Keeping
up the fight for new school
Parents, officials discuss ways
to convince state to restore funds for new P'burg High.
Friday, August 26, 2005 • By SARAH CASSI •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBRUG -- Parents and school
officials brainstormed Thursday night about possible actions
to help restore the lost funding for the proposed $88
million Phillipsburg High School.
Educating parents and the community about
Abbott designations along with educating legislators about
the conditions at Phillipsburg High School were two
prominent suggestions.
"It's a two-step process; educate then
advocate, "said Diane Lein, of Stewartsville. "I see a lot
of dissention because there is a lack of
education."
The Phillipsburg School District is one
of 31 Abbott school districts -- poor districts named after
court decisions ordering equitable per-pupil financing --
and therefore expected the New Jersey Schools Construction
Corp. to pay for a new high school.
Phillipsburg and other Abbott districts
were left in the lurch when the SCC recently revealed it
only had enough of a $6 billion fund to finance 59 of an
anticipated 350 projects. Despite Phillipsburg's status as
an Abbott district, the state agency announced July 27 it
decided against plans to pay for the $88 million high school
with the last $1.4 billion of the special fund.
Phillipsburg School Board Member Bernard
E. Bortzman Jr. suggested creating a two-page fact sheet to
be distributed to the districts through their respective
parent organizations.
A letter writing campaign received strong
support, as did attending SCC meetings and getting students
involved.
"If it helps to send the kids to court
with the lawyers, let's do it," Lein said.
Some at the meeting questioned if
Phillipsburg should join with other school districts in
petitioning the New Jersey Supreme Court, but Superintendent
Gordon Pethick dismissed the idea of fighting for the lost
funding alone.
"We have to fight as long as we have to
fight with whatever we have to fight with until the end,"
Pethick said. "I don't know if we should go into taking
money away from another Abbott district."
Phillipsburg School Board President Rod
Pianelli said more school districts equaled lesser court
costs for the districts involved.
"There's strength in numbers when we get
that many districts together," Pianelli said.
Pethick said the next step will be
creating a small subcommittee of five to seven people to
whittle down the action plan and create a timeline with
responsibilities. With the school year set to begin in less
than two weeks, Pethick said a next meeting would probably
be scheduled within a month.
The parent organizations from affected
districts are already organizing independently.
Lee Rozycki, president of the Lopatcong
PTA, began organizing area parents into a coalition to help
the Phillipsburg school board's efforts. Rozycki said she is
communicating with parents in Greenwich and Pohatcong
townships, Alpha and Bloomsbury, and hopes the coalition
will meet before school starts.
While only 27 people attended the
Thursday night meeting, Rozycki said the start of school
should prompt more parents to become involved, specifically
parents of high school freshmen.
"I guess, in a way, let's take advantage
of that. Let's tap into their emotions to get the message
out," she said.
While meeting attendees were optimistic,
the potential loss of Phillipsburg's Abbott status and
funding still looms before the district. Abbott money
accounted for 36.4 percent of Phillipsburg's 2003-04 net
budget.
Pethick said he would discuss the
possibility of his district losing its Abbott status at a
meeting with superintendents from around the state this
morning in Trenton.
Pethick said there is "no doubt in my
heart we will be victorious" in the fight for the new high
school.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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