Board taking a second look at high school expansion

Latest approach to investigate adding to the current site is a reversal of earlier decision Sparta - Sparta school officials have asked architects charged with designing a proposed new high school to explore adding onto the existing facility as an alternative to solving the districts overcrowded classrooms and increasing student population. The school board discussed the possible reversal in plans at a special public meeting this week, when members were versed on the size and use of classrooms to meet academic and enrollment needs and areas where costs could be reduced. “It’s something that we have to look at,” said school board member Richard Sullivan. “That’s what we’re talking about -- a ‘new high school’ on the existing footprint.” School officials had scoffed at previous proposals by the architects, town council and the public to add onto the existing school, while instead pressing forward to identify land for a new facility. Earlier this year, schools superintendent Thomas Morton said adding onto the existing high school would cost taxpayers about $73 million, not much less than a new building at another location including a site on township-owned property off White Lake Road near the Sparta Car Wash. Since then, the cost of a new high school has escalated to about $109 million. The board, which has not put a price tag on any new designs to expand the existing high school, is still awaiting approval from the state on whether not they have permission to build another facility on a location in Station Park. “Eventually, the board’s going to make a decision and everybody can get on board or fight it,” said Morton. “Once that happens, we can focus on the project.” School officials have asked the Department of Environmental Protection for more time to comply with an application to build a new high school on land that comprises township soccer fields No. 1 and No. 2 in Station Park, and the high school’s softball fields. “You have to look at everything,” said Sullivan. “Because of how restricted we are by available land, we have to come up with an alternative solution - not a band-aid solution.” But the while the school board has one eye focused on Trenton, the other is looking ahead to September and a possible referendum to solve the student population crisis. “We’ve only got about 4 to 5 weeks before we have to have the paper work in,” said Sullivan. “We can’t mess around. At this stage of the game, we have to agree on a plan and run with it.” Meanwhile, as school administrators wrestle with overcrowded classrooms, the cost of paying architects, engineers, construction managers, and marketers has put a chokehold on any decisions. “There’s been a lot of money spent; a significant amount, but that happens in any process you go through,” said Morton. “This has just been lengthy because we have been unable to identify a piece of property.” Schoor DePalma Inc., the engineering firm hired by the school board to gain site approval, has told the state it is making progress to meet the application requirements for Station Park. The township council continues to take a wait-and-see approach before agreeing to turn over any land that the board of education needs to construct the new high school on the proposed Station Park land.