When it got down to the crunch, the entire Borough Council unanimously agreed at last night’s council meeting that the public really should have the right to decide whether they want regionalization for their school system.
In action at last night’s meeting, with Councilman James Murphy recusing himself, all five council members voted for Resolution 106, deciding there is good cause “to pursue a referendum by combining into an all purpose PK-12 All Purpose Regional School District with Highlands and Sea Bright.
The adoption of the resolution paves the way for the mandated directive to petition the Commission of Education for permission to put the question on the ballot.
In approving the resolution, council members also noted the voters should have the ability to decide how their tax dollars are best spend and how their children are educated.
The resolution seeks to have the question placed on the Nov. 8 ballot. If approved, the voter approval would simultaneously dissolve the Atlantic Highlands School and Highlands school districts and expand Henry Hudson to a PK-12 All-purpose Regional School District.t Henry Hudson has not had that designation in the past inasmuch as only grades 7 1hrough 12 were educated in that regional plan.
Murphy recused himself because his wife is a member of the local Board of Education.
While Mayor Loretta Gluckstein, under this borough’s form of government does not vote on matters other than in tie situations, it was the mayor who has brought this resolution to a final decision, and has been a supporter of giving the public the right to vote from the onset of talks on expanding a regional plan both for educational value and financial savings.
As a former board of education president for the Henry Hudson Regional Board, Gluckstein has been outspoken in her belief more regionalization is both important and cost saving, and would enhance educational opportunities for students. She has received little support in her convictions but remained stalwart in her belief the public has the right to make a decision on such an all important issue. She created a committee and named former Councilwoman Tracie Abby-White to head the committee with the sole purpose of measuring the public had every opportunity to learn all the facts about the Porzio study done at the governing body’s request, along with Highlands and Sea Bright.
With a response from the Commissioner of Education expected within a few weeks, administrators and board of education members are continuing meeting with elected officials, borough and school administrators and others to ensure the specific wording of the ballot question is clear and understood.
Officials in those meetings anticipate they have completed their studies and have a question ready by Aug. 1, in time to meet the Aug. 14 deadline to put the question on the Nov. 8 ballot.
