CRESSKILL TRUSTEES URGE PASSAGE OF $7.5M BOND ISSUE

BLANCA A. NIEVES, Staff Writer
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
11-16-1995
CRESSKILL TRUSTEES URGE PASSAGE OF $7.5M BOND ISSUE
By BLANCA A. NIEVES, Staff Writer
Date: 11-16-1995, Thursday
Section: NEWS
Edition: All Bergen Editions -- 3 Star, 2 Star B, 1 Star Late, 1 Star Early

CRESSKILL -- The school board is asking voters to approve a $7.5 million bond
issue next month that would raise property taxes by an estimated $
162.80 a year for homes assessed at the borough average of $200,000.

School officials say that if the Dec. 12 referendum is passed, they
will upgrade the borough's three aging school buildings and place
computers in every classroom.

"The thrust behind this is to prepare the students to compete in
the 21st century, and we need the technology to do that," said
Superintendent Alfred DiDonato.

The proposal would create computer labs and multimedia centers. It
also would network the district internally and provide access to the
Internet and the World Wide Web.

In addition, it would create multipurpose rooms, pay for the wiring
and installation of computer hardware, and bring the schools in
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"We're hopeful it will pass," DiDonato said of the board's first
referendum in almost 20 years. "Cresskill residents have always put
education first."

If passed, the bond would be repaid over 20 years.

"People are concerned about taxes. Some fear they will be priced
out of town," said PTA President Michelle Gardiner.

"We've been trying to emphasize that a good school system will
enhance property values."

The lobbying effort for the referendum has involved the publication
of brochures and newsletters, telephone calls, and even cottage parties
for school board members to pitch the proposal.

"It's a grass-roots effort to get the word out," said Gardiner, who
hosted a cottage party at her home Tuesday.

So far, no organized opposition to the referendum has surfaced. A
public hearing is scheduled for the music room at Cresskill Junior
Senior High School on Nov. 27 at 8 p.m.

Supporters of the referendum also are emphasizing that Cresskill
should not wait until the school regionalization controversy involving
Tenafly, Englewood, and Englewood Cliffs is settled.

"Regardless of the outcome of the regionalization issue, the
Cresskill school system will still be in place," said DiDonato.

Cresskill residents have long feared that because they border
Tenafly they might be dragged into a solution to solve the bitter school
regionalization controversy involving Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, and
Tenafly.

Last year, the state Department of Education did include the
district as one of the 20 municipalities in the two regionalization
plans to desegregate Englewood's Dwight Morrow High School.

Cresskill, however, is listed among the 20 districts that would be
in a magnet school district.

The school board set up the Strategic Planning Committee -- composed
of teachers, administrators, parents, community volunteers, and borough
officials -- to study the district's needs in the face of rising
enrollments and aging facilities in 1989. The committee presented its
findings in 1993 and then hired consultants who estimated that
enrollment will grow 19 percent in the next nine years, from 1,107 this
fall to 1,323 in 2004.

Much of the enrollment increase can be attributed to families
moving into the former 118-acre Tammy Brook Country Club property, which
was developed into 100 single-family homes in 1990, and the proposed
development of the Quirk property.

Keywords: CRESSKILL. SCHOOL. BOND. COMPUTER. ACQUISITION. TAX

Copyright 1995 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.