The board of education and representatives from LAN associates took questions from the community at the Sept. 30 Town Hall on the bond referendum at Haddonfield Memorial High School’s auditorium.
The Haddonfield board of education is continuing to educate and advocate for residents to vote in the upcoming bond referendum on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
That’s what they did in late September and that’s what they have been doing by holding travelling meetings throughout the district culminating with a town hall at the high school that was held Monday, Sept. 30.
“We want to hear peoples’ voices, we want people to go out there and tell us, did we make it, did we not?” Board of Education President Jaime Grookett said. “We really want people to vote. … Getting out and voting and having your voice heard is really important.”
The referendum is slated to cost $46.7 million in total improvements, with $9 million being covered by state aid and a $37.7 million local tax impact for Haddonfield residents. This amounts to about $369 per year for the average assessed home.
In response to the question, “What happens if the bond referendum does not pass?” Superintendent Chuck Klaus shared that they would likely have to regroup and go back to assess since a lot of the projects are crucial.
Board Vice President Linda Hochgertl called the question “nearly impossible to answer.”
“We spent two years gathering facts trying to decide what was needed … we went after projects that we thought would fill the needs and what we came back was over $100 million,” said Board vice president Linda Hochgertl. “We knew we couldn’t ask the community to think of that.
“… We wanted to give the community what the school district needs at a price that the community could bear.”
In response to another question about potentially dividing the bond referendum question into two questions, one for things that are covered by state aid and the other for things that aren’t, Hochgertl explained that everything goes together in one piece,
“If the Hopkins Parcel was a second question, and if the second question was no, then we lose accessibility for the state aid and we said, that’s critical, we need accessibility,” she said. “We lose the restoration of the historic buildings.”
She noted they had set aside enough in capital reserves for a turf field, so that wouldn’t have to be part of the referendum, but that they didn’t have enough money for the lights, so they would lose that as well and the additional parking and accessibility for it.
During the board meeting, Hochgertl emphasized that although the $9 million in state aid comes from New Jersey tax dollars, if they didn’t receive it, the funds would go to another district.
“With a voter-approved bond referendum, $9 million in state aid would come to Haddonfield,” a flyer for the referendum explains. “Funding for that program is collected from across the state. This is the only way to bring a share of that money to Haddonfield.”
The referendum aims to cover six main areas: increased accessibility, additional classrooms at the high school and all three elementary schools, athletic and auditorium improvements at the high school and middle school, increased building maintenance and safety, improvements for early childhood education at the elementary school level, and specialized learning and media center improvements at every school.
In other news:
- Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gino Priolo announced at the recent board meeting that they were opening nominations for this year’s Educator of the Year program.
- Priolo also reported that the district’s recent data analysis day for the staff went well, where staff members were able to review and analyze the spring standardized test results for students and pivot to make needed adjustments as necessary.
The full town hall and recent board meeting are available for viewing at the Haddonfield Public Schools’ YouTube channel.
To learn more, visit haddonfieldschools.org/vote.
