Future elementary to be named Oak Tree School

JESSICA SMITH The large oak tree at Applegarth and Prospect Plains Road in Monroe has become a symbol for the town and will now have school named in its honor. MONROE - The new elementary school will be named for a township icon … the Monroe Oak.

A contest to name the new school, being built on Applegarth Road, garnered more than 100 entries, including four nominations for the centuries-old tree at Applegarth and Prospect Plains roads, which has become a symbol for the town.

"It lent itself, because our town trademark is the Monroe Oak," said Dennis Ventrello, principal of Brookside Elementary School.

The school, which was approved in a $26.8 million referendum in January 2006, is being constructed on 30 acres of donated land across the street from the Applegarth Middle School. It is expected to open in September 2008.

Ventrello will become principal of the Oak Tree School. He judged the contest along with a committee composed of township historian John Katerba, PTA representatives, two fifth-grade students and two teachers who reside in town. The committee unanimously chose the Oak Tree name.

The entries chosen as finalists were submitted to the Board of Education, whose members agreed on the name.

The four winning entrants were presented with plaques at a ceremony honoring the naming of the new school Nov. 6.

Dawn Quarino and her daughter Alexa, 7, researched Monroe's history to find out what was significant for the town. The Quarino family chose the oak tree as the school's namesake because it was around before the township was founded in 1838, Dawn said.

"It's even included in the town's official seal as a symbol of endurance and rootedness," Dawn said. "Since Monroe Township is very dedicated to open space, and there is a nature reference in the name of every school ... our family thought it would be appropriate to name the new school after the Monroe oak tree."

Another entrant, longtime resident Carol Dooley, has her own sense of history with the celebrated white oak. During

Dooley's 40 years living in the town, the tree has held a special place in her heart.

"I have a certain karma with the tree," Dooley said. "It's a beautiful tree. The tree has been there since William Penn's time."

Back in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Dooley and other residents fought to prevent a proposed gas station from removing the towering oak, she said. During the mid-1970s, Dooley said she helped design the emblem for the township's seal, with the oak at center stage.

"About 15 years ago, the tree inspired me to name the town's theater group the Mighty Oak Players," Dooley said.

Others in favor of memorializing the tree in the naming of the new elementary school were the Maiolo family, and the Stockum family, according to Ventrello.

While the Monroe Area Historical Association was still in existence, the group placed markers around the tree to hail its importance to the town. The town's Shade Tree Commission erected a fence around its massive trunk to protect it.

In efforts to keep the legacy of the oak tree growing, seedlings sprouted from its acorns have been planted throughout the township, according to a statement made by Mayor Richard Pucci on the township's Web site.

"I'd like to see it carried on by putting some acorns from it by the school, so it could grow with the kids," Dooley said.