NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 10:35 p.m. on December 27 and at 5:22 p.m. on December 28, 2010, and at 10:15 a.m. on January 4 and at 10:10 a.m. on January 7, 2011, this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

Lakewood's oldest public school is about to become a construction zone.

Or maybe not.

Built in 1924 on a 4.24-acre site between 6th and 7th Streets, Clifton Avenue Grade School replaced School No. 1, now the site of the Lakewood Municipal Building, two blocks away.

The district opened School No. 1 in 1892, the same year Lakewood became a township.

After a revaluation of Lakewood Township five years ago, Clifton Avenue School increased in value.

The land on which the school was built rose in valuation from $290,700 in 2005 to $2,120,000 in 2006; the valuation of building improvements increased from $4,135,800 in 2005 to $6,919,800 in 2006; total valuation of the property more than doubled from $4,426,500 in 2005 to $9,039,800 in 2010.

Outgoing Committeeman Robert Singer, a state senator that also represents Lakewood as part of the 30th Legislative District, sponsored legislation enacted earlier this year that permitted the township to reassess some public and private property, while not reassessing others.

Under the reassessment, there was no change in the assessed value of the building and other improvements, but land on which Clifton Avenue Grade School was built became more affordable to potential buyers, dropping in value from $2,120,000 in 2009 to $1,696,000 in 2010.

Following the 2008 sale of Princeton Avenue School, built in 1912, Clifton Avenue School became the district's oldest public school.

It could soon be on the auction block, too.

Taxpayers stand to lose $1,424,000 in lost revenue when it does.

If the board fails to properly maintain all public schools it owns, the amount of that loss could go even higher.

According to an October 26, 2009 e-mail provided to NJ News & Views under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), James Bryan of RAI Services said all six public school roofs were in disrepair.

"We have reviewed electric bills and done extensive site visits with early indication that virtually all roofs are in need of significant repair," James Bryan told the district. "We have determined that there is no way we can roll roof repairs into a PPA solar project cost and reach any reasonable investor returns."

Bryan said the district would need "a top notch balance sheet and great credit" to qualify for the project, which he acknowledged it did not have.

Former Lakewood Business Administrator/Board Secretary Robert Finger told NJ News & Views earlier this year that the Lakewood Board of Education planned to enter into another lease-finance agreement to repair the public school roofs, which Ocean County Superintendent of Schools Bruce Greenfield confirmed on February 19.

According to all board meeting agendas posted on the district Web site, members never took action to repair public school roofs since Bryan informed Finger in 2009 that all six were in disrepair.

The board has declined to post verbatim meeting minutes now taken at each of its meetings by a contracted transcriptionist. Instead, the board has insisted that only edited versions of board meeting minutes be posted on the district Web site, even if they are not posted for months.

The action is in violation of a 2009 mediated settlement of two OPRA complaints filed in 2007 by NJ News & Views. The board approved verbatim meeting minutes by authorizing payment for each of them, but declined to post them as required on the district Web site one month later.

The board's position on repair of its public school buildings recently appeared to have changed.

At the December 14 meeting of the Lakewood Board of Education, members approved the hire of MTM Metro Corporation of Wayne to perform asbestos abatement in the Clifton Avenue School library. According to the board's meeting agenda, MTM Metro submitted the lowest bid of $12,250 among the 12 bids received.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral fiber, once widely used in building materials for its thermal insulating properties and fire resistance. Asbestos remains in use as an acoustic insulator, and in thermal insulation, fire proofing, roofing, flooring and other materials.

These materials may become hazardous and pose increased risk if they are damaged, are disturbed in some manner, or deteriorate over time and release asbestos fibers into building air.

After the meeting adjourned, a reporter for NJ News & Views asked Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Lydia Silva if the need for asbestos abatement was attributable to a collapse of the Clifton Avenue School roof.

Last winter, sources told NJ News & Views that a section of the high school roof over a hallway had collapsed under the weight of winter snow and rain, which Finger confirmed.

Silva said she didn't know. Silva said she would ask the janitorial service contracted by the district for further information and provide it to the reporter.

She never did.

During the December 14 board meeting, board attorney Michael Inzelbuch described the asbestos abatement as a "problem at Clifton Avenue School."

It could become a bigger problem for the board if members have acted in violation of local, state and Federal law regulating the abatement of asbestos from school property.

Under the 1986 Federal Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA), a provision of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Lakewood School District and the township's non-public schools, referred to collectively as local education agencies, are required to inspect their schools for asbestos-containing building material and prepare management plans to prevent or reduce asbestos hazards.

The AHERA rules require local education agencies to take actions to:

• Perform an original inspection and re-inspection every three years of asbestos-containing material;

• Develop, maintain, and update an asbestos management plan and keep a copy at the school;

• Provide yearly notification to parent, teacher, and employee organizations regarding the availability of the school's asbestos management plan and any asbestos abatement actions taken or planned in the school;

• Designate a contact person to ensure the responsibilities of the local education agency are properly implemented;

• Perform periodic surveillance of known or suspected asbestos-containing building material;

• Ensure that properly-accredited professionals perform inspections and response actions and prepare management plans; and

• Provide custodial staff with asbestos-awareness training.

