Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education President Cory Wingerter is a hardworking, intense, and valuable member of the board, serving well as president both of the former Henry Hudson board and then the short-lived un-elected new regional board that expires when the first elected board takes office with its reorganization in January.
Mr. Cory Wingerter
Given all that, it was disappointing that the outgoing president of the un-elected school board felt it so important to send a two-page letter to a limited number of district residents telling them the board needs time before coming to a decision on whether Sea Bright should be included in the new regional district.
Perhaps Mr. Wingerter needs time, perhaps the un-elected temporary board needs time, but who is he, or this board, to speak to whoever is taking office in January and what that new, and elected, board can or will accomplish?
Mr. Wingerter responded to the request for further information, but failed to answer several questions recently asked, the first being simply: Could you tell me please, if the board ever authorized this letter representing the board’s views?
It requires an OPRA, a formal request seeking to see public records, to find out whether the board of education actually met and decided to send this letter without informing the public they were taking action.
Yet Mr. Wingerter did not answer the question of when the board decided on the letter?. He simply said “The board members and I decided communication was necessary based on the amount of questions and comments we were receiving.
He did not expound on when or where board members received this amount of questions and comments, but records indicate they did not come at regular board meetings or in any correspondence read at regular board meetings.
A letter to outgoing board member Donald Krueger, who was not elected to serve on the elected board in January, asking if he knew of, agreed to, or had input into the letter remains unanswered.
The absence of absolute information raises a number of questions.
Could this be an attempt to create a chasm between the two boroughs who make up the board of education? The letter mentions the ‘potential’ of Atlantic Highlands receiving no tax savings but says nothing about any impact on Highlands taxpayers. Yet the letter is from the board comprised of representatives from Highlands as well as four from Atlantic Highlands.
Or could the letter, absent evidence of a board meeting to discuss it, have been written by either the Superintendent, Dr. Tara Beams, or the board attorney, Jonathon Busch?
It is Dr. Beams who speaks most knowledgeably and often at board meetings about the regionalization issue, and it is Busch who has been representing the board for tens of thousands of dollars in responding to the not one or two, but three appeals of the Oceanport and Shore Regional districts opposing Sea Bright leaving their districts to join the new district.
The two-page letter signed by Mr. Wingerter in which he said he and the board made the decision was sent to “the Board Distribution List for Communications. That “List”, according to the board president, “encompasses all parents, faculty, teachers, administration, and other parties that need to get District and/or School related communications. “But not the taxpayers.
It is true, as the board president said that the letter was also “posted on each school’s Facebook pages and the school websites for those that don’t get our emails.”
Typical of his history of responding with concern and interest to questions about school issues, Mr. Wingerter added, “The Board’s remit is students, not the entirety of town. However, now that you’ve brought to my attention not all interested parties know, I will figure out a way to spread the word.”
It is unknown, and would require an OPRA to determine how many ‘remits” have been sent by the Board of Education without every taxpayer having equal and mailed access to that same information.
Here is the Full Two Page Letter LettertoCommnity-SeaBrightDecision
