School District Referendum Defeated by 194 Votes

For the second time in three months, Galloway Township residents defeated a referendum concerning improvements to township schools.

Unofficial results of Tuesday's referendum show voters defeated the proposal 1,314-1,120. Voter turnout was up to 2,434 from the 1,639 that turned out to vote on Dec. 13, when the referendum was defeated by eight votes.

Tuesday’s vote dealt with a $6.9 million plan to replace the roofs at , and elementary schools, fire alarms at Smithville, Roland Rogers and , and to improve the drainage system and parking lot at Arthur Rann.

Unofficial numbers show the proposal was passed for sending districts that voted at Arthur Rann and Pomona schools. At Arthur Rann, where Districts 3, 6 and 15 voted, the referendum passed by a vote of 272-262, and at Pomona, where Districts 5, 7 and 16 went to the polls it passed 144-131.

However, at Germania Firehouse, where Districts 2, 4 and 13 voted, it was defeated 242-172; at the Roland Rogers School, which featured Districts 10, 11, 12 and 17 voted, it fell 230-215; and at the Smithville School, where Districts 1, 8, 9 and 14 had their voices heard, it was defeated 441-314.

"The long-term ramifications of the voters not passing this is that it could cost the taxpayers more in the long run," Galloway Board of Education President Ernest Huggard said, adding he wasn't sure what the next step would be. " ... It could be another referendum; it could be a lease purchase; we could go to the commissioner of education. We have to study all our options."

"We're extremely disappointed," Superintendent of Schools Annette Giaquinto said. "With our wonderful group of volunteers, we tried to educate the public so they went in and knew what the vote was all about. We succeeded in getting more voters out. Unfortunately, there were more no votes than yes votes."

The volunteers Giaquinto referenced were members of the Superintendent's Advisory Team, which was assembled after the same proposal was defeated in December, but which Giaquinto said will continue to discuss other school issues well into the future.

"I feel the Advisory Team was a success because we engaged parents in a different way and we got citizens who were not parents engaged in the process," Giaquinto said. "We got the community more active and more involved."

The team met three teams since it was formed, and volunteers did their part to help spread the word. The district even held a town hall style meeting at the

Huggard compared this situation with that of the current middle school. The proposal to construct was defeated three times, but a fourth referendum was passed after a committee called "Middle School Now," was formed to get the word out on that vote.

Huggard and Giaquinto both said the board of education had nothing to do with the formation of that committee, although Huggard was a member of that committee before he was ever on school board.

"At that time, Arthur Rann was being used as the middle school, but parents began to see that the hallways were too crowded," Huggard said. "They worked with the PTAs and the Ed Foundation. It was a fundamental grassroots movement."

While parents saw that Arthur Rann was becoming too crowded and were motivated to action, he said he hopes the residents don't have to see the negative impact of not passing the current projects before the voters pass a referendum.

"I hope we can convince the public to spend their dollars the best way they can," Huggard said. "We maintain that this is a health and safety issue."