School meeting important to all

Millstone residents should take advantage of the opportunity to help plan their school district’s future.

The district’s Strategic Planning Committee is inviting interested residents to a "Community Kick-Off Event" on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Millstone Elementary school cafetorium.

The meeting will include an overview of the challenges being faced by the district, which everyone knows include spiraling enrollment.

The challenge goes hand in hand with whether the district should regionalize with other panhandle districts or go off on its own.

The regionalization task force study may help answer some of the latter questions when it is finally completed at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, residents should take advantage of the opportunity to help plan the district’s future.

Millstone students currently make up more than half the population at Allentown High School, a percentage that is likely to grow.

That growing population is part of the reason for the planned expansion of the high school, which Upper Freehold and Allentown voters will be asked to approve Dec. 11.

Even though Millstone residents won’t be able to vote, the outcome of the referendum is critical to upcoming high school students. Regardless of what happens with the regionalization study, the school expansion is needed now to ease overcrowding, according to school officials.

Millstone residents who care about the future of their schools should definitely show up at the Nov. 15 planning meeting.