Plans are underway for improvements to Osbornville Elementary School and the OCVTS school in Brick. (Photos: Shorebeat)
Improvement projects at Osbornville Elementary School and the Ocean County Vocational-Technical School in Brick Township were both given the seal of approval by the township’s planning board this week.
Osbornville is located on Drum Point Road and operated by the Brick Township public school district. The Vo-Tech school is located adjacent to the campus of Brick Township High School on Chambers Bridge Road and operated by the county’s vocational school district.
Osbornville Gets a Kitchen, Accessibility
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Osbornville Elementary School, Brick, N.J. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The Osbornville school’s improvements center around the addition of a warming kitchen to the facility.
The school currently does not have a kitchen to serve the students and staff, with cooled and frozen items are stored in freezer and refrigerated units in the gymnasium “which is a safety hazard for students in P.E. classes,” the district’s architect wrote in a report submitted to the board.
“This also is causing unintentional damage to the units,” the report said.
Plans are underway for improvements to Osbornville Elementary School and the OCVTS school in Brick. (Photos: Shorebeat)
As currently arranged, according to the report, the school has three levels that are accessed by stairs or using an ADA chair lift. The staff receives the food on the mid-level and loads the carts on the lift, then sends it to the lower level where the food preparation room is located. The staff then travels the stairs to meet the lift and prepare the food. When they are ready to serve meals, the carts are loaded back onto the lift and sent to the upper level. The staff then travels two flights of stairs to meet the lift in the gymnasium.
“They repeat this process until all carts have arrived for serving and then reverse the process after meals for clean-up,” the report said. “Lunch is served in the gymnasium with foldaway tables.”
The capital project will add a code-compliant warming kitchen for students and staff.
Hot food will still be cooked off-site and warmed in the kitchen – no food will be actively cooked on Osbornville’s property. Students will access the kitchen from the gymnasium through an ADA-compliant serving aisle. The staff will access the kitchen from a new service ramp that connects the lobby where food items are delivered to the back of house of the kitchen and will only be accessed by the staff.
The kitchen equipment will include a three-bay warming food preparation station, prep sink and handwashing sinks. Support spaces for the kitchen include an Accessible staff toilet room and storage room for staff use.
The board unanimously voted to endorse the project to move forward.
Vo-Tech Gets A Better Look
Plans are underway for improvements to Osbornville Elementary School and the OCVTS school in Brick. (Photos: Shorebeat)
At the Vocational-Technical school, a project will improve the aesthetic appearance of the building while also helping it to be more functional and accessible, officials said.
The county is seeking to reconfigure the front of the building, said Christopher Shea, an attorney representing the county district.
“It’s very simple, very straightforward,” said Shea. “It will be a new entry for the canopy and some exterior renovations. They’re also going to do some work in the courtyard, and that should be about it.”
Massimo Francis Yezzi, the planning consultant on the project, told board members that the front of the building will be turned into something of a “plaza” that will welcome students each day – and provide a canopy that will enable students needing the assistance of a wheelchair to keep out of the rain after being let off at school.
“There is an existing green grass area in front of the building now that we will convert into a plaza,” said Yezzi, including plantings, benches, and display boards that will carry announcements for students. “There will be a series of stepped canopies that will go down to where the curbed driveway is located now.”
Plans are underway for improvements to Osbornville Elementary School and the OCVTS school in Brick. (Photos: Shorebeat)
The project will also generally freshen the look of the building, with the installation of new fascia panels and wall windows. The rest of the building will also be refurbished.
“This is all being done through a gift grant to the board – it is not costing the taxpayers any money at all,” Yezzi added.
Likewise to the Osbornville project, the board voted unanimously to endorse the effort going forward.
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