Board will have final say on school reorganization

MANALAPAN - Now it is up to the school board.

Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Superintendent of Schools John J. Marciante Jr. and Assistant Superintendent ofCurriculumJoanneMonroe announced at a June 5 publicmeeting attended by about 15 people that the Board of Education will now have the task of deciding whether to switch the district to a "neighborhood school" setup.

Marciante has made the recommendation that the district switch fromthree grade 1-3 schools and three grade 4-6 schools to five grade 1-5 schools and one school for all of the district's sixth-graders.

Under his plan, all kindergarten pupils would remain at the John I. Dawes Early Learning Center and all seventh and eighth grade pupils would remain at the Manalapan EnglishtownMiddle School (MEMS).

The changes would become effective in September 2009.

Marciante said the information he and Monroe have gleaned from parents and teachers who have commented on the reorganization plan is what gave them the insight needed to develop the final proposal they will present to the school board members in July.

"This plan has not been put together yet. That was the purpose of these three public meetings," the superintendent said.

He said he believes it is "highly likely" that the boardwill adopt the so-called neighborhood school policy thatwill have children attend the same elementary school for five years.

Marciante said parents' concerns - which include issues such as the range of ages of the children on school buses, to possible changes in curriculum - will be considered in developing any policy he may propose for the board's consideration.

Marciante and Monroe told the 15 or so people in attendance at the June 5 meeting atMEMS that the next step in the timeline for realignment will be a presentation of their three fact-finding meetings to the school board members.

The superintendent said he and Monroe will meet with members of the school board in July to present themwith the information they gleaned fromthe three publicmeetings that, although sparsely attended, did generate some discussion among the district administrators, teachers and parents who came out to hear what is being proposed.

If the board accepts Marciante's recommendation, beginning in September 2009 the ClarkMills, TaylorMills, LafayetteMills, Milford Brook and Wemrock Brook schools will house pupils in grades one through five who live in the neighborhoods that are closest to a particular school.

Marciante has said the change is being proposed because there is an expected budget shortfall of $1.13million in the 2009-10 school year and a projected increase in the budget shortfall thereafter.

The Pine Brook School would house all of the district's sixth-graders; leavingMEMS for seventh- and eighth-graders; and the John I. Dawes Early Learning Center for all of the district's kindergartners.

Marciante and Monroe said placing all of the sixth-graders in the Pine Brook School would be a unique and beneficial opportunity for those children by creating an "elemiddle school" that would better prepare the sixthgraders for middle school.

"Sixth-graders are too mature for elementary school, yet inmiddle school they are isolated from seventh- and eighth-graders. Providing a sixth grade transitional school would provide opportunities not now available," the superintendent said.

At the present time, the ClarkMills, Taylor Mills and Milford Brook schools educate children in grades one through three; and the Wemrock Brook, Pine Brook and Lafayette Mills schools educate children in grades four through six.

Marciante has told parents that the mixture of first- through fifth-graders in the same school isworking elsewhere in the state and said it is not an unusual set-up for an elementary school.

He said the reorganizationwould not only be beneficial academically, but financially due to anticipated savings on transportation costs, as well as the fact that the district would not have to hire six newteachers to replace six teachers who will be retiring.

The reorganization plan also calls for the school district's administrative offices to be moved from the former Main Street School in Englishtown to the Pine Brook School on Pease Road, Manalapan. The board will not proceed with a plan to build new administrative offices near MEMS. The board is planning to sell the Englishtown property.

Summing up the motivation behind the proposal, Marciante said, "This proposal is for financial reasons. We wouldn't be here if our concerns weren't budgetary. However, you look for ways to cut that won't affect the quality of education."

Enrollment in the K-8 Manalapan-Englishtown district is expected to remain flat in the 2008-09 school year at slightlymore than 5,500 pupils.