Opening of new school will take care of space crunch

Opening of new school will
take care of space crunch
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer

COLTS NECK — The projected opening of a new elementary school on Conover Road in January will alleviate overcrowding problems that have plagued the township’s school district for a number of years, according to Superintendent of Schools Gregg R. Hauser.

"This will be the first time in 10 years that we will have had sufficient space for each and every one of our students," Hauser said.

At this point, 1,511 students are enrolled to attend school in the K-8 district for the 2002-03 school year, which opens on Sept. 4, Hauser said.

"Just over 700 students will attend the Cedar Drive School (grades 5-8), while just over 800 will attend the Conover Road School (grades K-4)," Hauser said. "That’s an increase of about 75 students above last year’s enrollment. "We gained about 20 to 25 students from September 2001 to June 2002."

The new school, which will have a capacity to accommodate 450 students, will be for kindergarten and grades one and two, according to Hauser, who said the class structures in all three schools will be rearranged after the third school becomes operational.

The new school has not yet been named.

The present Conover Road School will house grades three, four and five, while the Cedar Drive School will house grades, six, seven and eight, after the new school is opened, Hauser said.

When the new school opens, the pupils in kindergarten, first and second grade will move into the new building. The rest of the district’s reconfiguration will be completed in September 2003.

Hauser pointed out that the district’s enrollment has increased at an alarming rate over the last decade.

"I was talking recently with the principal of the Cedar Drive School, Joan Kil-commons," Hauser said. "She told me that when she came to the school in 1992, the attendance at that school was 211. Now it is more than 700, more than triple the number of students when she came to the school.

"When I came here in 1993, the (K-8) attendance was about 600," the superintendent continued. "Now we’re more than 1,500 students, so we desperately need the new school."

The superintendent said the district has been hit hard by getting no increase in state aid funds for the 2002-03 school year.

"Like every other district in the state, we’re getting the same amount of state aid as last year," Hauser said. ‘That doesn’t take into account the increase in our attendance."

The superintendent, however, said the district has made improvements to its programs for the coming school year.

"We’ve updated our mathematics and social studies courses," he said. "We also improved our technology programs. We’ve purchased new computers. We have completely computerized our grading and personnel systems. We’re all set to go for another year."