Whether Oceanport or Shore Regional school districts even care whether Sea Bright remains part of them or joins a new regional district is certainly an unknown at this point after Mayor Brian Kelly told residents he has not had any communication on an issue that’s been in the headlines for month.
That was one of the questions answered at last night’s workshop meeting on Sea Bright’s proposed regionalization with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands as residents attended a second meeting where the Porzio firm who was commissioned to do the study for the three towns presented its second hearing.
The Mayor, in response to a question, said neither of the two communities nor the regional board of education has asked for information, made any contact or given any indication to the Sea Bright borough council on whether they have any concerns about the impact of the borough leaving the two school districts in favor of a more financially beneficial plan for Sea Bright.
Vito Gagliardo and Terry White from the Porzio firm gave a history of how Sea Bright has been poorly treated by state education legislative acts during the past 30 years, how they have attempted in the past to rid themselves of the exorbitant amount they pay for education for their children, and offered hope to residents with the legislatures’ new law that not only permits them to separate and join a new more financially efficient educational system but one that also appears to offer no basis for any lawsuits against the borough for leaving its present system.
“Anyone can sue at any time in our nation,” Gagliardo agreed, “but the new legislation does not make it easy nor sensible. Further, in an irony for the residents, it was pointed out that should Shore Regional choose to mount a legal challenge, he predicted that “Shore Regional will include you in the suit and you’d end up paying to sue yourself.”
Nor would Sea Bright continue to be responsible for having any more of the capital improvements costs in Oceanport, once their students are no longer in that district.
In tracing the history of Sea Bright’s being the victim of several legislative changes in the past, it was brought out that the borough never had a voice in earlier decisions concerning costs and this is the first legislative action that appears to be advantageous to the borough.
Several parents spoke at the meeting, concerned that 6th grade students should not be in the same school as high school students, should that decision be made at Henry Hudson, or wondering whether the smaller class sizes will mean less opportunity for innovative new educational programs, that the educational standards at Henry Hudson are not as high as Shore Regional. Gagliardo noted the various considerations given to classifying educational standards and school ratings across the state, and cited cases where Henry Hudson came out higher than Shore in some considerations. He urged parents not to pay too much attention to ratings without knowing all the facts behind how they were determined.
Parents questioned whether in the formative years they would be faced with having siblings in the same family attending two different high schools, whether the elementary schools can accommodate the additional students from Sea Bright and the fewer options offered at Hen Hudson because of fewer options due to size of the school.
Financial questions ranged from the impact in Sea Bright of both the five year plan to get out of its current educational measures to Gagliardo’s assurance that the study was directed at ensuring each borough would recognize substantial savings, even with Sea Bright’s other obligations in entering the regional plan.
Both the Mayor and council members and the Porzio team assured residents there will be many more workshops and discussions at many borough meetings before the Nov. 7 election, including another workshop already set for Oct. 3. The Mayor urged residents to continue to educate themselves on the issues, to present questions to them at any time, to attend meetings to ask even more questions, and urged continued interest so residents can feel fully informed when voting should the question be on the ballot in November.
Gagliardo said each of the three boards of education in the two neighboring towns is meeting this week and working on passing their own resolutions to request the question on the ballot, and noted all six official bodies, the three Mayors and councils and the three boards of education, are working closely together with talks among attorneys and administrators, with the aim to present a single question on the ballot agreed upon by all involved.
