Lawrence referendum vote on April 1

Lawrence School District residents could go to one of four polling places to vote on April 1 on two propositions that involve money from the sale of the Number Six School and planned renovations to the high school and middle school.
Proposition No. 1 on the ballot asks residents for permission to use $5 million of the expected $8.5 million from the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach’s purchase of the Numbers Six School in Woodmere for the construction and planned improvements.
If passed, Proposition No. 2 would allow the Board of Education to establish a capital reserve fund to fund the building project for at least one year, but it would continue for its specific purpose until closed out, according to state education law, or until the money is used up.
“This plan benefits the students, the district and the taxpayer,” said Lawrence Superintendent Gary Schall.
Should the referendums fail, they would be presented again on ballot for the budget and BOE trustees in May. Contingency plans would be made due to the delayed timeline, Schall said.

The renovations are tied to the district’s implementation of a restructuring plan in September that includes creating two separate schools in what is now the middle school. The lower school — third, fourth and fifth grades — will be the Lawrence Elementary School at Broadway Campus. The upper school — sixth, seventh and eighth grades — will be now be called Lawrence Middle School at Broadway Campus.
Also part of the realignment is the closing of the Number Five School that would be leased to generate revenue for the district. Depending on grade level, students from that school would be shifted to the Lawrence Primary School (formerly the Number Two School), which will have first- and second-graders or the lower school. The Number Four School will only have pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students be named the Lawrence Early Childhood Center at Number Four School.
“It is the fiscally prudent way to bridge the funds from the sale of the Number Six School,” said Board President Murray Forman said about the referendums.
Residents can vote on that Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Number Two School at 1 Donahue Ave. in Inwood; Lawrence Middle School at 195 Broadway in Lawrence; Lawrence High School at 2 Reilly Road in Cedarhurst and Atlantic Beach Village Hall at 65 The Plaza.