Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • February 22, 2012 Franklin Lakes Superintendent to disband efficiency committee by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Schools Superintendent Frank Romano has notified the elementary school community that he intends to recommend to the board of education that the volunteer Efficiency Study Committee he formed a year ago be disbanded. Romano created the committee of 20 persons to represent parents, general community members, teachers, administrators, and school trustees in an effort to study the issues and find solutions that would assure the district’s ability to sustain and improve its quality of education even as enrollment declines. “The committee will meet one more time so that all members can receive the feedback provided at the last board meeting,” Romano advised in a recent email to the school community. “After that meeting it will disband.” Romano explained his decision, saying, “There is a force that seems to be tearing through Franklin Lakes, simply because of an inquiry and a potential recommendation about the structure of our school buildings.” He said the reaction to the committee’s presentation of its findings at the Jan. 30 information forum have led to an atmosphere of doubt, miscommunication, and anxiety. Therefore, he advised that at the Feb. 28 board meeting he will recommend that the board pass a resolution to accept the committee’s work and consider it a body of work that could be used as information at a time when the district has no choice but to consider a change in the structure of the elementary schools. The resolution will guarantee that no action to restructure schools will be taken until after the next school election, and not before the 2013-14 school year, and that prior to doing anything in the way of restructuring the schools the board will engage in further feasibility and implementation work. Romano assured the community that the district would probably be able to provide students with the same level of services for the next few years. He stated that there is no doubt that the time will come when the district will have to consider longer-term solutions for the realities of limited resources, combined with imbalance, inconsistency, and/or enrollment shifts. “However, that time cannot be now,” Romano stated. During last month’s forum, the yearlong study of the declining enrollment was reviewed. Romano pointed out that the district had 932 children in grades K-5 in 2005, but today there are 804 children in K-5, with 286 at Woodside Avenue School, 284 at Colonial Road School, and 234 at High Mountain Road School. This decline translates into fewer classroom sections at all three schools. He also advised that this year’s district-wide kindergarten population of 94 students is projected to be 116 children by the time they are in the fifth grade. The current fifth grade class includes 156 students. According to Romano, the drop in enrollment and the enrollment differences between buildings result in operational inefficiencies in human resources, program and instruction, class size, execution of professional development, and an increased chance of grade-to-grade and building-tobuilding teacher transfers. A straw poll of 18 members of the committee indicated that 14 favor a change in the structure of the elementary school buildings. That change, if ultimately recommended by the committee and adopted by the board of education, would change the structure of the three elementary schools in the district from three K-5 schools to two K-3 schools and one school with grades four and five. Numerous questions about the potential change in school structure were asked at the forum, indicating that many parents are concerned about the impact of such a change on the children’s school schedules and the logistics of getting their children to different schools. They also voiced the concern that there is no conclusive data on the comparison of the different school configurations and their effect on student achievement. Some who objected to the change asserted in e-mail and Twitter messages that the board changed its election date to November to permit those board members whose terms were expiring in April to vote on the restructuring of the schools. After the forum, rumors circulated that some parents were going to challenge the incumbents in November because of their disagreement with the potential school structure change. Swings in enrollment in the local school district have been an issue in the past. In 1996, the board of education sold Colonial Road School to the borough due to declining enrollment. In 2004, when enrollment increased, the board repurchased the school in preparation for reopening a third elementary school and redistricting. In 2008, the board of education acknowledged declining enrollment again and asked the administration to investigate that issue. In 2009, the board of education’s Operations Committee reviewed data on enrollment within each K-5 school’s boundary and the discussion about redrawing district lines was introduced by the administration as a possible solution to even out enrollment. Other options were also introduced, including one that would have configured buildings by grades. Those options were explored during 2009-10 school year and the board of education planned to make a decision in the spring of 2010. However, in the winter of 2010, the board decided it needed more information and postponed its decision. In summer 2010, the district’s previous superintendent retired and Romano was hired. The board asked him to continue gathering data on district enrollment patterns and the effect of declining enrollment on district operations, academic best practices, and demographics. He then formed the Efficiency Study Committee in January 2011.