Becton officials take issue with Carlstadt school board for refusal to hold referendum talk

An informational meeting to discuss the $49.2 million bond referendum for Becton Regional High School won't be held in Carlstadt as planned, because the local school board is withholding permission for it.

The action by the local Board of Education, which oversees the Carlstadt elementary and middle schools, comes weeks after the borough's mayor and council came out publicly against the referendum on upgrades. The regional high school receives students from Carlstadt, East Rutherford and Maywood.

Becton officials are protesting the action by the local school board and have sent out a letter denouncing the action and saying the in-person and remote meeting has been moved to the high school campus in East Rutherford. It will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting was intended to let Carlstadt residents ask questions about the March 12 referendum.

The main focus of Saturday's two-page, 1,172-word letter sent out by Becton officials was to criticize the nine-member Carlstadt grade school board for siding with its municipal officials in what they emphasized was supposed to be a nonpartisan process free of municipal government interference.

"Does the Carlstadt Board of Education not want to make widely available for its community this critical fact-based information about the referendum prior to the vote?" the letter reads. "In our view, the suppression of the availability of information to the community is as dangerous to the fundamental tenets of our democracy and a free-flowing public discourse as it is a disservice to those community members."

The letter is signed by School Superintendent Dario Sforza, Carlstadt-East Rutherford board President Steven Lahullier, Vice President Emily Landolfi and trustee Bruce Young, chairman of the board's referendum committee.

Carlstadt Board of Education President Leslie Molnar did not respond to a request to explain why the referendum hearing was not on the board's Feb. 12 facility use requests agenda.

Uncommon debate

The rare debate between traditionally separate agencies was touched off on Jan. 17 when the six-member Carlstadt Borough Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing the referendum because "the benefits for Carlstadt residents are far outweighed by the financial burden to the Borough's residents."

Carlstadt Mayor Robert Zimmermann, a teacher in the Carlstadt school district, followed up with a Jan. 22 letter to Sforza. In the letter, he said borough officials were left with the impression after a Dec. 4 meeting that "we would not be moving forward with the referendum until our concerns were addressed. As of this date, they have not been."

Neither Zimmermann nor the council has issued a statement since then clarifying what the objections are.

East Rutherford Mayor Jeffrey Lahullier, the uncle of regional board President Steven Lahullier, stopped short of endorsement in his letter to residents, asking them only to "listen to the facts and figures, not rumors or inflamed voices, before casting your vote."

Neither Zimmermann nor Maywood Mayor Richard Bolan responded to a request for comment on the school board's decision.

Three questions

Becton Regional unsuccessfully mounted a $55 million bond proposal in March 2022 for roughly the same renovations to its East Rutherford campus.

The premise for the additions is the increasing demand for school services, particularly technical training since the district began receiving Maywood students on a send/receive basis in 2020. Maywood now sends 314 students to Becton, compared to 261 from Carlstadt, and 341 from East Rutherford.

For this March's referendum, officials made some reductions and alterations to that proposal, splitting it into three questions:

Question 1: STEM/Special Education/Vocational space — $29.5 million. The new proposal reduces the addition from 90,000 square feet to 47,000 square feet, eliminating a new building for vocational training previously proposed across the street.

Question 2: New gym/renovation of existing gym/ performing arts center — $12.8 million. The property would be purchased to build a new regulation-size gymnasium, with renovations to the existing gym, and a performing arts center, bathrooms and locker rooms.

Question 3: Expansion of Trades and Vocational Program Space — $7 million. Renovations are proposed to the school's annex building at 160 Paterson Ave.

The tax impact for East Rutherford homeowners with an average home value of $426,302 and Carlstadt homeowners with an average home value of $445,779 would be $0.03 per $100 assessed valuation for Question 1, and $0.01 per $100 assessed valuation each for Questions 2 and 3.

That would be an average increased tax bill of $144 per year if Question 1 is approved, up to $252 per year if all three questions are approved.

Four information sessions on the referendum have been offered by the district. Two have already been presented. Besides Tuesday's meeting, a combined in-person and remote broadcast is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 22, at Becton Regional.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Becton Regional referendum meeting refused by Carlstadt NJ