By VAUGHN WATSON
FREEHOLD BUREAU
ENGLISHTOWN -- The consultant hired to lead the Freehold Regional High School District through redistricting has addressed a slew of questions posed by parents.
Long Island consultant Robert F. Savitt, president of Guidelines Inc., unveiled a redistricting study that hinges on community involvement and established deadlines to move the 7,625-student district through the redistricting process in three months.
Freehold Regional administrators told parents in July to expect some teen-agers to be transferred from crowded high schools to schools with more space when Colts Neck High School opens in September.
Redistricting sparked a rift among some Freehold Regional board members and parents, who attended meetings by the hundreds out of concern the board would pursue a redistricting plan without their input.
"In every community, reaction is very strong," Savitt said at a news conference, revealing concerns of parents in more than 70 districts his firm has advised, including Freehold Regional. "Freehold may have many distinctions but being concerned about their children is not one of them."
Savitt promised his firm will bring focus to a tumult some parents say has fractured the district. His proposed study details a time line and options for parental input. Some parents had feared a closed redistricting study.
"What you never do on a controversial issue is stretch it out," Savitt said.
The board will maintain a final say on the redistricting plan, involving six high schools in eight communities, and is likely to render a decision in late March or April. Among key dates:
Guidelines remains bound by state and federal education laws denoting how minority populations are represented in schools, and bus routes are drawn, Savitt said.
But the firm also will consider issues more personal to parents than to legislatures, such as whether siblings will be graduated from the same high school, or separated through redistricting.
"We are not doing the meetings for window dressing; we are doing them to hear what people have to say," said Edward Murphy, a Guidelines consultant.
Source: Asbury Park Press and the Home News Tribune
Published: December 1, 1997