District
to present case to lawmakers
Officials are seeking money to
finish new Phillipsburg High School.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 • By SARAH CASSI •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- School district officials
will address a joint committee of the state Senate and
General Assembly this Monday about funding for the proposed
new $88 million high school in Lopatcong
Township.
Superintendent Gordon Pethick told the
board of education about the appearance during its Monday
night meeting.
Pethick said he will be joined by
Assistant Superintendent Jackie Attinello, school board
President Rod Pianelli, and Jon Gregory, a student at
Phillipsburg High School and president of the New Jersey
Association of Student Councils.
"We're looking forward to having that
opportunity We're still going through the process of
attempting to keep this issue alive," Pethick
said.
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 the new high school.
Phillipsburg and other Abbott districts
were left in the lurch when the SCC recently revealed it had
only enough left 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 high school with the
last $1.4 billion of the special fund.
Earlier this month SCC officials said the
high school's $8 million preliminary site work, already
under way, will be funded by the state.
The preliminary site work includes the
construction of six athletic fields, parking lots and a
three-quarter-mile entrance drive from Belvidere Road. The
access road must be completed before the school can be
built.
Pethick said the access road currently
ends 89 feet from the highway; curbing the road and
completing it was scheduled for the school's second
construction phase, which is not presently
funded.
Pianelli said officials are working on a
solution to complete the road.
Pethick said the Save Our School
Committee, an ad-hoc committee comprised of more than 30
residents and school officials to address the SCC funding
dilemma, also continues to work toward an action
plan.
Pethick said the committee met last week
and is considering a letter-writing campaign, billboards,
and televising video footage of the trailers at Phillipsburg
High School.
A brochure about the history of Abbott
and the high school is also being considered.
Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by
e-mail at scassi@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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