Great Meadows School District looking for ways to alleviate overcrowding

Monday, October 05, 2009
By STEPHEN J. NOVAK
The Express-Times

INDEPENDENCE TWP. | The Great Meadows Regional School District is asking parents for ideas on how to solve overcrowding at the Central School.

The district's middle school is near to 150 percent capacity, according to an announcement on the district's Web site.

Also on the site is a survey to gauge public opinion on solutions as well as a way for interested residents to sign up for a focus group, where more suggestions could arise.

"We're sort of bursting at the seams here at Central," said interim Superintendent Timothy Frederiks. "Every option will be considered by the board, every suggestion."

Overcrowding has been a concern for years, Frederiks said, but it has reached a point where the board is considering options that could be in place by the start of next school year.

Among the options are moving some grade levels to the other two schools in the district or possibly redistricting -- not making the two elementary schools individually exclusive to Independence and Liberty townships, the two municipalities that make up the district, Frederiks said.

A new building or additions to the existing schools are possible options, but Frederiks said the school board is more likely to consider simpler solutions.

The online survey went up Sept. 25 and will be taken down from the site Friday, the superintendent said.

The board hopes to have some plan developed before the Christmas season to help prepare the budget, Frederiks said.

"The board has not committed to any plan and wants to analyze all possible solutions," he said.