BOE Introduces $30M Referendum

The Fort Lee Board of Education Monday passed a resolution introducing a third school bond referendum. This one—at about $30.2 million—is significantly scaled back from the previous two, and includes renovations and expansion of the middle school that should result in a net gain of eight new classrooms.  

According to the board, those who were looking for a referendum that would relieve severe overcrowding in Fort Lee schools would be greatly disappointed. Instead, the focus with the new referendum is on what board members see as absolute necessary repairs within a budget they believe the public will accept.

The components of the referendum—nearly $10 million of which would come from state grant funding and about $20.4 million of which would be shouldered by taxpayers “via the issuance of bonds”—are as follows:

• An addition at Lewis F. Cole Middle School at a total cost $9.66 million
• HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) upgrades at Fort Lee High School, the middle school and Schools No. 1 and 4
• Masonry repairs at the high school and Schools No. 3 and 4
• Roof replacement at the middle school and Schools No. 1 and 4
• Window replacement at the high school and Schools No. 1 and 3
• Science room alterations at the high school and middle school at a total cost of $5.58 million

Total infrastructure repairs would come to nearly $15 million.

“It’s detailed because for each particular thing there’s a dollar value of a grant associated with it,” board president Arthur Levine told Patch Monday. “That’s how we know which dollars are going to be available from the state by project.”

Levine also said the board is still in the process of determining the best approach to presenting the referendum to the public and lobbying for its passage.

“I don’t envision having as many open forums as we did [with the previous referendums],” Levine said. “I think the number was close to 50. I might be wrong. But we’ll announce it appropriately, and there will be several.”

He added that the board will announce the dates of the “maybe three or four” public forums in advance and hold them “in an appropriate place where we can get a good number of citizens to come and hear” like the Fort Lee Community Center.

“During the prior referendums, people said, ‘We would approve improvements and repair,’” Levine said. “That’s just what we’re anticipating doing, so we hope this time that the stakeholders, the community, will approve that … as you see, there’s no new buildings in there.”

Acknowledging criticism to the contrary on the part of some, Levine said the Fort Lee Mayor and Council have been supportive of the school district.

“The mayor is informed about our schools; he cares deeply, and so do the council members,” Levine said. “They’ve been nothing but supportive. I really couldn’t ask them to do any more than they’ve done. Anything we’ve ever asked [the mayor], he’s trying to help us. He understands, as do the council people I’ve dealt with, that strong schools make a strong community.”

What Levine is going to ask the Mayor and Council to do is take a tour of school facilities “just to see for themselves,”—something he said he’s in the process of organizing.

“I just want to show it to them,” Levine said, adding that he makes the same offer to “any citizen, especially the ones who are doubtful about what we’re trying to do, because people should understand what the real situation is—even during school hours so people can get a sense of how overcrowded the schools are.”

The Fort Lee Board of Education will hold a special election on the one-question referendum on Jan. 24, 2012, the last date available to secure state grant funding, according to school officials.

Patch will take a closer look at what some described as an eventful BOE meeting in a subsequent article or articles.

David Sarnoff contributed to this report.