On December 17, a reporter for NJ News & Views faxed an OPRA request to Silva, the designated records custodian, asking to inspect the district's Asbestos File for all public and non-public schools.

According to the state Division of Archives and Records Management (DARM) retention schedule, the Asbestos File may not be destroyed for 75 years.

Silva's secretary acknowledged receipt of the request, but did not provide a date the district would fulfill it.

The reporter also faxed a second OPRA request to Silva. The OPRA request asked for a copy of the AHERA letter the district is required to send to parents and guardians of all students enrolled in Clifton Avenue School, where the district approved funding for asbestos abatement.

In the same fax, the reporter also asked the district to e-mail a copy of the permit issued by the township Inspection Department for the work.

Lakewood Interim Business Administrator Matthew K. Varley, a self-employed Toms River accountant, informed the reporter by fax that the district would respond to the OPRA request after the winter recess - when the asbestos abatement was reportedly scheduled to be completed.

Although the board and the district are permitted up to seven (7) business days to respond to a request for public documents that are not contracts, bills or invoices, Federal law regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under AHERA requires prompt public response to possible asbestos pollutants that can be airborne in a school.

Exactly two years ago, the Lakewood Inspection Department attempted to hold the Lakewood Board of Education accountable for its contractor's failure to obtain a township permit, as required under the state's Uniform Construction Code (UCC).

In a December 8, 2008 form letter, Lakewood Construction Official Michael Saccomanno discussed state requirements with the board.

"Dear Applicant," Saccomanno wrote the board, "If your permit has not been issued within the six-month period prescribed by the UCC regulations, Section: 5:23-2.15(e)4(2)iv, the application will be discarded."

On November 13, 2008, district contractor Fire Technologies, Inc. of Farmingdale submitted a faxed permit application to the Lakewood Inspection Department for approval to install a replacement of an obsolete Fire Alarm Safety Panel in the basement of Clifton Avenue School.

In its application papers, Fire Technologies, Inc. estimated the cost of the contracted work at $7,329.

Saccomanno informed the board in his December 8, 2008 letter of consequences if the work was performed without prior plan review by the state and an approved township permit.

"If it is subsequently discovered (that) the work (was) performed without (a) permit having been issued, penalties will be imposed as mandated by the Regulations in the Uniform Construction Code Section 5:23-2.31," Saccomanno wrote the board. "Please inform this office of your intentions with regard to the above-mentioned project."

Instead of protecting taxpayers, the board authorized its contractor to proceed with the work without a township permit.

On January 14, 2009, the township Inspection Department issued a Notice of Violation and Order to Terminate following a January 13, 2009 inspection of the school.

"You are hereby ordered to terminate the said violations on or before 1/28/09," Saccomanno informed the board in the Notice of Violation he signed on February 5, 2009. "No Certificate of Occupancy (C.O.) or approval will be issued unless the said violations are corrected. Further, take notice that failure to comply with this order may result in the assessment of penalties of up to $2,000 per week per violation, and a Certificate of Occupancy will not be issued until such penalty has been paid."

Saccomanno informed the board that it could contest the order by requesting a hearing before the Construction Board of Appeals in Toms River within 15 days of receipt of the order at a cost of $100.

Instead of paying the fine or the cost of an appeals hearing, the board of education ignored Saccomanno's letter and continued to operate the public school without an approved Certificate of Occupancy.

In an April 8, 2009 letter addressed directly to the board, Saccomanno reminded members that as the owner of Clifton Avenue School, they were in arrears on penalties owed for the violation incurred by their contractor four months ago.

"To date the penalties have accrued to $2,500.00," Saccomanno wrote. "It is very important that you contact this office immediately so that we may resolve this matter. Failure to do so will result in this case being forwarded to the legal department to institute summary collection proceedings against you."

Instead of complying with state law and paying its fine to the township, agents for the Lakewood Board of Education appealed to the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for relief of its obligation.

In a May 22, 2009 letter addressed to the Lakewood Board of Education and Robert Vogel, whose position was not identified in the correspondence, DCA Code Specialist Suzanne Borek wrote that she was responding to Vogel's letter regarding replacement of the school Fire Alarm Panel.

"NJAC 5:23-3.11A(a) does not state replacement of an existing fire alarm panel as one of the projects that is required to be reviewed by the Department," Borek wrote Vogel.

According to April 1, 2009 meeting minutes posted on the district Web site, Vogel was the general site manager of contractor Sodexo Facilities Services when the board authorized replacement of the fire alarm panel without DCA or township approval.

