The school district is hosting an Open House for the addition to Village School, on Tuesday, July 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The addition was completed last summer and is the district’s first significant construction project since a 2008 addition to High School South. Village School was completed in 1995 and an addition was first installed there in 2002.
Assistant superintendent Larry Shanok said the most recent addition at 321 Village Road East came in at just over $13.1 million, pointing out that some erroneous reports in the media pegged the project’s cost at more than $14 million.
The energy efficient addition centralizes administrative departments previously working in different locations: Central Office and Registration, Community Education, Special Services, Guidance, Technology, and Human Resources.
The previous administration building at 505 Village Road West now houses tech personnel and the Building and Grounds staff. The latter previously worked out of High School North, and the district is converting the vacated space there into a dedicated room for the district’s robotics team as well as for engineering classes.
Village School also gains six general classrooms, two small group speech classrooms and workroom for student occupational and physical therapy.
The added classrooms alleviate overcrowding at the elementary schools, freeing up space at Dutch Neck, Town Center and Millstone River schools.
This past year, third grade education shifted from Town Center to Millstone. Pre-K through second grade special needs programs, previously with classrooms in several schools, were concentrated at Town Center.
The project avoided a public referendum for fund approval by paying out of current funds, a decision that was criticized by some members of the public at the time.
Instead of going out to bond, which would have increased the district’s debt service but also spread the cost impact over several decades, the district funded the bulk of the addition out of its capital reserve fund.
More than $4 million was also drawn from the Community Education Enterprise Fund, which receives revenue from community education program (extended day, kindergarten extension, enrichment classes, adult programs) user fees.
If the district had issued bonds to pay for the project, it would have meant that voters would have had an opportunity to vote to approve or reject the project at the polls.
Critics argued that funding through the capital reserve is fiscally irresponsible, and was only done to prevent the public from having an opportunity to vote on the addition.
This also meant that the district had to add additional monies to the capital reserve fund in this year’s budget to pay for necessary projects at the district’s other buildings.
The district scheduled the open house after several residents asked for an impromptu quick tour last May at the new offices. The residents are vocal critics of the school district and after showing up unannounced, they were asked to leave. A tour by Shanok was scheduled for the next week but the administration ultimately canceled it and scheduled the upcoming open house.
When asked why the district did not elect to host an open house earlier in the school year, Shanok cited the busy school year.
“Our effort last August went to moving adults out of the various classroom spaces they had been in around the district and getting teachers and students into them in September,” Shanok said.
