Fact vs Rumor: Nutley Public Schools ahead of the November 6 Vote

NUTLEY, NJ – As rumors continue to spread throughout the community about the status of the Nutley Public Schools, TAPinto Nutley reached out to the Nutley Public School administration, the Board of Education, and elected township leaders to separate the facts from rumors.

Rumor: Nutley Senior Citizens on Fixed Incomes Cannot Afford Any Tax Increases

FACT: Fixed income Nutley Senior Citizens may qualify for STATE OF NEW JERSEY property tax freeze PROGRAM. Once in the program, property tax obligation will not increase.

At this time ABOUT 900 Nutley households are part of the property tax freeze program that is based on BEING 65 YEARS OF AGE and MEETING A QUALIFYING income THRESHOLD.

According to Revenue and Finance Commissioner Tom Evans, once a base year is established with the State of New Jersey, and the senior citizen continues to meet income requirements, the increase in tax above the base is reimbursed by the state. In the program, the senior pays the full tax and then receives a refund from the state for the difference.

Taxpayers must complete a PTR form every year. Once completed, that form must be certified by the tax collector before it is sent to the state.

Rumor: Members of the Say Yes to Nutley group have been promised six figure jobs in the Nutley Public Schools district.

FACT: No one has been promised or offered a position in the district.

Rumor: The Nutley Public Schools District recently hired two Assistant Superintendents with a salary over $100K per year

FACT: There are no Assistant Superintendents, and there are no current plans to create the position.

Rumor: The new scheduling at the High School is causing traffic delays on Franklin Avenue all day.

FACT: The detours because of the Centre St. Bridge construction are the primary cause for traffic delays in Nutley this year. With the bridge closed, busses, delivery vehicles, and private vehicles traveling on Centre St. in either direction are following detours. The County of Essex expects the bridge to re-open at the end of this year.

Rumor: The school district eliminated Freshman sports at Nutley High School anymore.

FACT: Freshman and Sophomores play together in a sub-varsity program. School districts across the state are using a similar model for their high school sports. This topic has been discussed and reported several times.

Rumor: The Nutley Public School District hired two assistant business managers this summer, each with a salary of over $100K

FACT: There were no such hires, and there are currently no plans to create these positions.

Rumor: A new school will be cheaper to build than adding additions to the existing buildings.

FACT: A new school is will cost in excess of $100 million, and Nutley does not have any place to build a school.

Rumor: A new school can be build on the former Roche Campus, or at Boy’s Park

FACT: Price of a new school aside, the former Roche site is private property owned by Prism. Roche sold the property to Prism, at no time in the last century was that site ever public land. ‘Boy’s Park,’ the upper field at Yantacaw Park, is a part of the County of Essex parks system. The county will not give up park land.

Rumor: The district is bussing in students from other towns, the busses can be seen outside the high school.

FACT: The busses from other communities are carrying the sports teams who complete with the Nutley Raiders.

Rumor: The Nutley Board of Education came up with the idea of the referendum sometime in early 2017 after the new Superintendent arrived.

FACT: The Nutley Board of Education has been working on the solution to the lack of instruction space for just over six years based on data from the Demographers report. According to the Board of Education, the Demographers reports.

Rumor: The new apartment construction is causing overcrowding in the Nutley Public Schools system.

FACT: While new residents in new construction has led to some new enrollment in the district, the two largest factors that have caused the space situation are all-day kindergarten and state mandates for special education. While both programs have exceeded the expectations of the district in terms of quality of education, they both created the need for more instruction space.

All day kindergarten means that where one room was used by two difference classes of children in the past, the need for class space doubled.

With special education, the state mandates how many children can be in a class. So a class that may have had been built for 20 students in 1920, now has less than ten special needs students. In countless BOE presentations, the ‘overcrowding’ problem was described as not being a fire code issues, it is about available instruction space.

Additionally, the turnover of single family homes has drawn families with children to Nutley. Gene Diaz of Prism recently told the Nutley Chamber of Commerce that Nutley is a hot market for real estate. Unlike generations past, where people bought a home then had children, families with children are moving into the district to purchase homes.

Rumor: Modular classrooms are the solution that no one has considered.

FACT: Manufactures of modular classrooms estimate their lifespan to be about 25 years. After 25 years they need to be replaced at taxpayers expense. After 25 years, new bricks and mortar construction is paid off and there is no need to replace it. If the needs of the district expand in 25 years, with bricks and mortar, the district would build the new space, with modular, the district would have to replace the “old” modular and build new for the new needs.

Modular construction does not allow for large spaces like multipurpose rooms and is limited to two stories.

Rumor: The Board of Education is ill-equipped to manage construction projects of this magnitude.

FACT: The BOE is advised by an external team. As part of the costs associated with the referendum, the district has budgeted for an outside construction management firm to manage these projects. With a build of this size, there has to be independent oversight. Hiring is done through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process which will be public. Additionally,the Architect of Record regularly handles construction projects of this size. .

Rumor: The Board of Education can use the referendum money in any way they see appropriate.

FACT: Any money included in this referendum is for the specific use of these proposed building projects and is under the purview of the NJ Department of Education. Neither the BOE nor the town leadership have the ability to change what has been approved, or the outcome of the community vote on November 6.

Rumor: Nutley Public Schools are falling by every measure.

FACT: PARCC scores are up. SAT scores are up. And in the recent statewide ranking of NJ Public Schools by New Jersey Monthly Magzine, Nutley Schools jumped 20 place since the last report in 2016.

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