During the same meeting, Lakewood Business Administrator/Board Secretary Robert Finger and board Attorney Michael Inzelbuch discussed an offer by Aramark, which submitted a lower bid for the Sodexo contract, to employ Vogel at the same wages and benefits he had with Sodexo if the board awarded Aramark the contract - which Finger confirmed members were legally required to do under state law.

NJAC 5:23-3.11 describes the scope of enforcement responsibilities given to the state DCA under the Uniform Construction Code (UCC).

Despite Borek's assertion, NJAC 5:23-3.11(a) states that "Except as otherwise provided in N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.11A(b), the Department of Community Affairs shall be the sole plan review agency for…public school facilities, as defined in N.J.A.C. 5:23-1.4."

Borek determined that because state taxpayer dollars were not funding the Clifton Avenue School construction project, DCA was not required to review it - or any other state oversight agency.

"The Department of Education does not have to review the project either unless there is funding provided by the state of New Jersey or from Other Capital Funds," Borek told Vogel. "Therefore, since the school district is funding this project with no other assistance and it is not a project required to be reviewed by (DCA), the municipal code enforcing agency may accept the permit application for plan review and inspection."

In May 2009 and again in 2010, the state Urban Enterprise Zone Authority (UEZA) took millions in Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) project funds from UEZ municipalities across the state - including Lakewood - and turned the funds over to school districts statewide - including Lakewood - as extraordinary aid for property tax relief.

The municipal UEZ fund is generated in part by collection of a reduced state sales tax that goes to the municipality, not the state.

On July 25, 2009, Saccomanno issued a Certificate of Approval for the completed public school project.

The board has continued to defy township officials by ignoring their authority.

As of December 16, 2010, one day before NJ News & Views made an OPRA request to inspect the board's township permit to conduct asbestos abatement at the public school, there was no approved permit on file with the Lakewood Inspection Department.

Following the fax of a December 17, 2010 OPRA request for the board's AHERA letter to parents and guardians of students enrolled in Clifton Avenue School, the board authorized a no-bid contract at their meeting three days later that provided information about the asbestos abatement construction work that the Lakewood superintendent of schools did not provide for a reporter.

The board's December 20, 2010 meeting agenda included an item that called for board approval to contract with Environmental Forensics, Inc. for emergency asbestos assessment for Clifton Avenue Grade School Library and for services related to non-friable asbestos flooring at a cost of $90 per hour, not to exceed $2,500.

Friable asbestos refers to any asbestos-containing material that can be easily crumbled or pulverized to powder by hand when dry. Material that contains more than just one percent asbestos and is friable is considered to be Regulated Asbestos-Containing Material (RACM).

Non-friable Asbestos-Containing Material (ACM) is not regulated because it contains a binder or hardening agent such as cement, asphalt or vinyl - such as asphalt roofing shingles or vinyl asbestos floor tiles - and would not require an AHERA letter.

ACM can pose the same hazard as RACM during remodeling, repairs or other construction. Burning ACM also creates friable asbestos.

When crushed, asbestos disperses a dusting of microscopic fibers in the air that can remain for very long periods of time. The fibers can be unknowingly inhaled and permanently lodged in lungs and other body tissues, yet symptoms might not appear for 20 years or more. Inhaling the fibers has been linked to cancer and asbestosis, a chronic lung disease similar in symptoms to emphysema.

There is no known safe level of exposure.

In 2004, investors that included a member of the Lakewood Board of Education and a member of the Lakewood Township Committee also claimed the presence of asbestos in buildings they owned, but which they sought to redevelop.

Located on Route 9 south, near the Lakewood border with Toms River, Seagull Square is an L-shaped shopping center that includes for-profit and non-profit retail tenants. Six years ago, the owners and managers of the shopping center engaged in acts of terrorism to force retail tenants with and without leases into leaving.

In one of those acts of terrorism, Seagull Square management informed retail tenants in writing that their stores could contain asbestos, including a free-standing fast food restaurant not built by shopping center developers.

Management told the retailers they were responsible for removal of the asbestos in the leased storefronts, but reversed that position after retail tenants provided government documents that proved there was no asbestos used in the construction of shopping center buildings.

Investors may still believe their plan is a good one.

By having the board authorize funding for asbestos abatement in Clifton Avenue School, for which there may be no need, investors may believe parents of students enrolled there will seek alternative schools for their children.

Special interests that serve as public officials could benefit from the same lesson as students that use Clifton Avenue Grade School library.

In Aesop's fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," a bored shepherd boy decides to entertain himself by tricking nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his flock of sheep. Villagers that responded to the boy's false cries of wolf felt he had wasted their time.

One day, a real wolf attacked the shepherd boy's flock. The boy called for help, but no one responded to his cries while the wolf ate his flock.

In some versions of the fable, the wolf also ate the boy.

At the end of his fable, Aesop provided a moral that is as instructive for adults as it is for children:

"Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed," Aesop told readers. "The liar will lie once, twice, and then perish when he tells the truth."