TARKILL SOCCER CLUB

Members,

The Tarkill Board asks that you consider getting out to vote yes for the Sterling District's Bond Referendum on Tuesday, 9/29.

Please see below regarding details of what the referendum will be providing for current and future students of Sterling High School if it passes.

Good Morning,

Thank you for your continued support of the September 29, 2015 Bond Referendum. Today and tomorrow is our last push to get out the word. Families are well informed but it would be great if the friends of Sterling can continue to promote the vote. 

The bond is split in two questions. In order for question two to pass, we would need question one to pass. Below are the contents of the two questions.

Question 1 – Improvements in security throughout the school, roof replacement, bathroom upgrades that are ADA compliant, HVAC construction throughout well populated instructional areas of the building, electrical upgrades, auditorium upgrades including replacement of existing HVAC system and TV Studio instructional room HVAC replacement.

·         Many of the projects in question one come with 61% ROD Grant funding and 59.4% Debt Service Aid from the state. ROD Grant money is available for a limited amount of time.

Question 2 – Improvements in parking by creating 80 additional parking spots, new construction and relocation of tennis court, softball field upgrades, renovation of soccer, lacrosse and practice fields, additional practice field hockey field, installation of a natural grass surface in Stadium Complex and the resurfacing of a 6 lane track. The State will contribute $334,677 for the cost of natural grass installation, if question two passes.

·         100% of our students must take Physical Education. The PE Curriculum requires students to participate each day in the areas contained in question 2.

·         A 10- foot pitch  of the ground from one side to the other on the fields that are used for PE instruction, soccer, field hockey, football practice, and band practice will be leveled.

Our goal, when we began planning the upgrades back in 2010 and most recently 2014, was to provide the students with the best facilities to improve instruction, increase safety and upgrade the building and grounds to last the next 25 years. Many of you are teachers, parents and visitors to Sterling High School and you can attest to following;

·         the often leaky roof causes interruptions in instruction and requires costly repairs

·          upgrades and replacement of HVAC units are a must since climate control in the building is a major issue

·         our existing boilers are over 50 years of age, are inefficient, require annual repairs, and must be replaced

·         tennis court construction is a must and the annual repairs are creating greater expenses each year

·         our school auditorium has an inefficient HVAC system, lighting and sound for classroom/assembly presentations

Eventually, these projects will need to be addressed. Taking advantage of ROD Grants and Debt Service Aid now will prevent a greater cost to the taxpayers later. The tax payers would pay 4.1 million dollars for 8.7 million worth of projects by approving this bond referendum, rather than possibly paying the entire cost for these projects.

Attached is a letter that was sent this weekend to the parents of Sterling High School. The letter breaks down the tax impact for homeowners in Somerdale, Magnolia and Stratford. Starting in 2020, the cost for each taxpayer will significantly decrease. Everyone can go to our website at www.sterling.k12.nj.us and click on September 29, 2015 Bond Referendum. 

Please feel free to forward this email to friends, family, Booster Clubs  and parents of the Sterling Community. Thank you again for your support.

Mark Napoleon

Superintendent/Principal

Sterling High School

501 S. Warwick Road

Somerdale, NJ 08083

(P) 856-784-1333

(F) 856-784-7661.