How Can They Run a School District … When They Can’t Even Do The 2 Step?
Cheers and praise to Highlands Council President Jo-Anne Olszewski for taking such giant steps to ensure the public has the right to vote.
Once the Superior Court Judge told her she needs to provide more information in order to get an injunction, she immediately decided that is exactly what she is going to do.
Obviously, this is a lady who isn’t about to take a back seat to anyone.
As it should be, but it’s hard to find elected officials who are that dedicated,and have that much integrity. Ms. Olszewski said she did it because she believes everyone has the right to voice their opinion, the right to hear everything that impacts them at all levels of government, and the right to vote with full knowledge and intelligence.
All that being said, there is a necessary burden that must be placed on the shoulders of the electorate. You’ve got a fighter willing to do her job; but it’s the residents’ job to pay attention.
The entire injunction question is over whether the people of three bayshore towns can vote to see whether Sea Bright wants to come into the new Henry Hudson Regional School District (Pre-K through 12) and whether Highlands and Atlantic Highlands want them to.
Those who advocate told voters that bringing in Sea Bright means lower taxes for the two towns already in the district, simply because Sea Bright would be bringing in a couple of million dollars with them but not enough kids to mean building extra classrooms or anything costly. So having three towns pay for the same things two towns have been paying for….YOU do the math….
Those who did not want the public to vote for Sea Bright last September kept saying FIRST STEP. then the SECOND STEP.
They wanted the appeal of a lawsuit brought by Oceanport and Shore Regional settled before they wanted Sea Bright in.
So the original question that a lot of people thought was going to be on the ballot, simply, Can Sea Bright Join? Which would required a simple yes or no answer, switched to a question about whether the three schools already in the districts should come under one board, or whether they shouldn’t. The Second Step, those folks said, would let Sea Bright in … Soon after.
So first step is over and done with. The people voted, two school boards are out, and Henry Hudson is now a Pre-K through 12 district. The First Step is over.
But here’s the glitch.
A couple of weeks before leaving forever, the three boards that no longer exist, as their parting shot, took more action in the back room and without telling the voters, or heck, even the people who attended the public meeting, that what they agreed to was a deal with Oceanport and Shore Regional. The deal they all agreed to make would make it next to impossible for Sea Bright to ever join Henry Hudson.
There was not one single vote against it by any of the board members out of office June 30.
In essence, the Second Step that had been promised and touted so proudly before the vote a few months ago is now wiped out by the very same people who made the promise… and they did it just before their boards were ended forever.
Olszewski said “I have heard from so many people they only voted for regionalization between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands schools (“STEP 1”) because they were promised the next step (“STEP 2“) would be Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright with a second referendum vote on Sea Bright’s inclusion. It is a promise that was made to the people, but it has been made impossible to keep by the secret action the four boards took this month, and I plan on continuing my fight so the American right to vote is protected here in Highlands, Sea Bright and Atlantic Highlands.’”
Indeed, there’s more. It should be noted that the defendant’s attorney, Jonathan Busch and the Busch Law Group were part of the Kean University state-funded Feasibility Study Commissioned by the Boards of Education.
In his presentation before the Tri-District Regionalization Town Hall to present the Study’s findings, Mr. Busch’s advice to residents and Board members present was to bring Sea Bright’s students into the Henry Hudson District “as soon as possible”. That could only happen once the Henry Hudson District was PK-12, which is right now.
But in that Superior Court hearing this week that same Mr Busch was the defendant’s attorney, the four Tri-District Boards of Education named in Olszewski’s action who were instrumental in negotiating the secret “settlement agreement” Olszewski Exhibits that nobody got to see. He’s the attorney who advised the four Tri-District Boards of Education that approved the secret vote and the agreement signed by the presidents of all six Boards of Education involved in the Shore Regional/Oceanport appeal litigation. So much for that SECOND STEP.
Did I mention the Superintendent of the Henry Hudson PK-12 Regional Board of Education resides in Oceanport?( That Story Can Be Read HERE)
Or that these same boards just approved a brand new contract for her for five years? (That Story Can Be Read HERE)
Even though it was only last year when they approved a contract that could have stood in place even with the regionalization? (That Story Can Be Read HERE)
Only in this brandy new contract they upped her salary even though she has touted how the regionalization would save her time and work. Now her time and work for her 260 day year will cost the taxpayers $191,000+ for the first year PLUS benefits for her and her family. And guaranteed increases for the next four years after that.
The settlement agreement these boards made in secret, only made public because of Olszewski’s demand in court, makes it impossible for the voters of Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright to EVER get to vote on a STEP 2 referendum to bring Sea Bright into the new district. You wouldn’t know that if the feisty councilwoman had not demanded information in court.
Mr. Busch is a great attorney, apparently a great mayor of Metuchen, and well recognized for his legal work on education issues across the state, kind of his firm’s specialty.
But here, he flip-flopped from Sea Bright coming into the new district “as soon as possible” to ‘never!’
Your neighbors, the ones you elected over the years to the Boards of Education approved it, unanimously. A parting shot in secret as one of their last actions.
It’s my guess Councilwoman Olszewski and her attorney, Vito Gagliardi, are going to come up with enough additional evidence to get the injunction she is seeking to protect the rights of residents.
So you the people need to keep informed, register to vote, and be at the polls in November to elect board members who will vote for the people, not for what they’re told by employees.
