Toms River Schools Set Info Sessions On Facilities, ESIP Plans

TOMS RIVER, NJ — If you've been wondering about the Toms River Regional School District's plans to address problems with the district's school buildings, now is your opportunity to find out.

Information sessions begin Tuesday and will be held at every school in the district to present information and allow residents and families to ask questions about the proposed Energy Savings Improvement Program and a proposed referendum.

The first sessions are set for Tuesday at Silver Bay Elementary School and at Toms River High School North. The Silver Bay meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Toms River North will be held from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., the district said. (See the full schedule at the bottom of this article.)

The proosed referendum and ESIP projects are the result of a districtwide community needs survey that was commissioned in 2013, the district said in a news release on the meetings. Among the issues cited was a need for significant facilities upgrades; that prompted a full facilities assessment, officials said.

The assessment of the 18 schools and five outbuildings resulted in an estimate of $160 million worth of necessary upgrades and improvements, the district said.

"The district has sought to meet its structural needs with the least impact to taxpayers," the news release said.

The Toms River School District is operating at $31 million under adequacy, according tothe Education Law Center, which tracks school funding and education issues. This is the cumulative amount of funding the district should have received but has not since 2010 to be fully funded under the state's formula, the center says. The Toms River schools spent $16,318 per pupil in the 2015-16 school year, (the most recent year in which actual spending figures are available from the NJ Department of Education) a figure that includes roughly $4,000 in costs such as, transportation, lease purchase of facilities and debt service. The budgetary per pupil cost, which excludes those and a few other items, was $12,567 in 2015-16, ranking the district 14th out of 103 in its grouping, which includes all districts with more than 3,501 students. The $16,318 is below the state average of $20,385.

The ESIP capital improvement project, designed by the team of Maser Consulting, DCO Energy and CDI, will allow the district to make upgrades worth $17.8 million that are paid for through the energy savings program.

The district is hoping that a fall 2018 bond referendum will help support the remainder of priority projects, the news release said. The information meetings at each of the schools aim to get feedback so the district can craft the best possible proposal, the release said.

“These Town Hall meetings represent a necessary next step and continuum of years-long, concerted efforts to undertake much-needed facilities improvements across the district, at minimal cost to taxpayers,” Superintendent David Healy said. He said the district's Band-Aid approach to fixing issues stemming from buildings and systems that are outdated and have "far exceeded their life expectancy" is straining both the staff and the district's resources.

"We are genuinely excited that, after years of planning and preparation, we’re getting down to the business of actually addressing these needs, which will drastically improve the educational experience for our students,” Healy said.

The meetings will be led by Healy, Business Administrator William Doering, and participating board members.

In addition to focusing on the needs of each individual school when it hosts its meeting, the needs of teh schools it is connected to will be discusssed as well, the district said.

For example, the meeting at South Toms River Elementary School on March 1 will highlight that school's structural needs, as well as those of Intermediate South and High School South, the district said.

Among the topics to be presented and discussed are plans to improve parking lots district-wide; school-specific upgrades such as secondary science labs, heating and ventilation systems, energy-efficient LED lighting, and restrooms; and efforts to improve playgrounds at the elementary level, with more accessibility for disabled students.

"Facilities improvements and upgrades have remained a primary school board goal, and we’ve been working over the course of months and years to thoughtfully develop a plan to improve our infrastructure in a way that’s economically feasible, efficient, and sustainable," said Russell K. Corby, school board president. "We’re looking forward to meeting with the public to discuss this plan, hear their input, and work together for the betterment of this district now and into the future."

More information about the ESIP plan is on the ESIP page of the district website. More information about the referendum and the district’s facilities improvement initiative can be found on the Referendum page of the district website.

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