By REBECCA SHALOMOFF
Efforts to finalize a proposed $85 million bond to renovate schools and facilities in the Lawrence district were hampered when little more than a handful of residents turned out on Jan. 11 for the first public forum to discuss the issue.
Despite his disappointment, Superintendent Paul Kelleher held out hope that subsequent meetings between the public and the district's building committee will be better attended because of greater publicity. Only seven names appeared on the sign-in sheet at the first session.
The district mailed out to all residents an announcement of forums planned for 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 and Thursday, Jan. 25 in Cafeteria A of the Lawrence Middle School, 195 Broadway. The district since has added a session on Thursday, Feb. 1, too. The school board will respond to the building committee's proposal on Feb. 6 and is expected to recommend a bond referendum to fund many of the projects. Public voting would then take place in March.
The public forums provide an opportunity for people to hear details of the building committee's preliminary plan and to offer feedback. The committee is working to complete its Master Plan, including structural and program upgrades at all district buildings and fields. The plan now includes roof replacements, refurbished fields, renovated administrative offices, classroom additions, new computer labs, bathrooms, gymnasiums and tennis courts, among many other additions and renovations.
"To our knowledge, every single program from pre-K to high school has been considered," said Robert Douglas, chairman of the building committee, which comprises a cross-section of volunteer residents, school officials and parents of students.
The cost of such an ambitious plan is estimated at $85 million, to be funded almost entirely from a district bond, with some help from state aid and the district's capital reserve and operation fund. An $85 million bond would cost the district's average homeowner around $285 per year, to be paid out over 15 to 20 years.
In a telephone interview, Douglas said the tax increase "fails to communicate the benefit that will be achieved long-term by making the necessary repairs now, and does not quantify the priceless value that will be achieved by improving the education experience for the children in the public schools and non-public schools as a result of the improvements."
To finalize the plan, Douglas said the building committee would benefit greatly from comments and suggestions from the community.
And those who attended the first public forum were also disheartened by the poor turnout.
The building committee "needs to hear from people no way connected to the process. Those are the people who are going to go out and vote," said Roberta Boyhan, a resident.
Bruce Scher has a daughter who graduated from the high school last year and a son in the Lawrence Middle School. He has been so pleased with the education his children have received that he jumped at the chance to help the schools and volunteered last year to serve on the building committee.
"To me, you've got to participate," he said. "Are you going to live in a vacuum?"
The bond is Lawrence Public Schools' second attempt in two years to put together a package to rehabilitate its facilities that the community would support. Last year, the school board was planning to put up a $40 million bond, which included a swimming pool at the middle school, but, fearing lack of community backing, withdrew the bond before sending it to a public vote.
An $85 million bond referendum was rejected by voters in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District in March 2000, forcing the district to pare its bond to $22.6 million, which then passed in June.
