Building a Future-Ready SPF
Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools
Our schools in Scotch Plains-Fanwood are a source of community pride.
They’re built on a tradition of academic excellence and are integral to the success of our communities. As the student population has grown, our district’s need for more space has become acutely apparent. We’ve also found that existing spaces are due for critical repairs and infrastructure updates, especially to our HVAC systems.
To meet the SPF community’s high expectations for our schools, we need to continuously maintain and improve our buildings. It’s why we are now in the process of building a strong future for SPF!
Step One: Engaging the Community
Our schools are most successful when we all share ideas and are engaged; we value the community’s input, especially on important decisions that affect the futures of our students and residents.
We started this process by sharing far and wide a community survey to help guide the district’s next steps. Nearly 2,000 responses from residents and high school students poured in within only a few weeks. We heard loudly from those responses that you also want our schools to remain a source of pride.
Survey respondents said the most important thing our schools need is more instructional space to manage class sizes and address student population growth. Preserving our district’s academic excellence ranked high on community responses.
We also heard that STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and mechanical upgrades to HVAC are priorities for residents.
When we asked for ideas about how to manage the higher enrollment, we heard support for adding onto our current school buildings or purchasing/renovating a property. A citizen-driven committee provided similar feedback to district administrators at two meetings in November.
The survey is still open if you would like participate click here.
Shaping The Forward-Thinking Proposal
We are incorporating this feedback as we work closely with the district’s architect, financial adviser, and bond counsel to review our long-range facilities plan and whittle down a project list into a solid plan that would support student success and growth.
We expect to continue moving toward a bond referendum, anticipated for the second half of 2024. A bond referendum is simply a community vote where residents decide whether to fund these improvements for our schools.
Our goal is a fiscally responsible referendum that matches the community’s priorities and our district’s need for more space.
Staying Engaged and Involved
The district will continue a multi-faceted communications effort to engage and inform the community throughout the bond referendum process.
While the vote date is still far off, we know that the community is eager to hear regular updates.
Important announcements will be made here on this website and through the SPF Facebook and Twitter accounts.
There will be progress reports and formal actions taken during Board of Education meetings.