The School Building Money Pit Continues In The Latest School District Agenda

The next public meeting of the South Hunterdon Regional School District is Monday, Sept 28th, 2026 We have the partial agenda (some items still TBD). The draft agenda is available here: https://go.boarddocs.com/nj/shrsd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DXCGPL44C65C

Items of note in the agenda to keep an eye on:

• A resolution to appoint Superintendent Suozzo as "emergency board secretary" in the "event of an emergency or absence of the current Board Secretary from a Board of Education meeting". Foreshadowing, perhaps?

• The Closed Executive Session will discuss an "Employee Issue" and "Litigation".

• A resolution "Rejecting all bids" related to HVAC system maintenance, because it was determined that the District wrote the requirements poorly

• An increase in HVAC system maintenance from $9,465 to $31,100 for "for hvac repairs at the elementary and middle school". As a reminder, these are the schools we just spent over $35 million for brand-new everything. We spent even more outside of the $35 million for LPS' HVAC.

• Given the extreme budget woes South is experiencing, a flurry of donations has come in to shore up their finances. A baby grand is being donated to Tamara Lee of East Amwell, the Currie family is donating $7,000 for football helmets, and DJ equipment is being donated by the Estate of Michael Haldeman. This is happening while our budget is the highest it has ever been

• $61,000 is authorized as a payment for the Turf Field construction

• Some major items from the Bill's list:

  • $25,000 for the weight room in the high school

  • $35,000 to American Harlequin for the Dance part of the Performing Arts School

  • $20,000 for the Beazley Cybersecurity Desktop Exercise

  • $13,000 for "Character Strong"

  • $295,000 installment payment for the Turf field

  • $58,000 for 3 year lease for Staff Computer Laptops

  • $43,000 to Garden Stqate Pavement for Parking Lot work (not clear which school)

  • $4,600 to Glass Castle for mirrors (presumably for performing arts school)

  • $8,300 summer tuition reimbursement to Jane Ellen Lennon

  • $13,000 in legal fees to Porzio, Bromberg & Newman

  • $19,000 to RDM Rigging, presumably more performing arts school costs

  • $6,000 on going payments to St. John's for pre-school classroom rentals

  • $7,000 to "Toward the Real, LLC" for "Challenge Day"

  • $14,000 to Wilson Language training corp for K-3 Foundations Materials

The Schools and Community Commmittee also noted its continued efforts to fund raise for the turf field, saying "In preparation of the formal launch in January 2027, banners will be displayed at the October Homecoming football game. The banners will include a QR code for the fundraising page, detailing the levels of sponsorship".

We know Superintendent Suozzo blames all the budget woes on rising healthcare costs, but he conveniently forgets the hundreds of thousands of dollars of covid ESSR money he threw away from the beginning of his tenure on an endless parade of consultants, and his brief forway into a $100,000/year marketing budget. Now a few years later the district is literally begging for money anywhere they can get it.

It should be interesting to hear why we have never-ending HVAC maintenance and repair bills for LPS and the new middle school and otherwise seem to be pouring money into endless capital projects as our student population continues to plummet in real terms year over year.

Our latest enrollment numbers are:

• PreK: 66 students

• K-4 (LPS): 239 students

• 5-8 (Middle School): 203 students

• 9-12 (HS): 240 students