To the Editor and fellow members of the Hopewell Valley Community:
Let me start by highlighting once again that I am at present a member of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education, elected by Pennington Borough, where I reside. The opinions expressed in this letter are my own and made in my capacity as a private citizen. I am not authorized to speak on behalf of the Board on any of these matters.
This letter is an attempt to address some of the questions our esteemed former mayors, Ms. Sandom and Mr. Hart raised in the most recent issue of the Hopewell Express: https://www.communitynews.org/towns/hopewell-express/commentary-former-hopewell-mayors-can-we-offer-any-solutions/article_11c24996-d433-494d-bff2-4341bb05251f.html. However, before I get to my responses, I must express a certain amount of disappointment. Upon seeing the headline (“Can we offer solutions”), I became excited. The district is certainly facing a tough time, buffeted as we are with challenges from all sides: rapidly rising costs, many (construction, transportation, health benefits) well above the nominal inflation rates; capital improvement needs; reductions in federal support; numerous and at times fiscally onerous state mandates; all while subject to the 2% cap in regular budget increases. I was hopeful to benefit from the mayors’ combined experience in government. Alas, I found no specific proposals in their commentary. Instead, the commentary is a list of questions and insinuations that the district in not being fully transparent – many raised and responded to numerously over the last several years. Nevertheless, given the importance of the referendum to our ability to operate our schools, these bear yet another response.
Let’s start with the highlights, “please provide information without obfuscation or exaggeration,” the mayors write. In my opinion, the district been doing that. A detailed presentation listing out every project and proposed cost has been reviewed in every board meeting since… well for quite a few meeting cycles. A website providing further detail has been up on the Board portal https://sites.google.com/hvrsd.org/hvrsd-vote/home. In every meeting the Board and district administration field questions and suggestions during the public comment (alas, not from Ms. Sandom or Mr. Hart as I have not seen them at any of our recent meetings). Furthermore, Ms. Sandom has taken full advantage of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to request – and obtain – significant information. Just for completion, let me present the full list of OPRA requests she has made within the last year (obtained via my own OPRA request):
- 12/04/2024: OPRA of line item in November budget transfer doc
- 04/21/2025: Additional questions (on HVEA and HVASA CBA)
- 04/03/2025: Extensive request (see screen capture in Figure 1 below)
- 05/21/2025: Request for information regarding the adopted budget
- 06/17/2025: Request for “the last two years of class lists at the middle and high school, with all subjects taught by class and number of students in each class? Could I please get that information broken by semester (Fall or Spring) or by year if not available by semester.”
- 07/16/2025: Questions about the proposed referendum presented at the Board meeting (omitting details for brevity)
- 07/13/2025: Request for “… how many days per year, for each of the last 10 years, have each of the schools closed entirely or closed early because of outdoor weather-related reasons, for of [sic] either hot or cold weather. Specify by year, dates, school and weather-related reasons. Please do not include covid related closures.”
- 07/13/2025: Request for “… a detailed (see last year’s summary to the NJDOE) 2025 breakdown of projects for the upcoming HVRSD referendum… Also, as in 2024, please provide what parts of the 2025 total would qualify for the 40% state tax rebate, and which do not.” As a side note from me, this information is in our slide decks, there was no need to file an OPRA request for this one.
- 08/01/2025: Request for a list of elected officials’ salaries for last 10 years, including benefits and reimbursements for misc. expenses. As a side note from me – the only elected officials in the district and the members of the Board of Education and we are not paid for our service. Board of Education service in NJ is statutorily a volunteer position.
Now considering the information the district made available publicly and the extensive information provided to Ms. Sandom via the numerous OPRA requests, I am not sure on what basis she claims that the district is obfuscating. If there is anything specific she wants to know, it is made available, subject to constraints under the law (for example to protect privacy).
Let’s address the question of inflation. The mayor’s question whether the inflation assumptions the district is making is reasonable. Unfortunately, construction inflation costs have been rising faster than the rate of general inflation – up over 40% since 2020 and continuing to go up, see, e.g. https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-materials-costs-rise-third-month-tariff-pressures/745225/. The district’s architects made what they believe is a reasonable estimate of what the costs will be when the work is actually done – which is several years out (if the referendum passes). If the mayors have specific grounds to question this estimate, I would love to hear it, but short of specific reasons not to, I am going to assume that the district’s architects are competent.
Speaking of when the work will be done, let’s address the question of roofing. As the administration consistently states every time the question is asked, the roofs being replaced are NOT those replaced as part of the last referendum. These roofs are old – and while some have warranties lasting into 2026, its worth remembering that this is 2025, the referendum will be voted on late this year and any work would not start until summer of 2026 at the earliest! Moreover, as any homeowner who’s had to deal with roof issues knows, roof warranties are prorated. Meaning with a year left on a 25-year warranty only 4% of the roof value is covered – and only the roof itself is covered. The warranty does not cover damage to what’s under the roof if it fails. Anyone who wants to know what that damage could be, please ask Bear Tavern parents about their library/media center.
For those of you who are not inclined to just take my word (I am a skeptic myself, I don’t mind), here is a picture of the substructure under one of these roof sections at the high school. Note the damage to the wood. This was discovered incidentally when doing other work and requires immediate repair, which the district will do using our capital reserve because this one can’t wait for 2026 or later.
There are many other examples of similar damage, photos of some of them are available on the referendum website. Many of these were shown during the school building tours the district has been conducting over the last several months, as the community members who came out for the tours can testify. Alas, I don’t recall seeing either Ms. Sandom or Mr. Hart at any of these tours. Not all is lost, however. A tour of the high school will take place before our September 15th meeting. I am looking forward to seeing our former mayors there so that our district staff can answer all their questions.
Ms. Sandom and Mr. Hart clearly have significant experience addressing the challenges local public institutions face. I, for one, would welcome the contribution of their wisdom. The opportunities for them to make such contributions have been numerous. We’ve had two board election cycles since the need for a referendum was broached. Last year they could have run unopposed (we did wind up getting an excellent member via a write-in, but using write-ins to fill seats is suboptimal). As far as I know, neither is running this year as well. They can come to our meetings or join the tours to see firsthand the state of our school – and yes, make suggestions. Alas, I rarely, if ever, see either of them at these events. Notwithstanding their apparent focus on how our schools are run, they seem to limit their contributions to rehashing the same set of questions, apparently dissatisfied with any of the answers they are given, hoping against all hope that the next time around the answers will be different. I sympathize with them – what the district is asking for is significant; but so are the challenges we are facing, and as far as I know the district does not possess a magic wand to simply wave them away.
Sincerely,
Alex Reznik
Board Member, Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education (Pennington Borough Representative)
Writing in a personal capacity
