There’s a Big, Unused School in the Middle of Town. Let’s Buy It.

Written by Collingswood resident, Jonathan Harris

Published in The Retrospect on July 4, 2024

When your school district is more than 200 students over capacity and three of your five small elementary schools are 100+ years old, and a considerably newer, larger school in the middle of town becomes available, you buy it.

The seeds of the referendum go back to the Equity Committee started by former superintendent Dr. Scott Oswald and Board of Education members. It was well-attended by teachers, parents, and other community members. The idea of grade-level schools was largely popular in those meetings for the typical reasons: consolidation of resources, standardization of the educational experience, and more opportunities for teacher collaboration. Because Collingswood is a dense borough of less than two square miles, the obvious limiting factor was space. I envision in my head someone saying in one of those meetings, “man, I sure wish there was a big school for sale in the center of town (sigh…)”

Guys, there IS a big school for sale in the center of town.

The facilities part of the plan, at brief, is to buy and renovate Good Shepherd, decommission Sharp but keep it as a district asset, sell Garfield, and put an addition onto Zane. I’ve heard the criticisms of this plan, and I sympathize with those concerns. Yet, given our circumstances and our limitations, I still believe this is the best, and really, the only plan.

• Will some kids have to travel further to school? Yes, but many of our most vulnerable students already cross the White Horse Pike to go from Parkview to Sharp, or cross town to go to Garfield because they don’t speak English, or have to cross town the other way to go to Zane (the only ADA-compliant elementary school) because they need ADA accommodations. My neighbor’s daughter had to switch from Garfield to Zane midyear because she broke her leg. We only have neighborhood schools for kids without some special need.

• Should we instead renovate Sharp and Garfield, or knock them down and build more modern schools on the same sites? No, neither could be made ADA-compliant with the amount of money we can borrow through a bond referendum. Both renovation and rebuilding would cost significantly more money and time than the current plan. And where do we put the kids in the interim–trailers? Return to virtual learning?

• Is this the right time? Yes, there’s a big school building for sale, it’s literally the only time.

This is the best plan possible, given the constraints we’re under. New Jersey isn’t investing in schools, so we must come together as a community to make our own investment. Schools don’t just pop up for sale every day.

Vote yes on September 17th and let’s go buy the big school for sale in the center of town, Collingswood.