Freehold Regional Declines Option to take Jamesburg Students

Freehold Regional High School District Superintendent Charles Sampson officially announced that the district would not be accepting any students from Jamesburg at the district’s Board of Education meeting on Monday, Oct. 18.

The Jamesburg Board of Education was looking for an inexpensive replacement to Monroe High School. Students from Jamesburg have been attending Monroe High School for 32 years, however the rising cost of Monroe’s tuition (due to the construction of their new high school) prompted the Jamesburg Board to seek  alternative schools.

In July of this year, the Jamesburg Board contacted various high school districts in hopes that one would be willing to accept students from Jamesburg beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, the Freehold Regional High School Districts were among those considered.

Besides Freehold Regional, the Matawan-Aberdeen school district, Old Bridge High School, West Windsor High School, and South Amboy High School expressed a possible interest in taking on the students for a tuition.

Superintendent Sampson and Board Secretary and Business Administrator Sean Boyce met with representatives from the Jamesburg district for a preliminary discussion over the summer.

The Jamesburg Board of Education gave the schools and districts until Oct. 1 to make a decision, and Freehold Regional High School District decided to pass on the opportunity, Sampson said.

“We took a hard look at the demographic data, the process for taking those 250 students and thought, along with the other four districts that were in consideration, that it was not appropriate for us at this point in time so we’ve decline that opportunity at this point,” Sampson said.

The three other districts that were an option also declined the opportunity, Sampson explained. Jamesburg will continue the send and receive relationship with Monroe High School that it currently has.