Dear Cooper Families,
Here is an important note from the Cherry Hill Zone PTA. Zone PTA is comprised of PTA Presidents/representatives from all schools in the Cherry Hill Public School District.
Middle School Redistricting
- Note: The Rosa Middle School lottery will be ending this year. This was already voted upon. What remains to be decided is what Rosa will become. Rosa could be a neighborhood school, a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade school, a 6-7 grade school, or a 7-8th grade school. There are several options that will be discussed at the next Board of Education Meeting. Please see the following link and watch for about 10-11 minutes to understand what was discussed on 10/12/21.
- Link should be time-stamped to the 10/12/21 BOE Middle School re-districting discussion. https://youtu.be/Kzv80PXQmI0?
t=5126. However, if it is not it should be 10/12/21 meeting time stamp 1:25:29 to 1:36:35. The conversation is transcribed in the video so you can read as well if you are in a noisy environment.
- This impacts current 5th and 6th grade students. It impacts every single elementary school student.
- The next Board of Education Meeting is Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 6:30pm.
Bond Referendum Town Hall Meetings
- Monday November 22, 7:00-8:30pm at West HS (today)
- Wednesday December 15, 7:00-8:30pm at East HS
All Improvement presentations can be found at https://www.chclc.org/domain/
The bond has NOT been formed yet...the presentations show what renovations / construction are needed at each individual school...essentially a wish list. It is critical families and community members provide any input they have NOW prior to the bond being submitted to the State in January 2022.
Please remind your fellow parents of children in our school district.
Why is it important to attend a Town Hall meeting and provide input?
- The District's process has been different this time than in the 2018 referendum. When the presentations took place in 2017/18, the bond plan had already been submitted. In 2021, the District and BOE are asking for community input PRIOR to forming and submitting the bond.
- The last bond was in 1998. At that time there was about $110M of necessary work. The bond was $52M, so $56M of work that was needed is 1998 still exists 23 years later. Our schools are 23 years older and now $396M of work is necessary.
- New Jersey helps fund school projects ONLY via Debt Service Aid.We must incur debt or borrow money in order to get money from the State. The state of NJ will fund at least 40% of the eligible costs of the money we borrow for improvements.
- New construction is penalized. The cost of new construction varies from region to region: between $350/square foot and $400/square foot. The State only pays a maximum of 40% of “eligible costs” based on $143/square foot new construction formula.
- "My children will not benefit from the bond" - in some cases true. If the bond is approved in September 2022, the reality is the projects have to go out for bid so earliest work will begin on any projects is Spring 2023. However, the bond benefits any homeowner as property values are tied into the quality of the Education of this School District, which requires MAINTAINING the facilities.
Since the majority of students will attend one of the high schools, let's look at an example of some proposed projects:
- Turf lights for East. Both HS have turf fields but only West has turf light, stadium seating, and a broadcast booth. Since East does not have turf lights, the football team cannot play night games on their home field. The field hockey team plays varsity game which is followed by the JV game. The games should be 15-minute quarters. By end of September, the JV game becomes 15-min halves. By mid-October, the JV games becomes 10-min halves. Aside from use by East Athletics, a turf field could be renting to athletic organizations when not being use it would provide a revenue stream.
- West has 2 Gymnasium that require Finishes, Bleachers, HVAC, Lighting, and Flooring, etc. With these upgrades, they could also be a revenue stream.
- As a result of the West tour, it was brought to the architect's attention that there is a hallway at West which narrows as you travel down the hallway and creates what the students call the "bottleneck". The architect is now considering plans on how to make changes to correct the "bottleneck".
