This commentary is an attempt to address some of the questions our esteemed former mayors, Vanessa Sandom and John Hart raised in the most recent issue of the Hopewell Express. However, before I get to my responses, I must express a certain amount of disappointment.
Upon seeing the headline (“Can we offer solutions”), I became excited. The district is certainly facing a tough time with numerous challenges: rapidly rising costs, many (construction, transportation, healthcare) well above the nominal inflation rates; capital improvement; numerous and at times fiscally onerous state mandates; all while subject to the 2% cap in regular budget increases. I was hopeful to benefit from the mayors’ combined experience in government.
Alas, I found no specific proposals in their commentary. Instead, the commentary is a list of questions and insinuations that the district in not being fully transparent — many raised and responded to numerously over the last several years.
Let’s start with “please provide information without obfuscation or exaggeration.” In my personal opinion, the district has been doing that. A detailed presentation listing every project and proposed cost has been reviewed in every board meeting since the district started discussing the referendum. A website providing further detail has been up on the board portal (sites.google.com/hvrsd.org/hvrsd-vote/home). In every meeting, the board and district administration field questions and suggestions during the public comment. Not from Ms. Sandom or Mr. Hart as I have not seen them at any of our recent meetings.
Furthermore, Ms. Sandom has taken full advantage of the Open Public Records Act to request — and obtain — significant information, per my count making a total of 9 such requests in the last year or so.
Considering the information the district made available publicly and the extensive information provided to Ms. Sandom via the numerous OPRA requests, I am not sure on what basis one can claim that the district is obfuscating.
The mayors also question whether the inflation assumptions the district is making are reasonable. Construction inflation costs have been rising faster than the rate of general inflation — up over 40%. If the mayors have specific grounds to question this estimate, I would love to hear it, but short of specific reasons not to, I, for one, must trust the competence of the district’s architects.
Let’s turn to the question of roofing. As has been stated, the roofs included in this proposal were not included in the last referendum. These roofs are old; and while some do have warranties lasting into 2026, its worth remembering that this is 2025, the referendum will be voted on late this year and any work would not start until summer of 2026 at the earliest.
Moreover, roof warranties are prorated. Meaning that with a year left on a 25-year warranty, only 4% of the roof value is covered — and only the roof itself is covered. The warranty does not cover damage to what’s under the roof it is fails.
Anyone who wants to know what that damage could be, please ask Bear Tavern parents about their library/media center.
For those of you who are not inclined to just take my word, included is a picture of the substructure under one of these roof sections. Note the damage to the wood. This was discovered incidentally when doing other work and requires immediate repair, which the district will do using our capital reserve because this one can’t wait for 2026.
There are other examples of similar damage, photos of some of them are available on the referendum website. Many of these were shown during the school building tours the district has been conducting over the last several months, as the community members who came out for the tours can testify. Alas, I don’t recall seeing either Ms. Sandom or Mr. Hart at any of these tours. Not all is lost, however. A tour of the high school will take place before our Sept. 15 meeting. I am looking forward to seeing our former mayors there so that our district staff can answer their questions.
Ms. Sandom and Mr. Hart clearly have significant experience addressing the challenges of local public institutions. I, for one, would welcome the contribution of their wisdom. The opportunities for them to help have been numerous. They can come to our meetings, join the tours to see firsthand the state of our school — and yes, make suggestions.
Yet they seem to limit their contributions to rehashing the same set of questions, apparently dissatisfied with any of the answers they are given. I sympathize with them; what the district is asking for is significant. Unfortunately, so are the challenges we are facing, and as far as I know the district does not possess a magic wand to simply wave them away.
Alex Reznik is a member of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education. He writes in his capacity as a private citizen, and not in his capacity as a board member. The commentary was not authorized by or written on behalf of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education, and solely represents his personal opinions.
