The past two Monroe Township Board of Education meetings were enlightening. The only issue of substance at the meetings was the new high school and whether it will ever be built. The current plan that calls for the school to be built in Thompson Park is in some jeopardy due to various governmental rulings.

Board member Carol Haring introduced a resolution at the Jan. 10 meeting to begin to devise a backup plan (plan B) to be used if the Thompson Park plan fails. Haring's resolution passed 5-4. The Monroe Township High School football team has more than one quarterback. If the starting quarterback goes down with an injury, then the No. 1 reserve enters the game and continues to move the offense.

At the Jan. 24 meeting the resolution was overturned by a 6-3 vote. This vote was to retain the Thompson Park plan as the only plan and not to proceed with a plan B.

It is apparent that the driving forces behind this new resolution, board members Amy Speizer and Lewis Kaufman, never played football. If they had, they would have known that you have to have a backup plan. If the team of Speizer and Kaufman were to coach a football team, their team would only have one quarterback. If their quarterback was to be injured, they would have no choice but to stop the game being played and then cancel succeeding games until a new quarterback could be found. A disastrous season, at best.

There were claims that Ms. Haring wanted to cancel the Thompson Park plan in lieu of a review of a potential plan B. Nothing was further from the truth. At no time did she ever say anything, except that this was to be a backup plan, if it was needed.

The Board of Education needs a reality check. The new high school has at least a $36-million funding shortfall. This could escalate to $51 million if the Schools Construction Corp. cannot provide a promised $15 million (re: Phillipsburg). There are still regulatory hurdles that need to be overcome. The last and the largest challenge that the board will face is the lawsuit filed against the township and the board by Rutgers University. If the board loses in court, then what happens?

The new high school is scheduled to open in August 2011. If any of the obstacles cannot be overcome, then the new high school will have to go back to the drawing boards, which will mean an opening in 2015 or 2016, if ever.

Carol Haring's resolution made a fantastic amount of sense. The true winners would have been the children of Monroe. Why the board did not listen to Ms. Haring and her associates, Marvin Braverman and Rita Ostrager, is beyond me. It only had everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing it.

Harold V. Kane

Monroe