Two Regionalization feasibility studies are under consider for residents of two or three boroughs in the Bayshore, and the second of the two studies, one requested by the tri-district board of education, is reportedly finally finished and will be released to the public at a 7 p.m. meeting at Henry Hudson Regional School on May 25.
However, it certainly doesn’t appear that the tri-district Boards of Education are making it easy to see exactly what is in this long-awaited regionalization study that was started last year and just ‘released’ this week.
First, it will not be available to the public to see or learn about or read until a special workshop meeting next Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m.
Second. That meeting will be held, not in Atlantic Highlands, the only borough opposed to the already released and well-circulated Porzio report that includes the tri-district and Sea Bright as well. Instead, the meeting on this yet to be seen report is being held at Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands.
Third: The notice of the workshop meeting advises persons to enter through door 10. For those not familiar with Henry Hudson, how does one learn where Door 10 is?
Fourth: The meeting is NOT being held virtually. Which means not only the disabled will not be accommodated and able to learn what’s in the report, but neither will anyone who does not have transportation up to Henry Hudson at 7 p.m. on a weeknight.
Fifth: It doesn’t appear the mayors and councils of either town, let alone Sea Bright, which has an interest in seeing if there are any other ideas better than the Porzio report, are even going to get to see the report until the May 25 meeting.
Sixth: Have the board of education members seen it? And with whom have they shared it? Would an Atlantic Highlands Council member whose wife is on the board have access to it before the rest of Council? Would he (or she) share it with all of Council?
It would seem that a report first announced to be released in March, then April, and now apparently being released the end of May and a meeting already scheduled should be important enough to release as soon as it is available so people can read it, take time to understand it, perhaps compare it to the already released Porzio report to which they have had access for several months, and come to the meeting prepared to ask questions seeking even more information.
The Porzio report, which was first approved by all three borough governing bodies several years ago and then updated several months ago, includes combining education for all children K through 12 in Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright. The report yet to be seen and requested by the tri-district boards of education apparently does not include Sea Bright.
Will all of the experts from the groups who have been involved in this yet to be released study be at the May 25 meeting to answer questions? There are major issues, legal analyses, demographics, educational assessments, finances, and facilities analyses that have been reportedly studied by different experts, so each can only respond to questions on his own area of expertise. That is an awful lot to try to comprehend in a single meeting, then compare, once again, with a report that has been available to read, its experts available, and publicly released for many, many months.
Thursday, May 26, the night after the school board meeting, is the regular 7 p.m. meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Mayor and Council. That should be the time when Mayor Loretta Gluckstein announces an Atlantic Highlands Regionalization Town Hall so that residents of that town can have their own town hall meeting similar to those that have already been held in Highlands and Sea Bright where residents get the entire picture and can put the question of such importance on the November ballot. Highlands is conducting another special meeting next month to enable residents to speak on the regionalization plans. (see related story)
For the 5-page Porzio Report Summary, click here.
For the full Porzio Study, click here.
