S. Orange-Maplewood School Board Approves $140M Facilities Plan

MAPLEWOOD, NJ - The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education voted Monday to approve Superintendent Thomas Ficarra's recommendations for a Long Range Facilities Plan to the tune of around $140 million dollars.

It took nearly four hours, but the motion passed unanimously.

According to officials, part of the plan includes expansion to meet growing enrollment and to replace the classrooms which will be lost when the decaying portables are removed from the elementary schools.

The plan includes:

• $93.1M in Health and Safety Renovations
• $47.8M for Expansion, with a K-5/6-8/9-12 configuration

The newest numbers with enrollment projections have raised the estimated cost of expansion to $47.8 million dollars. This is what Ficarra referred to as the "absolute floor" in terms of capital improvement.

Based on the average home values, a Maplewood family with an average home worth $497,500 would pay $511 for the $140 million dollar project. In South Orange where the average home is estimated at $581,000 the average home will pay $593.

After soliciting input from the community and staff Ficarra’s final recommendations to the Board were presented at the Oct. 15 meeting, and discussed at length at a special session on Nov. 7.

According to Ficarra, if the these repairs aren't done through a bond request, they will have to be done on an emergent basis and the district will pay better than top dollar.

"We can make these repairs little by little and spend more than we should or we can get do it all at once and get ahead of it," Ficarra said. "We can can ahead by identifying our capital issues in advance."

Ficarra said that when putting together the proposal they worked hard to reduce the cost from the initial estimate of $217 million.

"Because we know that this district is highly taxed we went from the original proposal of $217 million and we brought it down to $93.1 million," Ficarra said.

Ficarra said they shaved down half the cost by limiting the scope of the renovations to essentials. The allocation for the 93.1 million is as follows:

• Security $ 5.3 M
• Life Safety $ 15.1 M
• Roofing $ 5.6 M
• Windows $ 1.1 M
• Interiors $ 14.3 M
• ADA access $ 4.4 M
• Site $ 1.5 M
• Electrical $ 3.8 M
• Heating & Ventilation $ 38.3 M
• Plumbing $410k
• Other $85k
• Abatement $3.2M
• TOTAL: $93.1 M

Additional options suggested by community members during feedback:

• $3.6M to Expand Pre-School
• $15.2M to Add A/C to Schools
• $1.2M to Replace Turf at Underhill Field
• $600K on Observatory/Planetorium
• $2.4M to Reinforce Slate Roofs for Solar Panel Installation
• $20.6M to Reinforce Flat Roofs for Solar Panel Installation

In addition to Ficarra’s recommendations for $93.1 million in health and safety renovations and $47.8 million for K-5/6-8/9-12 facility expansion, the Board voted on the options community members suggested during feedback at Monday’s meeting.

Ficarra stressed that while they will have an architect work up plans for the other suggestions, they will not be decided upon until later.

The vote authorized the architect to submit the projects to the Board of School Estimate for review and approval. The school board will make a decision to request funding for these projects after the Board of School Estimate reviews the project.

"I'm so proud of the work we have done," Board President Elizabeth Baker said, referring to the long term facilities plan as historic.

The plan will move forward to a scheduled meeting with the Board of School Estimate on Dec. 6.

The full agenda of the meeting is available here and those who could not attend can watch the archived livestream.

(Photo courtesy of SOMATV)

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