School district receives bids for work at MEMS

BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN — Almost 16 months after voters said yes to a school construction project, bids for one phase of the work have been opened.

Administrators in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District received bids in the district offices on Jan. 21 for the construction of a two-story, 22-classroom addition at the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School (MEMS), Millhurst Road.

Nine companies presented bids for the work and their documents are now under review by John Dawes, the Board of Education’s attorney. Superintendent of Schools Maureen Lally said it is hoped that the board will make a decision within a week or two.

On Sept. 30, 2003, residents of Man-alapan and Englishtown approved a $49 million referendum that proposed the construction of an addition at MEMS; the construction of an early learning center at Clark Mills School, Gordons Corner Road, that would house all of the district’s kindergarten pupils; and assorted infrastructure improvements to district schools. Figures provided by the board indicated that taxpayers would ante up $35 million and the state would pay $14 million toward the cost of the work.

The 2003 figures indicated that the work at MEMS was estimated at $28.7 million; at Clark Mills, $13.4 million; and the other improvements, approximately $6.9 million. Officials said they hoped ground would be broken in the summer of 2004.

Lally said documents for the MEMS construction were sent to the state for review in June and had only recently been approved.

Documents pertaining to the work at Clark Mills were sent to the state about two months ago and the district has not heard anything to date, the superintendent said.

“The Department of Education approved the Clark Mills project and the school construction committee does an engineering check,” Lally said. “We are now waiting in line.”

The MEMS project is expected to add 22 classrooms, an auxiliary gym, a health facility and a cafeteria annex at the district’s only middle school.

Board members said the construction of a kindergarten building at Clark Mills and the assignment of all kindergarten pupils to that facility would free up classroom space in the district’s elementary schools.

Plans also call for the replacement of windows at Taylor Mills, Clark Mills, Milford Brook and Pine Brook schools; roof replacements at Taylor Mills, Clark Mills and Lafayette Mills schools; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning work at Taylor Mills, Pine Brook and Lafayette Mills schools.