Multipurpose Facility Development, Full-Day Kindergarten Among Board of Ed’s Goals

The Mahwah Board of Education officially has goals outlined for the 2013-14 school year, and they include moving forward on a “multipurpose facility” planned for the high school campus.

The board Wednesday night approved its goal list, which includes four items, to:

• Work in conjunction with the school’s architect in order to initiate the planning, design work, and governmental submissions for a multipurpose facility which must be completed prior to going out to bid about June 2014
• Explore, investigate, and analyze the possibility of instituting full-day Kindergarten for the 2014-15 school year
• Increase the level of communication with the community through newsletters, website postings, and committee reports
• Work in conjunction with the Mahwah Education Association to successfully advance and conclude a successor agreement prior to June 30, 2014

The goals were approved amidst a group of about 30 parents questioning the need for the 26,000 square foot facility, which was proposed over the summer and approved in October.

Resident Susan Kolkka asked why the board did not conduct a town-wide vote about the complex, as it did when Lenape Meadows School was built.

Board members replied that a vote was not required because the money for this project, an estimated $3.8 million, is coming from the district’s capital reserve fund.

“It’s still taxpayer money whether it sits in a bank account for five years or [used right away],” Kolkka said.

Other residents at the meeting asked about how the facility fits into the district's longterm goals, and whether or not it would consider building an academic center instead.

In terms of the other three goals, district officials said they are already working on fulfilling them.

According to Superintendent Lauren Schoen, conversations on the feasibility of adding full-day Kindergarten are underway, and residents can expect a public presentation on the impacts of expanding from the current half-day program on Dec. 18.

The district is also increasing the number of times each year it distributes newsletter updates, she said, with the next edition scheduled to be emailed to parents Friday.