Enrollment Under Way, but School in Doubt
By BRIAN SPADORA, SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
CLIFTON – The September 2006 opening for a new 500-student school is anything but certain, yet officials must behave as if it is.
The district must decide which 500 ninth-graders – among the 950 expected to enroll next year – would attend the school at 290 Brighton Road.
About 300 to 400 of next year’s ninth grade automatically will be enrolled at Clifton High School because various programs will only be offered there, Superintendent Michael Rice said Monday.
“We don’t want to have programs at two places, because it would be very expensive,” he said.
Students enrolled in specific programs would attend Clifton High, Rice said. They are: band, chorus, orchestra, junior ROTC, drama, piano lab, hockey, special education, bilingual and English as Second Language instruction and honors and accelerated courses.
Of the 550 students not participating in any of these programs, 500 could be selected to attend the new school by lottery; those who remain would attend Clifton High.
Administrators will have the right to override the lottery, board member John Traier said.
“We’re giving administration some leeway to work out some unique issues that we may not be aware of,” Traier said.
For example, students who live close to 290 Brighton Road could end up attending the new school even if they are not selected in the lottery, Rice said.
The new school would relieve crowding at Clifton High, which has 3,400 students, but the planned opening is in danger.
The school board cannot start construction until the Board of Adjustment grants a variance to build a school in an industrial zone.
The board has heard testimony on the school board’s application at four meetings since August, but the application has been delayed.
Lawyers for two businesses near the proposed school – ProLogis and Van Ness Plastics – have spent hours cross-examining the school board’s witnesses. The companies say the planned school would hurt their business.
The zoning board is scheduled to continue hearing the application on Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. in City Hall.