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Morristown Daily Record
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story reported a March 11 election date still listed on the Rockaway Township School District referendum website on Monday that has been postponed due to a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection determination that would prohibit a planned school expansion.
ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP — More classroom space for a growing student population is just one reason why the school board is asking voters to approve nearly $100 million to build new facilities and improve existing spaces in the six-school K-8 district.
But a referendum vote planned for Tuesday has been delayed.
"The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has identified the [Dennis B. O'Brien School] site as a habitat for the Indiana bat (which is true of huge swaths of the East and Midwest) and has classified a storm culvert that runs beneath Interstate 80 and through a storm pipe on the DBO property as a Category I stream," the board wrote in a separate update statement. "This complicates our ability to move forward with the planned improvements."
The district is now considering an alternate date for the referendum vote.
“We have always believed that now is the time to invest in the future of our community and our children,” Superintendent Dr. Richard R. Corbett stated. “While the district and Board have shown due diligence in pursuing this important project, the delays we are encountering are deeply concerning."
The board remains committed to the referendum plan.
"Our district is growing at a rapid pace," the board states in its online referendum web page. "While this is good, it has placed a strain on our facilities as we work to serve more students within the same spaces. Our student population has increased significantly over the past four years."
The district counted 2,431 students during the past school year, government records show. That compares to 2,386 in 2022-23 and 2,231 in 2018-19, before a period of annual decreases turned around.
"Further, the increasing number of students requiring related services (occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy) has also placed a strain on our facilities," the district statement stated. "Serving all of these students requires additional space."
High school students in the district attend the Morris Hills Regional district (Morris Hills and Morris Knolls high schools).
Additional needs covered by the referendum would include capital improvements to all five elementary schools and Copeland Middle School. The plan also calls for building a new early childhood learning center and Board of Education offices at Dennis B. O'Brien School. That annex would be built on the school's current football field.
"By adding an ECLC at DBO, we will reduce overcrowding at all elementary schools," the district stated.
The vote is scheduled for Tuesday at regular polling locations in the township.
Deeper details of Rockaway Twp. school referendum
The plan calls for construction of a new annex at the O'Brien School for the new classrooms, offices and ECLC center.
All schools would also receive security and safety improvements, HVAC and building improvements, Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA accessibility improvements and capital improvements.
The district provided a list of additional specific improvements at each location:
Copeland Middle School proposed improvements
Birchwood Elementary School proposed improvements
Catherine A. Dwyer Elementary School proposed improvements
Katharine D. Malone Elementary School proposed improvements
Dennis B. O'Brien Elementary School proposed improvements
Stony Brook Elementary School proposed improvements
Cost of improvements to taxpayers
The total cost of the project would be offset by state funding that cannot be accessed without a voter-approved referendum. The term of the referendum bond is 30 years.
For the owner of a home assessed at at the township average of $410,000, the estimated impact would be $423 per year over those 30 years.
The district did not release the amount of available state funding, saying the state Department of Education was still reviewing its application.
Should the referendum fail at the polls, the district will consider "short-term solutions" including redistricting, changing grade configurations with each school, and temporary classroom trailers.
"It’s important to note that these responses to a failed referendum only address some issues and represent short-term solutions," the district advised. "In addition, they address none of the safety and security concerns, and the overarching facility concerns in our schools would persist."