$4.6M middle school contract awarded
By paul dowd
Staff Writer

HAZLET — The Board of Education has awarded a construction contract for expansion of Union Avenue Middle School, Phase III of the $7.8 million school referendum project approved by voters last year.

Phase III is the final phase of the district’s renovation and/or expansion of its eight schools.

Plans include a new, full-size, 800-seat gymnasium with bleachers and locker rooms, a new media center, and more corridor space. Additionally, the existing gym will be converted to a cafeteria/auxiliary room, and the existing cafeteria and media center will both be converted to classroom space.

The cost for Phase III of the project will be $4.6 million, with the general construction bid awarded to Eastern Builders, Hazlet, for $2.6 million. The steel bid went to Mastercraft Iron, Neptune, for $530,000; the electric work was awarded to M&P Electric, Woodbridge, for $517,990; the mechanical work will be handled by Atlantic Mechanical, Woodbridge, for $497,000; and the plumbing will be installed by Gabe Scanga, Farmingdale, for $418,398.

Board officials expect construction to begin this month and be completed in time for September 2001.

The construction at Union Avenue is part of the $7.8 million referendum passed by voters in September 1999. The three-phase referendum project allowed the district to return to neighborhood K-6 schools.

Union Avenue, one of two current middle schools for grades six-eight, will be the township’s lone middle school next school year, housing grades seven and eight. Beginning next fall, it will be known as the Hazlet Middle School.

The Beers Street School, which is the other township middle school, will be a K-6 school. The other five K-6 schools next year will be the Cove Road School (currently grades 4-5), Lillian Drive (K-3), Middle Road (K-3), Raritan Valley (K-3), and Sycamore Drive (4-5).

Phase I of construction, which involved the renovation of bathrooms and upgrading of electrical wiring in all eight schools, has been completed, according to Schools Superintendent Timothy Nogueira.

Phase II, which involved expansion of the Raritan High School library and the addition of two classrooms at the Sycamore Drive School, is ahead of schedule and should be completed by November, Nogueira said.