Construction of new James Monroe School to start in May

• Construction of the new James Monroe Elementary School is scheduled to start in May.
• The Board of Education expects to open bids next month for the construction and construction manager for the project.
• The construction and construction manager contracts are to be awarded in early May.
• Construction of the school is scheduled to be completed in time for the start of 2016-2017 school year.

EDISON – Rosa Pugliese is anxious to see construction begin on the new James Monroe Elementary School on Sharp Road this spring because her granddaughter will be ready to start kindergarten by the time the school is to be completed in 2016.

"I want it rebuilt," said Pugliese, who has lived a few blocks from the school for 25 years. "We need the school."

A year ago today, Pugliese watched with many others as the one-story school building was destroyed in an early-evening six-alarm fire sparked by a cigarette apparently discarded in a trash can by a school custodian.

"It was scary," Pugliese said about the fire that drew firefighters from throughout Middlesex County.

Jerald Reddavide, who also lives in the James Monroe School neighborhood, also welcomes the rebuilding of the school.

"They (the children) need a good school they can depend on," he said.

"We need a school for the children," said Rachael Fendell, a neighborhood resident since 1960 whose two children attended the elementary school.

Pugliese said she was among the township residents who last week voted to approve an $18.6 million bond to help finance the school's rebuilding. The referendum was approved by an unofficial vote of 2,022 to 1,263. About 100,000 people live in the 30-square-mile community.

The district needed to secure the funds so construction of the school can be completed within a two-year time frame.

The school is expected to cost about $28 million to rebuild. The district's insurance company, New Jersey School Insurance Group, has provided about $9.5 million. The district has filed suit against the insurance company for not funding the full cost of the new school. Any additional funds the district receives from the insurance company as a result of the lawsuit will be used to pay the bond debt, officials said.

Voter approval of the bond will cost the average Edison taxpayer about $21 a year for 30 years. By approving the bond the district will get about $4 million in state debt aid. The James Monroe School faculty and students have been housed in the former St. Cecelia's School in the Iselin section of Woodbridge since last September. If the students are in new building by the start of the 2016 school year, the district will avoid paying nearly $2 million in penalties to the Diocese of Metuchen after its current two-year lease expires.

Edison Superintendent of Schools Richard O'Malley said the James Monroe School construction time line began Wednesday with the advertising for a general contractor for the construction project.

Later this month the school board plans to advertise for proposals from qualified companies to serve as the district's construction manager for the project. O'Malley said bids for the construction will be opened and evaluated on April 28. The Board of Education is then scheduled to formally award the contract for the construction management and construction of the new school at a special May 6 meeting.

O'Malley said construction on the new James Monroe School is slated to begin May 14 and be completed by Aug. 19, 2016, in time for students to start the new school year.

The new school will include mandated items such as fire sprinklers, a gymnasium, cafeteria, media center, handicapped-accessible facilities and nine additional classrooms for the school's nearly 500 students. When the school was built in the 1960s fire sprinklers were not required under the construction code.

In addition, the new school is expected to be 67,775 square feet. The original school was 40,000 square feet. A portion of the school will be two floors in order to fit the larger school on the original footprint.

Last September, Jerome Higgins, an East Brunswick resident, was fined $200 by Municipal Court Judge Gary Price for smoking at the school on March 22, 2014. Higgins, then the school's facilities manager, was checking on the school that Saturday when he lit a cigarette, smoked it and put it out, according to authorities. A police investigation determined an unfinished portion of the cigarette was tossed into a trash can in the custodian's office where it caught fire and spread through the school.

An investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office did not result in arson charges, aggravated arson or any offense suggesting Higgins' actions caused the fire, but he was charged with a statute violation. The school district's insurance company has filed suit against Higgins, who also has been the subject of restitution hearing in municipal court. The restitution hearing has been rescheduled several times, and a new hearing date has not yet been set.

Staff Writer Suzanne Russell: 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com