Frequently Asked Questions

If this referendum is passed, the funds will be used for the following:

• Purchase and renovate Good Shepherd School on Atlantic Ave, which will be used for a district wide Upper Elementary for 4th and 5th grades. Other funds gained from the referendum will be used to 

• Add classrooms to Zane North Elementary School

• Add ADA compliant playgrounds to Newbie and Tatem schools, and 

• Updating the stadium at Collingswood High School to include updated facilities and turf fields.

In order to purchase Good Shepherd as part of this referendum, Collingswood School District will CLOSE Garfield and Sharp schools; the Sharp building will reportedly remain district asset and Garfield will be sold. Specific plans for use, funding, and staffing of the Sharp building have not been released at this time. How the students who would attend the closed schools will be distributed across the district has also not been released at this time. The plan also neglects to lay out a plan for safe routes to school for displaced students.

More information about the bond referendum can be found on the Board of Education's website. This link contains a presentation about the plan as well as recordings of the information sessions. 

Specifically:

• This plan places additional burdens on Sharp students to access their education with no plan yet to support low-income students, students with disabilities, and students who have disabled caretakers.

• School closures: 

  • Lead to lifetime negative impacts on students from closed schools, particularly children who are low-income and non-white. 

  • Lead to gentrification which prices low-income families out of the community, further reducing diversity.

  • Do not consistently or significantly improve student achievement, can have deleterious effects on both displaced and home students.

• Closing Sharp is divesting from a community that has the highest proportion of low-income families and non-white families in Collingswood.

• This plan is happening TO - not with - the community. The community was not notified that closures were being considered, and no targeted outreach was done to marginalized populations who depend on Sharp and Garfield, including families who don't speak English.

• This plan will not lead to increased equity for marginalized students, equity never comes from taking resources away and making them harder to access.

• Artificial turf fields are linked to a number of health and environmental concerns.  

• For more information regarding our concerns with the referendum please see our information page.