Attendance areas to be discussed by Freehold Regional officials
BY MARK ROSMAN Staff Writer
ASept. 20 workshop meeting of the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education may provide some indication of possible attendance area changes for the 2008-09 school year.

The board will meet at 8 p.m. Sept. 20 at its headquarters on Pine Street, Englishtown, to discuss what if any changes may have to be made to attendance areas.

The FRHSD operates high schools in Colts Neck, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Howell, and enrolls students from those six municipalities and from Englishtown and Farmingdale.

The workshop meeting will be open to the public, but comments from residents will not be taken that evening. That board has a regular meeting scheduled for Sept. 24. Members of the public will be permitted to comment on attendance areas, or any other topic, during the Sept. 24 meeting.

"On Sept. 20 we will discuss whether we want to do anything for the 2008-09 school year" in terms of changing attendance areas, Superintendent of Schools James Wasser said.

"In keeping with board policy, if we want to do anything with attendance areas for the 2008-09 school year the board will have to take action by Sept. 24. This is so we can give people who may be affected by any change a full year's notice. I do not know if we will make any changes or not for 2008-09," the superintendent said.

Wasser spoke with Greater Media Newspapers on Aug. 30 and said he is keeping close tabs on enrollment throughout the district, but specifically at Howell and Freehold Township high schools, which are both feeling the impact of residential growth in Howell.

Parts of Howell are within the Freehold Township High School attendance area.

"I would love to not have to make any changes, but I can't control housing. People are moving here for the excellent schools we have on the elementary and high school levels," Wasser said.

The superintendent said the district's total enrollment remains under 12,000 students and he said the district as a whole is not over capacity. Wasser reiterated a comment he has made in the past few months that the construction of a seventh high school is not in the district's immediate future.