“This is the first of many steps in the process so we can be a K-12 regional school district for Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright,” said schools superintendent Dr. Tara Beams after Henry Hudson Regional School Board of Education became the third board to approve requesting permission from the state Commissioner of Education to put the question on the ballot in the Nov.,7 election.
The Henry Hudson board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution authorizing the petition filing, after Highlands and Atlantic Highlands boards took similar actions Monday and Tuesday evenings. Similar to Henry Hudson, Highlands passed the resolution unanimously, with board member Gena Melnyk recusing herself; Atlantic Highlands board approved the resolution by a vote of 7 to 1, with Molly Murphy recusing herself and Jeffrey Margolick voting no.
Sea Bright Councilman Erwin Bieber, present in the audience, praised the board for its efforts, and noted that learning is important for all agreements, and he is looking forward to attending more board meetings and getting to know the schools better in anticipation of the new district which would remove Sea Bright from the Oceanport and Shore Regional schools and make it part of the new regional district.
Dr. Beams also stressed to board members that this is just the first step in a long series of steps before regionalization actually becomes reality but she noted progress has already been made in furthering the process. She cited the June 9 very positive and informative meeting among board members, herself, municipal administrators and elected officials where she termed the meeting very positive.
The superintendent also noted the Aug. 14 deadline for the specific wording of the proposed question to be submitted to the state for appearance on the ballot.
Towards that end, she said the regionalization team has set an Aug. 1 internal deadline to work out the specifics of the question’s wording. By law, each of the municipalities must have the exact same question on the ballot. All three towns must also approve the ballot before regionalization of the three could be considered approved.
The next meetings of the regionalization team will be discussing the financial configurations for the boroughs, the superintendent explained, with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands having to agree on a cost sharing method with the influx of additional funding from Sea Bright.
All three communities are in absolute agreement their goal is a K-12 tri town regional school district in moving the question forward for a vote by the public.
While the first board of the new district would be appointed by the Commissioner, and would include representatives of each community, thereafter the board would be comprised of members voted by each of the respective towns on a staggering one to three year term basis, something she anticipates would happen by July 1, 2023..
The resolutions approved by the three board of education are in step with those previously approved by the three municipal governing bodies, all noting there exists good cause to pursue a referendum that expands the current school districts to provide voters with the ability to decide how their tax dollars are best spent and how their children are education.
