Hazlet BOE restructures primary schools

To comply with state mandates, the Hazlet School District will restructure six elementary schools and create an Early Childhood Learning Center.

The district Board of Education passed a resolution on Nov. 24 that authorized the changes, effective for the 2009-10 school year.

The Early Childhood Learning Center, to be located at the Sycamore Drive School, will consist of 10 full-day kindergarten classes as well as the expanded full-day preschool program.

All six elementary schools in the district currently house kindergarten through sixthgrade classes.

Under the restructuring, Lillian Drive School, Middle Road School and Raritan Valley School will house grades one through four, while Beers Street School and Cove Road School will contain grades five and six.

At the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Glenn Mason read a statement that listed all of the factors the board had taken into consideration when making the decision to restructure district schools.

"The Board of Education's charge was to do what was most educationally and fiscally responsible for the district as a whole," Mason said. "This entails taking into account the needs and interests of all students, parents, employees and taxpayers. Critical to our decision making are considerations for creating and maintaining a safe environment for our students and staff."

He said that the changes stem from the state's mandate that all school districts must have full-day kindergarten and expand preschool to at-risk children.

"We are also obligated to comply with federal and state mandates and have made diligent efforts to keep our stakeholders informed about how those have changed," Mason said. "Indeed our ability to meet regulatory requirements directly impacts our ability to obtain state funding."

For preschool classes, the state provides the district with $11,506 for each preschooleligible student to fund the program.

According to the district's Web site, "The state calculates our targeted population by using a formula for the number of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunch in the district."

The current projection for the district is 29 preschool students, who would be split into two classes.

The district currently has a preschool program for children with special needs.

Mason explained to those in attendance that the district must comply with state mandates to expand preschool and kindergarten classes.

"At the same time," he said, the district wanted to use the changes "to address many of the recurring problems we have here in Hazlet concerning class size, inefficient use of instructors and facilities, lack of subjectspecific quality instruction in grades four through middle school."

He said the goal was to make the changes but also keep the budget fiscally responsible.

Before the decision was made, two public hearings were held and the district posted all information, including demographic reports and presentations, on the Web site.

In one of the presentations, Schools SuperintendentWilliam O. George lists the advantages and disadvantages of creating an Early Childhood Learning Center, including that the center would evenly distribute students at each grade level as well as accommodate full-day kindergarten and mandated preschool programs in one building.

Other advantages cited by George are that the center would maximize personnel and resources, allow for smaller learning communities.

Finally, it says that it helps teachers develop expertise and specialization in one or two subject areas as per state requirements.

The disadvantages he cited are that families could have students attending multiple elementary schools as well as increased transportation costs and travel time.

"We know the action we are taking will please some and displease others but our task was simply not to do what is popular at the moment or the comfortable choice, but what we think is the right thing to do for the town at this time," Mason said.

Some parents voiced their displeasure at the meeting.

Karen Bachmann, who has two children in the school system, said she feels the changes are being rushed.

"I fully support the idea of full-day preschool and kindergarten, however, I feel it should be part of a five-year plan," Bachmann said. "It should be [integrated] into the neighborhood elementary schools that already exist. Major changes to be made in less than a year is frivolous and too much for our students."

Bachmann wanted to know why the district didn't follow what neighboring districts have done to avoid changing around the schools.

She cited the fact that the Middletown Board of Education will be utilizing the HazletYMCAfor some of that district's pre-K classes.

Another concerned parent, Katherine Burns, is also the owner of the Kids Early Learning Center in Hazlet that also offers pre-K classes.

She suggested that the school district could look into working with local preschools.

"I asked why not just give vouchers to the township preschools," Burns said. "The answer I received was that by providing an in-house preschool program the Hazlet Board of Education can educate the students with the state-approved preschool curriculum along with the concurrent kindergarten program by state-certified teachers."

She said that instead of spending money to create the Early Childhood Center at Sycamore, why not look into the local preschools.

"In these economically desperate times why is Hazlet recreating something that is in the backyard of the Sycamore Drive School, which has been designated the Early Childhood Learning Center?" Bachmann asked.

The district is waiting for a demographics report that will determine what schools students will attend.

Contact Jamie Romm at jromm@gmnews.com.