By: Mayor John E. McCormac
New Avenel Street School #4/5
Plan calls to Strengthen School Security, Upgrade Network Technology
Every School in the District Benefits
The municipal administration takes very seriously our commitment to cooperating with the Woodbridge Township Board of Education and School District Administration to help provide the best facilities possible for our students – both in terms of our school buildings themselves as well as the outside athletic fields that are used by the students and also by the entire Woodbridge community.
We supported a $57 million referendum in 2017 that passed overwhelmingly and which provided funding for a brand new Ross Street School and complete overhauls of Woodbridge Middle School and St. Cecelia’s School, which became the home of Kennedy Park School 24 which then became the home for full day kindergarten for students whose home schools did not have enough classroom space. The 2017 Referendum will be paid for by downtown developments that will occur over the next several years and not by our taxpayers. Additionally, we passed $40 million in ordinances from 2013-2015 for turf fields (baseball, soccer and softball) in addition to tracks, tennis courts, gymnasium floors, playgrounds and much more – all of the community improvements will be paid by several warehouse projects in town and not by our general taxpayers.
Now, we are supporting a referendum for March of 2020 that will provide for a new Avenel St. School 4/5 and major additions to Schools 25 and 28. This will be paid for by a large warehouse development at the site of the former Woodbridge Developmental Center. The Township realized a profit on selling two parcels of land (one from the State of New Jersey and another from Conrail) and we will realize nearly $100 million in property tax revenue from the site and our taxpayers will likewise not have to pay for this tremendous investment.
Facts and figures get tossed around carelessly regarding the enrollment numbers for our school district and for the impact of residential development on those numbers. The capacity of our school district to accept additional children is misrepresented with frequent statements like “our schools are overcrowded” and “we cannot handle any more students.” Both of these statements (and many others) are simply not factual. On a historic basis, many years ago there were thousands more students in our schools with much less capacity than there is now. A referendum in 2003 provided significant additional classroom space and the 2017 referendum added capacity for another 222 students. It is important to note that additional space should not always mean additional students as class sizes have been admirably reduced over the years to improve the quality of education in Woodbridge. However, anyone who says that Woodbridge does not have the capacity in our schools for additional students is simply wrong.
The below chart reports that (excluding kindergarten) there are actually 88 less students in the current school year than in 2007-2006. Eliminating kindergarten from the analysis is fair because the addition of full-day kindergarten in 2019-2018 naturally increased the number of students to 278 five and six year olds. The overall enrollment increase of 248 students over 13 years was entirely due to the kindergarten increase of 278. Adding new residential development to the analysis shows that even with 58 new students from over 500 luxury apartment units there are still 30 less students (other than kindergarten) in our district than in 2007-2006. It is important to note that the capacity of our school system increased by 222 students with the 2017 referendum and it will increase by another 278 students with a successful 2020 referendum. That is over 500 additional students that can be absorbed in Woodbridge schools and it is completely impossible that the Woodbridge enrollment will increase by anywhere near that amount from the combination of all downtown developments. Simply put, the Board of Education has properly planned for growth in enrollment with investments in new schools and large additions to current schools.
COMPARISON OF ENROLLMENT NUMBERS FOR THE LAST 13 YEARS
2006-07 2019-20 Increase/Decrease
Kindergarten 766 1,044 278
All other grades 12,678 12,590 (88) (1)
Students from new projects 58
Total enrollment 13,444 13,692 248 (2)
(1) Total enrollment in all grades other than kindergarten is down 88 students from 13 years ago.
(2) An increase of 278 kindergarten students did not increase the total overall student count because of decreases in all other grade level enrollment.
No matter the issue or event, the Township Administration, the Woodbridge Township School Board and District Administration, educators, teachers, professional staff, parents, students and residents have a long tradition of standing together to promote the well-being of our students. Woodbridge Township students – at all grades and level of learning – stand tall when comparing their achievements to students throughout the state.
No district in the state can boast the number of advanced placement courses that Woodbridge offers. And, it’s a fact that many of our students are accepted to the most prestigious colleges and universities throughout the nation because of the quality of their education. In short, Woodbridge students, teachers, professional staff, and parents can be proud of their work and of their schools because the Township Administration and the School District have worked together to provide a robust education. Education is everyone’s business. We are proud to be able to work together to make our schools “the best they can be” – not only in appearance, but in the quality of education received by each and every student.
