In what can only be described as a 34-page public spanking of attorneys for the Oceanport and Shore Regional school districts, another three judge Appellate Court once again told the two boards Sea Bright indeed has the right, privilege and legitimacy to move forward with its desire to become part of the newly formed Henry Hudson Regional PreK-12 school district.
Read the Ruling Sea Bright Wins Appeal
After spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on attorneys in their attempt to prohibit Sea Bright from making the choice of leaving the two districts in favor of joining Henry Hudson, both Oceanport and Shore Regional were legally quoted the law for the third time that gives the Sea Bright Borough Council the same right as a board of education to determine where their children will be educated.
Vito Gagliardi and Kerrie Wright were the attorneys for Sea Bright who effectively argued as the respondents for Sea Bright to the complaint borough by Isabel Machado and Joseph Betley, attorneys for Oceanport and Shore Regional whose arguments that Sea Bright’s actions could not be upheld since they did not have a Board of Education were all denied in the 34 page document released November 26.
Capehart Scatchard
Using terms that encompassed “we determine,” “we conclude, “we further conclude” and “we agree with Sea Bright’s decision”, the three-judge panel systematically took apart every one of the Oceanport and Shore Regional board attorneys’ arguments over the course of a 34-page final decision.
In their final determination, the Appellate Division determined that any contrary interpretation of their decision “would lead to an unjust result which delegitimizes Sea Bright’s sovereignty to manage the education decisions for its resident students.”
Further, the Appellate judges said at the end of their 34 page explanation of numerous arguments brought forth by the school boards, any other arguments in their presentations to the court that were not addressed in the decision “ are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion.”
“This was the only reason the Highlands and Atlantic Highlands Boards of Education would not consider moving it forward, “said Tracy Abby White, an outspoken critic of the local boards declining to proceed with the inclusion of Sea Bright in the district.
“Now that this is out of the way, we can follow the advice of two independent feasibility studies. Once the funding formula has been determined the information should be shared in a public forum, in Atlantic Highlands, similar to those held in Sea Bright and Highlands, for public participation. If it makes sense, it should go on the ballot for a vote.”
Voters in both Sea Bright and Highlands overwhelmingly indicated their desire to include Sea Bright in the new PreK-12 regional district, in non-binding votes in the November election. The Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council declined to ask voters in that borough their opinion on expanding the two-town regional district to include Sea Bright which would then share in the cost of education for students in all three boroughs. Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, when speaking of putting the non-binding referendum on the ballot last month termed it “frivolous.”
In their 34 pages, the Appellate judges traced the history of Oceanport and Shore Regional’s efforts to keep Sea Bright from leaving their districts since September of 2023 after the state Commissioner of Education first determined Sea Bright did have the right to withdraw from the districts and petition to join Henry Hudson. Shore and Oceanport appealed that ruling, which was then heard and once again overruled by the Appellate Court.
The judges concluded that the law specifically gave Sea Bright council the right to act on behalf of its citizens since Commissioner of Education in 2009 had eliminated Sea Bright School District and merged it with Oceanport, mandating that Sea Bright students attend Oceanport for primary and Shore Regional for high school education.
The law in which the Commissioner took the action was designed to provide financial incentives to encourage shared services through larger school districts. Two separate and independent feasibility studies by the boroughs and the board of education both recommended inclusion of Sea Bright with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands as a means to accomplish this goal.
In their latest argument,, Machado and Betley questioned and argued such technicalities as the similar or separate meaning of the words, “merge” and “consolidate,” leaving the appellate judges to make the determination quoting Webster’s Dictionary. The two words, the judges, ruled, are synonymous of each other, and could not, as the attorneys argued, be “intended to be read differently than they would be ordinarily. Moreover, the court said, “the ordinary mean of the words belies the Boards’ interpretation.”
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