The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A nearly hour-long, sometimes heated discussion on partnering with the Board of Education to provide a construction trades training program ended March 12 with the Township Council agreeing to discuss the issue in April.
At issue was a proposal for the Council to give the school district more than $300,000 of American Recovery Program funds to pay for a program targeted for up to 24 students in the Road To Success alternative high school program.
The program would be offered to RTS students during summer school, and also in the 2024-2025 school year. The course would be delivered at Franklin Middle School – Hamilton Street campus.
The idea was brought to the Council by Township Manager Robert Vornlocker; it was previously favorably discussed by the Council’s Financial Oversight Committee.
While Councilwoman Kimberly Francois (D-At Large) spoke favorably of the plan, other Council members expressed reservations about its cost, its future sustainability and what the outcomes of the course would be.
The school district would contract with North Brunswick-based Brenshirer Training Institute, a workforce development company.
The company provided a similar course for Franklin Middle School students last year, Vornlocker said. He said the success of that program spurred district administration to contact the Township for a partnership opportunity.
The program “was met with a great deal of positive response after the course was completed, and Councilwoman Francois was contacted by Orvyl Wilson to see if there was any opportunity for the township to provide future funding to continue the course … with a target being the Road to Success program for high school-aged students,” he said.
Upon completing the course, students would receive a certification from National Center for Construction Education and Research, Vornlocker said.
He said many meetings were held with schools Superintendent John Ravally and Orvyl Wilson, the District’s Director of School Management to fine-tune the program and come up with a reasonable cost.
The cost – $301,012.84 – “would cover all costs associated with the program, the lumber, the sheet rock, the electrical they would have the hands-on training for,” he said. “All the equipment they would need.”
Students would attend the program two hours a day, five days a week, Vornlocker said.
The money would come from the Township’s $7,735,000 American Rescue Plan grant, Vornlocker said. Of that, “$2 million has been appropriated for water system improvements in the 4th and 5th wards, $2 million was appropriated for sewer main improvements in that same area, $1.5 million has been appropriated for a health care facility on the grounds of the Middle School to serve the school population and in the future the general population of the township for those in need,” he said.
Francois said the program would be a way to do some good for the RTS students.
“The RTS students are at risk, and most of them have dropped out of school,” she said. “When they take this course, they’ll have a skill set, then they can potentially get job placement.”
“If we invest in a few students and one, two, three, or four come out with a skill where they can be a construction trade worker, we’ve done something good in our community,” she said.
But other Council members weren’t sold on the idea.
“I don’t sense there’s anybody who doesn’t support the program … but I think it’s our responsibility to see that we get the biggest bang for our buck,” said Councilman James Vassanella (D-Ward 5).
“Why would the school board (not) look at putting whatever space is there to have a teacher … if this is a worthwhile program, why wouldn’t we want to create the framework through which children every year would be able to benefit?” he said. “… why wouldn’t there be discussions on how this could be done on a long-term basis?”
“We don’t have all these details or the cost analysis of how the program could be more long-term,” he said.
Councilman Alex Kharazi (D-At Large) wondered if the money could be used to build shop classrooms so the instruction could be offered in-house.
Vornlocker told him that ARP money could not be used for that purpose.
Deputy Mayor Ed Potosnak suggested that “economies of scale” could be applied to save money and offer the program to more students.
“The setup costs for 25 students is the same whether you have three classes of 25 students … so that money can go a lot longer if you have three consecutive courses,” he said. “You might not be able to do that in Franklin, but you might be able to do it if you do it at the county level, in Bridgewater, or in Hillsborough.”
“As public stewards of funds, I think it’s important for us to use a common-sense scales of economy approach to touch more people, to empower more individuals, to ensure more folks can have access to those high-quality jobs,” he said.
“So at this price point, with the $300,000, I still have concerns that we could maybe be doing more in a different way with a different efficiency or creativity or in-house versus for-profit business where it could also be sustainable,” Potosnak said.
One place the program could be taught is at Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School, Potosnak said.
“How does the Road to Success program participate at the County VoTech?” Vornlocker asked.
Potosnak said that just as RTS students drive to the Middle School for their daily programming, they could do the same thing later in the evening to the VoTech in Bridgewater, “where they already have a shop set up, and a teacher, and maybe stipend that individual to stay late.”
“The administration of the Board of Education approached us to serve their Road to Success program,” Vornlocker said.
Councilman Ram Anbarasan said his concerns were that the program would be a one-shot, and gauging the outcome of the course.
“I have a number of concerns about this training program,” he said. “I think there are a lot of questions about the tuition, the outcomes, the syllabus, the credentialing. There are a lot of questions in my mind that have not been answered.”
“That $300,000, if we don’t have the program, that can potentially go into our water infrastructure to offset some future costs,” he said.
Potosnak suggested that the issue be tabled until the April 4 meeting of the Township Council/Board of Education Joint Committee, and that the Council representatives – Mayor Phil Kramer, Potosnak, Councilman Carl Wright and Francois – can report back to the full Council at its first April meeting.
All but Francois voted “yes” on that proposal.
