School work on schedule

in Freehold Twp. district

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — All of the construction projects in the K-8 school district are on schedule, according to Robert DeVita, assistant business administrator, even though the weather has been a problem since crews started working.

All of the elementary schools are getting new kindergarten additions (known as "pods") in anticipation of the start of an all-day kindergarten program in September 2004. Site preparation was delayed for two months at the C. Richard Applegate and Joseph J. Catena schools because of a contractor’s unsuccessful legal challenge, so they will be the last to be completed.

The four kindergarten pods (Applegate, Catena, Laura Donovan and Marshall W. Errickson schools) will open up on a staggered schedule, DeVita explained.

In addition to the kindergarten pods being built at the elementary schools, the Eisenhower and Barkalow middle schools are each getting additions that include 10 new classrooms and a multipurpose room.

"All site work was competed over the summer. The parking lots were ripped up and new parking lots are being put in. They are also starting to put up the additions. The internal work won’t interfere with day-to-day movement," DeVita added.

As the additions are being built at six schools, a construction crew is building the new West Freehold School off Route 537 near Wemrock Road. DeVita said work in the new school is progressing as planned.

"They are starting to put the exterior block work on now. We are still shooting for an early March opening," he said.

The current West Freehold School on Stillwells Corner Road has about half the enrollment of the district’s other elementary schools (about 200 pupils in K-5).

After the implementation of a redistricting plan in September 2004, the new West Freehold School will be comparable to the size of the other elementary schools in terms of enrollment as students are moved into that building from several other schools and join the present group of West Freehold School pupils.

Until the new West Freehold School opens, the Board of Education has determined that the kindergarten pods being built at the Donovan, Errickson, Catena and Applegate schools will be used as classroom space for existing programs and an increasing number of students.

Once the new West Freehold School opens, the district’s all-day kindergarten program will be fully implemented at all five elementary schools.

After the pupils now attending the present West Freehold School move out of the building, construction crews will start the renovations on the school which is to become an early childhood center for special needs preschool students and a limited number of regular preschool students.

In the meantime, all of the district’s schools opened on Sept. 4 and will operate normally even though there is construction going on inside.

"What they are doing right now is the internal work, like putting up sheet rock, finishing the wiring, putting in floors. We had a terrible winter and a terrible June, but knock on wood, everything is going according to plan," DeVita said.

— Linda DeNicola