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Teachers and parents urge board to publish plan before adding preschool class at Gillette School
Summary
At public comment, the Long Hill Township Education Association president and a parent who worked on a prior committee urged the board to outline a plan (trailers, renovation, rented space or referendum) before adding another preschool class at Gillette School, citing overcrowding and impacts on specialists and early-childhood services.
Teachers and parents urged the Long Hill Township Board of Education to provide a concrete plan before adding another preschool class at Gillette School, saying the building is already tight on space and that specialists and services could be displaced.
"We're adding another class to Gillette School…it's about a 10 pound box that we already have 15 pounds in, and now we're putting 20 pounds in," said Lauren Franklin, president of the Long Hill Township Education Association and a 27-year staff member, summarizing teachers’ concerns about classroom crowding and the impact on shared specialists such as art, music and speech staff. Franklin asked whether the board planned to use trailers, renovate the board office, rent local space, or pursue a referendum to secure more permanent room.
A parent and former early-education teacher who served on a prior committee, Christina Malapioni of Sterling, told the board the committee previously toured all district buildings, met principals and documented limited space across schools. Malapioni said the committee previously identified options such as renting space from local childcare centers under a state grant and urged the board to revisit those alternatives and to include parents in planning.
Franklin and Malapioni both stressed that staff and programming — including counseling, music and speech services — already operate on constrained schedules and shared spaces and that adding a preschool class without a detailed plan could reduce service quality for kindergarten and primary grades.
The board invited public comment and acknowledged the concerns; administrators did not provide an immediate detailed plan during the public comment period. The meeting later moved to executive session for confidential student matters.
The speakers called for the board to convene a working group that would include parents and staff and to present a transparent plan to address classroom space, staffing, required fixtures (bathrooms/handwashing), and potential funding options (including grants or a referendum) before finalizing placement of the new preschool section.
