Matawan Ave. school opens -- at last

Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/21/04

By BOB JORDAN
FREEHOLD BUREAU

ABERDEEN -- The Labor Day fire that destroyed roofing at Matawan Avenue Middle School meant delaying the first day of school. That day arrived yesterday, ending two extra weeks of summer vacation for the school's nearly 1,000 students.

"It was fun to have more vacation," said Michael Smith, a sixth-grader.

But Michael's mother, Juanita Jeffries, and other parents said it wasn't fun juggling their work schedules with the needs of their children.

"It's been stressful," Jeffries said.

The school opened to split sessions for the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders yesterday.

Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District Superintendent Bruce Quinn said the administration is pushing to have the school open for full sessions by Oct. 4, "but the construction and cleanup people are telling me that Oct. 11 might be more realistic."

The half-days are helpful to Bonnie Krause, who said she had been adding an extra 40 minutes each way on her work commute in order to accommodate the lack of a school schedule for her son, Nick, a sixth-grader.

"Nick's been lucky because I've been taking him to his aunt's pet grooming shop every day on Staten Island," Krause said before school started yesterday. "He wants to go to school, but he's a little apprehensive because of the changes. For me, I feel good because I think it's going to be fine and that they'll open for full days in a couple of weeks. The school administrative has communicated well and is handing things well."

But Jeffries said: "I think it's going to be chaotic, maybe until the end of next month. It's going to take a while. Even before the fire, you could see some problems from construction delays at the school. There were mounds of dirt they expected kids to walk through."

The Sept. 6 fire, which law enforcement officials have called suspicious, destroyed more than 7,000 square feet of roofing.

Damage from fire, smoke and water at the school is estimated at more than $500,000, Quinn said, and could reach between $750,000 and $1 million. All of the damage will be paid for by insurance, minus a $5,000 deductible, Quinn said.

The district's six other schools have not been affected by the delayed opening at the middle school, Quinn said.

Quinn said the district's schools were closed two days last week for a holiday, and middle school students have missed five scheduled days of school. Some of those days may be made up "on the single holidays" such as Columbus Day, Veterans Day, King Day and Presidents Day, Quinn said.

A revised calendar -- with a proposed program to have in-school celebrations and studies of those holidays -- needs to be considered by the Board of Education, Quinn said. There are also four snow days included in the current calendar that can be used for makeup days, he said.

The current school calendar calls for a June 27 ending of the academic year for students, Quinn said.

Because not all the damaged school's rooms are ready for instruction purposes, middle school students are attending class on a staggered schedule. Seventh- and eighth-graders attend from 8:19 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. Sixth-graders attend from 12:39 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.

To help the parents in need of child care during the half-days, the Matawan Council has provided the use of the Matawan community center on Broad Street, where district staff members and volunteers are running a latch-key program. Bob Jordan: (732) 308-7751