Seaside Heights, Berkeley Township Schools Could Share Services

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — A special meeting this week is set to discuss a potential shared services agreement between the Seaside Heights and Berkeley Township school districts.

The public meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. on July 24 at Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School, will have members of the Board of Education and the municipal government on hand to share information and answer questions.

Currently, Seaside Heights is in a shared services agreement with the Central Regional School District. That agreement is entering into its final year in the 2024-25 school year. It will cost $83,000, and officials say that will be the same cost for the agreement with Berkeley Township.

The new agreement would have Berkeley Township and Seaside Heights share a superintendent and business administrator, as Seaside Heights and Central Regional currently do. The Berkeley Township Board of Education voted on its approval at their June meeting.

Under the existing agreement, Seaside Heights and Central Regional share a superintendent and business administrator. Seaside Heights pays Central Regional for instructional services, transportation, facility management and more. This agreement has been ongoing since 2012, when Seaside Heights pulled out of an agreement with the Toms River Regional School District, which was then overseeing Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School.

News of the potential agreement comes only a few months after Seaside Heights voters rejected a merger with Toms River Regional. Those in Seaside Heights were concerned about the closure of their elementary school, though Toms River Superintendent Michael Citta shared a compromise that the Boyd school would remain open for 2024-25 and up to four years after that, contingent upon enrollment. Read more: Seaside Heights Voters Reject School Merger With Toms River

Central Regional was also in opposition of that merger. Around that time, the district also approved a feasibility study exploring a merger with the Ocean Gate School District. While Ocean Gate students currently attend Central Regional Middle School and High School, the merger would make a unified pre-k through 12th grade district. Read more: Central Regional, Ocean Gate School District Could Combine