Education
center to open in January
Students will receive instruction
at local armory and Pohatcong school until then.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 • By PRECIOUS PETTY •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- The Early Childhood
Center will be complete in November and ready to accommodate
students when they return from winter break in January,
Phillipsburg School District officials announced Monday
night.
The $18.7 million project is five weeks
behind schedule, but Superintendent Gordon Pethick said
construction will wrap up Nov 15. It will take the district
three to four weeks to move furniture and equipment into the
building at 459 Center St., he said.
As planned, Early Childhood Program
students will begin their school year Sept. 6 at the Army
National Guard Armory on Heckman Street and Pohatcong school
on Route 519, Pethick said.
The district is leasing space for the
program from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31. at the armory for
$16,230 and at the school for $20,600, officials said. The
Board of Education approved both expenditures Monday
night.
Board member Paul Rummerfield suggested
the district organize student field trips to the new center
before January. He said the field trips will ease the
transition for preschool and kindergarten students who by
that time will have only just acclimated themselves to the
armory or Pohatcong school.
Pethick said the district has a
transition committee in place to make the switch as smooth
as possible.
In other district business, the board
ratified a labor agreement with the Phillipsburg Education
Association that will give the district's roughly 50
custodial and maintenance workers a 4.08 percent average
annual salary increase over three years.
Officials also discussed purchasing the
armory from the New Jersey Department of Military Veterans
Affairs. In addition to the Early Childhood Program, the
armory houses the district's School Based Youth Services
Program. Board members Monday approved an agreement through
Dec. 31 to lease space for that program for
$11,235.
Business administrator Bill Poch said he
plans to arrange a meeting between Veterans Affairs, town of
Phillipsburg and district officials to discuss a possible
sale. The site is appraised at about $800,000, he
said.
Officials announced that the district
public relations committee will meet 7 p.m. Thursday at the
Board of Education Center on Marshall Street to discuss ways
to keep the new Phillipsburg High School project moving
forward. The meeting is open to the public.
The school district learned in July that
the state didn't set aside promised money for the $90
million high school project and hundreds of other Abbott
district projects statewide.
Also Monday, the board hired Tami
Montilone as REACH site coordinator for the School Based
Youth Services Program. Her annual salary will be
$40,000.
REACH -- an acronym for Recreation,
Education, Aspiration, Community and Health -- is a daily
enrichment program held year-round for middle school
students.
Reporter Precious Petty can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at ppetty@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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