Bill Greenlaw leaves school board
By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — Bill Greenlaw resigned at the end of the Delaware Valley school board's Sept. 12 meeting, after serving on the board two years and as president since December.
Many board members expressed surprise and sadness at the announcement.
“The reason is a personal one,” he said. “I’m relocating out of the district.”
"I am very happy about the reasons that I am moving out of the district," said Greenlaw, who will move to Sparta, N.J., with his girlfriend of 12 years. "But I regret that I will no longer be able to serve on this board.”
He then read a prepared comment. “The district is on a great path.” (For his full statement, please see page 12.)
Two of his sons attended DV. One son remains but will be moving with his father to Sparta.
The bylaws require board members to be district residents. He’ll continue in his job as the engineering manager at the Summit Research Lab in Huguenot.
Taking over as president is Vice President Pam Lufty, whose terms expires in December. The district is advertising for a new director. A special hearing for the position is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at the district office. Applications need to submitted by 4 p.m. on Sept. 23.
DV needs a new elementary school
Greenlaw told the Courier that the Delaware Valley Elementary School budget is a major challenge for the board right now.
“The elementary school is in bad shape," he said. "It’s an interesting building. It was built in 1950s. There are no 90-degree angles anywhere in the whole building. It’s not energy efficient. It was first built as a high school but was made an elementary school quite some time ago. The students are divided into groups that are doing different things in special parts of the rooms. No matter what you do, you can’t divide the room to do what you want to do.”
There’s no air conditioning in the building either. "It must have been very uncomfortable last week when there were some very hot days, and at the end of the school year," he said.
It would cost $16 million to repair the building, he said, and at the end you would still have an odd-shaped structure. In contrast, he said, it costs $22 million to build a new school, and it’s already been approved.
“Milford is working to get the issue in front of the planning commission, and then to the supervisors,” said Greenlaw.
Another challenge is where to build the new school. The board has been considering a site near the Delaware Valley School Campus next to Routes 6 and 209, near Bon Secours. But a 24-inch natural gas pipe line running through the site needs an upgrade to a stronger and newer pipe, which would be paid by the gas company.
The board has already done an analysis based on the California Protocol — the strictest in the country because of California's earthquakes — which found the gas pipe to be a very low risk for the property.
The district already owns property where the new school could be built, but it would entail longer bus rides for students.
In the meantime, board members invited Greenlaw to come back to the meetings, even after he moves.
"It’s kind of on the way from Sparta to Huguenot," he said, then added, with a grin:
"Fortunately for Sparta, they have school boards there."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story posted briefly online misidentified the name of the elementary school.