Ridgewood Board of Education weighs repairs across 11 buildings

Across 11 buildings, the repair list reaches from roofs to alarms. A districtwide facilities study gave the Ridgewood Board of Education priorities to sort through: roofs, windows, heating and fire alarm systems. Members asked which projects are critical within five years and how the district would verify both the need and the price before seeking voter funding. They also discussed whether to put a comprehensive plan or a series of phases before voters.

Frey alarms drew close attention. The firm presenting the study said most district systems can identify the location of an alarm, but many devices are two or three generations old. Compatible replacement parts are getting harder to find. The district’s facilities manager said detectors last about 10 years and fail periodically. Upgrading a system would trigger a current code requirement for voice evacuation messages, adding work beyond replacing older alarms.

Ridgewood Board of Education members pressed the firm on how it estimated costs, including its use of square-foot figures and comparisons with earlier projects. The firm said design, wiring and code requirements affect prices and agreed to revisit its assumptions. Members also weighed election timing, possible state aid and the impact on taxpayers. No referendum plan was chosen in the discussion; the immediate task is to check the project list and its costs.

A parent asked the Ridgewood Board of Education for an update on secure entry vestibules at one school and across the district, pointing to an earlier timeline and budget plan. The superintendent said vestibules are a districtwide priority in the facilities assessment. This was among the first full Ridgewood Board of Education discussions of the study, the superintendent said, and some projects identified in it had already been completed.

The superintendent said security work should be equitable across schools rather than depend on how much each school community can raise. The firm described controlled-entry designs and said existing layouts would shape what could be built; space is limited at one school. An administrator explained that the district can use capital budgets and reserves for some work, while larger projects may require a referendum.

The administrator said planning a referendum can take about a year, from state paperwork and drafting a question for voters to explaining the proposal publicly. The superintendent said budget constraints had moved some projects out of this year’s proposal. The Ridgewood Board of Education is now considering vestibules as part of its longer-term facilities plan, not as a separate decision already made.