students from Englishtown and said she wasn’t sure of what the sibling rule numbers meant.

Hammer said change is not necessarily progress. She said that if it came to a vote that night, she would vote no on Wasser’s redistricting plan.

"We have to talk about it without all the hoopla that’s going on," Hammer said.

Board member Bonnie Rosenwald of Marlboro said the June 10 meeting was the first time the board members had any opportunity to discuss Wasser’s plan or any other redistricting proposal.

"The concept of moving Marlboro children for the sake of parity is wrong," Rosenwald said. "As the representative of Marlboro, I would cast my vote loud and strong, no, against Mr. Wasser’s plan."

Board member Colin Miller of Farmingdale said, "We may never have the perfect plan, (but) we have to do something now. We have to make our buildings even."

Miller said he’s worried about class sizes. He said he would vote in favor of Wasser’s plan if the question was called that evening.

Board member Marlene Caruso of Freehold Township said she thinks regionally and is concerned with safety at all of the schools. She pointed to the congestion at Manalapan and Marlboro high schools. She said she was unhappy with the prospect of Englishtown residents being assigned to Freehold Township High School when they live closer to Manalapan High School, but said the plan could work. She said she would vote in favor of Wasser’s plan if given the opportunity to do so.

Board member Diana Cappiello of Englishtown said she thinks regionally, but said there had not been enough discussion of the issue among board members.

"When we talk about the community of Englishtown, we’re talking about 40 kids," she said. "Something needs to be done."

Cappiello said she wanted to hear the other board members’ opinions before she would be able to vote on Wasser’s proposed redistricting plan.

"I have to think regionally," said board member Ronald G. Lawson of Howell, noting there were many issues to be considered. He spoke about safety, expanded learning centers, new learning centers and moving an entire middle school population. Lawson did not indicate how he would vote if the question were called that evening.

Placitella said he regretted that he did not have enough time to reflect upon Wasser’s plan in order to make a decision. He said a redistricting solution should include a short-term and long-term plan.

"I believe I need some additional time to make a decision," the board member said. "I may very well be prepared in a number of months to vote for a modified version of Mr. Wasser’s plan."

Placitella then asked for an extension of time.

"This is the first time the board has exchanged ideas on Mr. Wasser’s plan," said Hammer. "This is the first time I’ve heard other (board members’) opinions. The plan needs tweaking."

Over the past few months, district administrators had indicated that a vote on a redistricting plan would be taken on June 10. Following the comments of the board members at the June 10 meeting, a motion was made to delay a redistricting vote until Sept. 9. Voting in favor of tabling the issue were Cappiello, Hammer, Lawson, Placitella, Rosenwald and board President Patricia Horvath of Manalapan. Voting against tabling the motion were Caruso, Kraft and Miller.