No excuse for lack of word on land swap

It’s been nearly two years since the Monroe Township Board of Education passed a referendum to build a new high school, which it hopes will be located in a section of Thompson Park. But after all this time, the project still remains in question due to the lack of a response to its pre-application with the state Green Acres program.

Say what you will about the proposal — people tend to love it or hate it — but anyone who cares about the costs of construction and the need to provide a quality education would be disenchanted with the progress made on this proposal. Nobody would have wanted a quick or hasty decision on such a delicate matter, but the state has had plenty of time to at least offer a preliminary answer on the Thompson Park land swap that would enable the project to go forward.

Reports that the state is now asking Middlesex County officials to schedule a public hearing on the matter show some progress, but it is not clear why something of that nature could not have been handled long ago.

The need for a new high school is pressing, as new housing developments have the school system bursting at the seams — just take a look at the dozens of classroom trailers parked outside the schools. In fact, this is a need that was established several years ago. The Board of Education first sought approval for the new high school in an unsuccessful September 2002 referendum. Though officials worked hard to promote the new facility and celebrated its approval in a December 2003 referendum, they probably never imagined that by late 2005 there would be little to no progress in making their plan a reality.

State Green Acres officials have been unable to even commit to a time frame for a decision on the issue. Last January, after a period in which state and township officials worked to correct deficiencies in the land swap application, a Green Acres spokesman told the Sentinel that the agency could be expected to render a decision by the end of that month. Come August, Superintendent of Schools Ralph Ferrie publicly urged the state to make a ruling. Ferrie noted that with each passing year, the cost of building materials and oil continues to escalate, and the district has also taken a multimillion-dollar hit to pay for its fleet of classroom trailers.

While school officials remain optimistic about their chances of gaining state approval, their frustrations with the process are justified. Given the needs and costs involved with the new school, the state’s procedures should have been expedited in order to allow Monroe school officials to better prepare for the outcome.