HILLSDALE—Build on site, build across the street, or just renovate the place?
Those are the options facing school board trustees and administrators as they move toward an upcoming special meeting on the fate of the century-old George G. White Middle School.
The special meeting will be held April 11 at 6 p.m. at Ann Blanche Smith School on Hillsdale Avenue to discuss options for middle school replacement, including a completely new middle school facility directly across from the 100-year-old middle school on Magnolia Avenue.
The meeting is in-person only.
“On April 11th the Board of Education will hear from our architect once again. At this time the plan for a new facility along with renovation options will be shared. The BOE will not be taking action on any of these options on 4/11,” superintendent Robert Lombardy wrote Pascack Press on March 29.
“We are hopeful for estimated costs at the April 11 meeting,” he said.
Lombardy said following the April 11 meeting, the administration would host meetings for each school “to share the nature of our process, findings and best options. We would like to gather feedback from our school community before the final decision is made.”
“Once approved by the BOE, [plans] must be submitted to the NJ Department of Education for approval. The DOE’s process can take up to several months as they are understaffed and backlogged as a result of the pandemic. We are hopeful that our timeline can remain. Most important, is that we put forth the best plan for the children of Hillsdale,” Lombardy said.
A public notice appearing March 25 said action will be taken during the public portion of the special meeting.
For school officials, whatever path they chose likely ends with a bond referendum to be voted on by residents. The board’s ad hoc advisory committee last year recommended building a new school across the street and going out for a bond referendum, most likely in March 2023.
George G. White Middle School, built in 1922, houses grades 5–8, and had approximately 510 students in 2020, according to the district’s 2020–2025 Strategic Plan.
During summer 2021, the ad hoc committee on the middle school recommended that a new school be built directly across from the current building after examining the three options facing school trustees. (See “Replacing George G. White? District eyes next chapter for veteran school,” Pascack Press, Nov. 19, 2021.)
However, estimates for a new middle school discussed during committee meetings and noted by council liaison Anthony DeRosa ranged between $65 million to $75 million for a new building, although school officials have yet to confirm any final numbers.
In addition to the facility’s age, the middle school’s classrooms are generally undersized, comprising about 550 square feet versus a current classroom size of 700 to 800 square feet.
Lombardy previously told Pascack Press that extensive renovations or a total knock-down and reconstruction on the site would take 18–24 months, interrupting parts of two middle school years.
Since November, the district has been conducting its due diligence studies on the future site for the new middle school on an open parcel of land on Magnolia Avenue, including a demographics study, title and deed searches, topographic study and environmental site assessment.
We reported in November 2021 that the district was undertaking studies to determine whether such a plan was feasible at the site opposite its present location.
School officials, including Lombardy, also told Pascack Press that following its due diligence to determine whether a site directly across the street is appropriate for a new school, the board faces a short timeline, by March or April 2022, to plan, estimate and propose a possible March 2023 school bond referendum to replace the aging school.
While school officials have declined to make cost estimates public due to uncertainty about possible site and supply chain concerns, and much unsettled about what a new middle school may include, some potential costs to taxpayers were revealed in a fall presentation to school trustees.
Lombardy told Pascack Press last November that architectural plans may still change and costs were not yet clear on the likely new middle school project.
Unofficial estimates showed then what it would cost taxpayers for a project that ranged from $20 million to $60 million, and accounting for expiring debt payments, the costs ranged widely, between a monthly $31 up to a monthly $94 tax impact on an average $472,530 home over a 20-year bond.
A survey of 28 ad hoc committee members last summer showed 76.5% favored constructing a new building across the street.
The ad hoc committee presented an 80-page summary of George G. White’s options at the Oct. 11, 2021 BOE meeting.
By building a new facility across the street, the district would minimize any school-year disruptions for students, officials said.