Where Is Ross Haber Study?, Middletown BOE Members, Residents Demand To Know

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The chorus is growing about what's the reason for a very delayed facilities study Ross Haber & Associates was supposed to present to the Middletown school district in September.

The Middletown school district hired Ross Haber & Associates, at a cost of $24,000, last spring to do a facilities/boundaries study of the district. The study is very important, because Middletown will draw from it, among other data, if it decides to redistrict or close any schools this year, or in the future. Ross Haber & Associates was supposed to present its findings to the district in September.

"I believe we were initially told we're going to have an answer in September," Middletown resident Scott McPhearson said at last week's Jan. 6 school board meeting. "Are there any ramifications to delivering a late report? Are we going to put any pressure on them whatsoever?"

"Can we put some kind of ultimatum on them at this point?" said Board member Sara Weinstein. "It feels like it's getting to the point where we might want to look at threatening payment. It's so far overdue from a business perspective that, in the industry I work in, that would be completely unacceptable."

"If it's not coming in the next week or so, we need to put our foot down and say, 'You're not getting paid,'" Weinstein said Jan. 6.

Superintendent Jessica Alfone said multiple times last week she is "confident" the Haber report will be ready in "the first half of January."

"They were very close to being ready to give us a report, and they felt they would be able to do that in the first half of January," she said. "As with any type of study like this, it's tentative timelines and the complexity of the district. A lot of the geocoding they were doing has taken a significant amount of time. The building walkthroughs, liaising with the principals ... unfortunately, they're beyond the timeline. Certainly, we would have hoped to have this in the fall, in a perfect world. Hopefully, in the next week or so we will have more information."

The Middletown school district did pay Haber a midway payment, "at their request," said Alfone.

Some parents suggested delaying that midway payment, something the district did not consider, said Alfone.

"We will not give them their final payment until the job is done, and they have presented that information to the public and to the board," she said.

Also, Ross Haber & Associates has not presented anything privately to the district, said Alfone.

"We are waiting just as much as the community is. We would like to get this show on the road. Strategic planning is hanging in the balance," said the superintendent.

Haber's task was to examine which neighborhoods send students to which schools, how many students and staff are in each school and the age, use and condition of all the buildings in the district. Haber and his team will come in and present to the Middletown public and school board simultaneously when the report is ready.

"I want to see the report just as much as anybody else. As soon as it comes in, it will be released to the board and the public simultaneously," new Middletown BOE president Chris Aveta promised Jan. 6.

Middletown School District Still Waiting For Facilities Study From Ross Haber & Associates (Dec. 17)

Middletown School District Still Waiting For Results Of Redistricting Study It Paid Consultant To Do (Nov. 26)

Middletown School District Still Waiting For Facilities Study (Nov. 5)