Moorestown’s interim school superintendent Joe Bollendorf held a second information session regarding a March 2025 bond referendum on Aug. 29.
He addressed the unsuccessful bond referendum in 2019.
“… In my opinion, looking back at that plan, it wasn’t adequate because that plan could build an addition at the middle school, moving sixth grade to the middle school, and moving third grade to the UES (Upper Elementary School),” he said. “And I know that met with tremendous resistance.”
Some of the same building needs still exist from that time since there’s no way to address most large-scale improvements through the regular budget, Bollendorf said.
“This plan is essentially the same, but I want to lay some things out there that will help you best understand…,” he said. “The fact that we have a building that has fourth, fifth and sixth grade in it is a problem by itself.
“We’re running two specific schedules – a middle school schedule, where bells are constantly ringing in that building, kids are constantly changing, and we’re also trying to provide an elementary school environment for our fourth and fifth graders in the same building. It’s not appropriate.
“Sixth graders belong in a middle school,” Bollendorf said. “Sixth graders should have the opportunity for extracurricular activities that are offered in the middle school that aren’t offered for them in the UES. That’s where they belong. They need to be the new fish in the new pond in a middle school model. With their abilities and their thought processes that’s a better environment for those children, but it’s also about providing opportunity.”
The school district houses fourth through sixth grades at UES, which means trying to maintain an elementary school environment for fourth- and fifth-grade students and a middle school schedule for sixth grade.
The opportunity to address space issues through a bond referendum would create a more optimal curricular experience across the district. The most viable, cost-effective option is to build an addition at the middle school. According to the Referendum tab on www.mtps.com, that would mean: following best practice by educating sixth-grade students at the middle school, reimagining UES as a pure elementary school for third, fourth and fifth grades, and freeing up space at Baker, Roberts and South Valley to open the possibility of full-day, tuition-free kindergarten and ensure reasonable class sizes.
“This proposal, what’s been sent to the state, is requiring a much larger addition at the middle school, two stories high and a brand new, full size, gym, which would also offer opportunity to the community, that will house 300-plus kids,” Bollendorf said. “It’ll be 13 classrooms – 11 classrooms and two science labs, plus smaller instructional places…
“In a teaming model it’s also critically important that sixth graders are self-housed in their wing, that eighth graders are in their area and seventh graders are in their area, as a teaming model and working with those grade levels, and that’s the sense of what this will do.”
That’ll create the space necessary to move third grade to the UES and why is that happening?
“Because it is those classrooms that those third graders are occupying – about four in each building – that will give us the space necessary at the elementary level to reduce class size, add full-day kindergarten and hopefully it also provides an additional classroom space for an expansion, a small expansion nonetheless, of preschool education,” Bollendorf said. “Not part of the preschool expansion grant, but right out the jump an opportunity for maybe more kids to have an opportunity to come to our school for preschool education.”
A bond referendum is an opportunity to receive state funding toward building needs that support instruction. Upgrades under consideration include expanded and flexible learning spaces for students; safety and security enhancements; improvements to athletic areas; parking and traffic flow; drainage improvements; energy-efficient HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and lighting; improvements to outdoor play spaces to enhance accessibility, functionality and security; and addressing aging infrastructure – roofs, HVAC/boilers, building exteriors, electrical.
When repairs and other projects are included in the annual budget, local taxes cover the entire cost,” Bollendorf said. Through a bond referendum, the state pays for a percentage of the projects, reducing the amount needed from taxpayers. The state will review the district’s proposal before notifying the school board of the amount of aid that they would receive with voter approval. That information will be shared online once it is available.
“This is something that we, as a community, need to come together on,” Bollendorf said. “At the end of the day, this is for the community. This is for the people of Moorestown… I think there’s a tremendous community benefit for everybody in examining and looking at, how do we maintain our schools and keep them to be some of the best in the state of New Jersey?”
Leading up to the referendum, the Moorestown board of education will inform and engage the community through an expanded website, social media, printed materials, outreach events and more.
