FAIR HAVEN: VOTERS APPROVE SCHOOLS PLAN

fair haven viola sickles school 052219.An addition to the Sickles School will create room for all-day kindergarten. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fair Haven voters overwhelmingly approved a $15.6 million plan to create classrooms and improve security at the borough’s two schools in a special election Tuesday.

With ballots from all six districts counted as of 8:48 p.m., 60.9 percent of 1,282 votes were cast in favor of the measure, with, 39.1 percent opposed, according to the Monmouth County Clerk’s website.

In a prepared statement, Superintendent Sean McNeil said the outcome showed that “our supportive community saw the value in both our past performance and our future goals.”

The spending plan calls for $12 million worth of work at the Viola Sickles primary school, on Willow Street, largely for an addition to make room for the implementation of full-day kindergarten.

The Knollwood middle school, on Hance Road, would get $3.6 million worth of work, including a new off-hours entryway on the building’s southwest corner and a long-overdue heating and air conditioning system for the gym.