The Two Step Approach
Continuing to reiterate this is the first step, and they ultimately want to see Sea Bright as part of the system, five of the sitting members of the Mayor and Council responded they are voting to approve the question on the September 26 special election ballot to regionalize the preK-12 three schools in this town and Highlands without the addition of Sea Bright.
The opinions are in sharp contrast to the Highlands Mayor and Council who made it public at their meeting last week that each is voting against the September 26 ballot since it does not include Sea Bright and would be a costly measure for both Highlands and Atlantic Highlands.
At Thursday’s meeting of the Atlantic Highlands Council, Mayor Loretta Gluckstein, and Council-members Colasurdo, Cusack, Dougherty and Hohenleitner all indicated they plan on voting yes on Tuesday. The first of two steps.
Councilman Jon Crowley was absent from the meeting and Councilman Murphy pointed out he has recused himself from any action or meetings on the question. As such, he said, he did not feel it appropriate he announce at a council meeting how or if he is voting.
The agenda for the council meeting was changed to enable the borough’s special attorney, Matthew Giacobbe, to appear via ZOOM to give the governing body an update on the regionalization issue as well as to respond to questions from council and the public.
The attorney, whose contract sets his fee at $165 an hour, gave a brief history of the borough’s input with regionalization, explaining the state Commissioner of Education has not yet responded to the request made by the two boroughs as well as Sea Bright and the three boards of education involved.
He noted she had dismissed the complaint filed against Sea Bright by the Oceanport and Shore Regional schools, the two districts where Sea Bright students now attend school. However, those boards appealed that decision, he said, resulting in her taking no further action until that is resolved. When the three local boards of education then filed their own request to regionalize PreK-12 without Sea Bright, she granted that request and the special election ton that, a preK-12 without Sea Bright was set for September 26.
The special election gives the power to voters, Giacobbe said, and termed it the first step in forming a regional district that Sea Bright, once the commissioner approves it, could then apply again to be part of the regional plan. The second step.
That would require another election, he said, and it was unclear whether it would also include yet another feasibility study similar to what has already been completed by two separate experts, or whether the current studies could be updated.
With a new board established comprised of both Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, approval of Sea Bright entering the newly formed district at some time would require a majority vote of the total number of voters , as opposed to numbers from each borough, as well as an election in Sea Bright. Giacobbe said even so there could never be any guarantee that other districts might not file action against the idea once again.
Former Councilman Michael Harmon, who also served as a former mayor in Atlantic Highlands, praised the current plan and thanked the governing body for presenting it, saying he too planned on voting for it as a first step. He noted Sea Bright is “in a relationship” and has to be dissolved from that before it can be included in another district.
The polls are open September 26 in the regular voting places in both Highlands and Atlantic Highlands from noon to 8 p.m. It requires a majority vote from the voters in each town in order for the question to be approved and a preK-12 regional district formed.
