BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
WESTWOOD, N.J. –– The Westwood Regional School District is taking its pitch for a $24 million “true” regional middle school to officials and voters here and in the Borough of Westwood in advance of a Dec. 12 referendum that will make or break the measure.
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Hundreds of residents who’ve heard the administration’s roughly 30-minute presentation, given at school board meetings, mayor and council meetings, and back to school nights, have been giving it a fair hearing—at least at the slate of meetings also attended by the Pascack Press.
Questions to presenters have tended to focus on requests for clarification of what’s indicated on floor plans, how the financing works, and whether this project will relieve crowding at the elementary schools.
It won’t do that, but it does help optimize available space throughout the district, the administration says.
Should voters approve the measure, it will satisfy a huge component of the district’s 2016-2021 strategic plan, stemming from at least a 2009 middle school reconfiguration analysis.
All the information covered, including floor plans, rationale, and financing, is available at wwrsd.org.
Outreach sessions are next set at meetings of the Township Gold Seniors on Monday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.; the George School PSO on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 11 a.m.; the Westwood Recreation Department on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 10:30 a.m. and the Westwood Public Library at 6:30 p.m.; and the Washington PSO on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
The district is required to present voters with the entire
$24 million “ask” for the plan, though financing would be on approximately $8 million over 20 years.
That’s because the total is offset in its first year by $16 million in capital reserves (also from levies but socked away over years of prudent savings, the adminstration says) and state aid.
Property taxes would rise to pay for the project but home values would benefit, the district predicts.
According to district figures based on a state formula, in the Borough of Westwood the estimated annual tax impact per $100,000 in assessed home value would be $14.02, or $1.17 per month.
In the Township of Washington, it’s slightly less, at $13.74 a year or $1.15 per month.
On an assessed home value of $500,000, the impact in Westwood is $70.10 a year or $5.84 a month; in the Township, it’s $68.70 a year or $5.73 a month.
Currently, Township taxpayers pay 63.54 cents on the dollar to fund the school district. In Westwood it’s 57.28 percent.
The Westwood Regional School District is one of two districts in the state lacking a true middle school, and is the only one in Bergen County not to offer one, Superintendent Raymond A. Gonzalez has been telling officials and residents in his outreach.
Currently, the district’s eighth graders are served to capacity at the junior/senior high school, at 701 Ridgewood Road.
Sixth- and seventh-graders are making do at the cramped former Ketler Elementary School, 23 Third Ave., Westwood.
Hosting the eighth grade at an expanded, updated Westwood facility would consolidate age-appropriate counseling and academic and social offerings, Gonzalez says.
“The grade 6–8 age range presents such a host of unique needs to make sure that as kids go through their academic and developmental changes we’re ready to take them in, nurture them, prepare them so that when they go to high school there’re ready to take on and succeed in high school,” he tells audiences.
He adds that the move would finally put special needs supports for younger students under one roof.
The proposal’s floor plan calls out a new, larger gymnasium, which town rec departments could also use, and would be available after hours; new academic, art, and science classrooms; new nurse and main office suites; renovated student support services and an expanded kitchen; and renovated music and band rooms.
The proposed upper level floor plan creates a media center and new classrooms for social studies, world languages, and therapy services.
The bus loop is maintained, and extra parking is provided.
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Freeing up space at the high school will allow for the expansion of the media center and more effective schedule options when students select courses, though not necessarily any new parking spaces, a request of many in the Township.
Information sessions run in both municipalities through the morning of the Dec. 12 referendum. For dates, locations, project timeline, and related resources, as well as various school and central office updates, visit wwrsd.org.