Hazlet may redistrict some primary students Parents upset over possible school switch BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer HAZLET - Parents of 20 Raritan Valley Elementary School students are waiting for word from the school district on whether their children will have to switch schools in the upcoming school year. One of those parents, Eric Lesniak, said he received a letter from the district on May 29 stating that his children would be relocated from Raritan Valley School to Beers Street School; both schools are kindergarten through sixth grade. "One day I just got a letter in the mail telling me my children will have to switch schools," Lesniak said last week. Hazlet School District Superintendent William O. George III said last week that the district will not go forward with redistricting until a study is completed. "It's not a definite that this will occur for the upcoming school year," George said. "Our goal is to do this as soon as possible, but if our feedback tells us that parents are not ready, then we are willing to wait." Lesniak and 17 other families living on Boyd Road, Brailley Lane, Convent Court, Kaylen Place andWebster Drive as well as Bethany Road,HazletAvenue andHolmdel Road all received letters stating that their children, 20 in all, would be attending Beers Street School next school year. Lesniak also said that one student who lives on Bryan Court will now be attending Raritan Valley School, moving from Beers Street. He said that while the schools have maintained that the decision is not final, the letter indicated the switch was definite. "The letter was written in absolute terms," Lesniak said. "They said at the meeting that it was just a proposal. Honestly, we just want an answer." George said the reason for the redistricting is to have an even number of students in classrooms in each of the six elementary schools. "We are trying to create a parity so that there are equal class sizes in each grade level," George said. "The big challenge for us is the fact that we have neighborhood schools. We have to consider all of the demographics." The class size would be around 17 students per grade if the switch occurs. He said themove wouldmake sense geographically. "Children would have the opportunity to go to school with students who they live in close proximity to," George said. "This way they become friends with the children who live by them." Lesniak said that he has two children who are affected: one has been in the dis- trict for four years while the other is just entering elementary school. The change will affect each of them differently. "My daughter has been in school for four years and has already made a lot of friends," Lesniak said. "For a child just entering the first grade, it's different in that they aren't affected by having tomake new friends." He said the fact that he just found out about the redistricting a few weeks ago is the reason he and the other affected parents are upset. "It's not about which school the children go to," Lesniak said. "It's amatter of letting us know in advance. We were told something two months earlier, when in the past parents were told two years earlier." The district held ameeting on June 5 to provide a question-and-answer session with parents. "We are trying to have a very transparent process here," George said. "We are having individual meetings with parents, informational sessions, and are releasing all of our studies.We understand why parents would be concerned." George said that the anticipated enrollment for Raritan Valley School for the 2008-09 school year is 350 students, with the projected number for Beers Street School being 282 students. After the informational session, the district consulted T&MAssociates to perform a geographic study and released a statement on the district Web site. "After consultation with the Board of Education, the district has decided to contact T&MAssociates ofMiddletown, which completed our August 2005 School Enrollment Projection Report and Analysis, about updating the report with actual data and making recommendations on any potential modifications to the current boundaries for the elementary schools," the statement reads. "It is the intention of the district to begin this process in the near future and have the report and recommendation completed for the July Board of Education meeting." Lesniak said that children may have a problem adapting. "You are taking the children away from the friends that they have made," Lesniak said. "While some children will easily adapt, others aren't that easy. They are at a young age where friends at school are important." The 18 families will now have to wait until July to find out for sure if their children will have to attend school at another location. Lesniak said that when he moved to Hazlet with his family, he was told his children would be attending Beers Street. "When we moved here, we expected to be at Beers Street School to begin with," Lesniak said. "There is no problemwith either school, it's just how we found out."