Middletown School Board Continues To Argue Over Closing Schools

EdMIDDLETOWN, NJ — At Tuesday night's Middletown school board meeting, Erin Torres introduced a motion to rescind the vote from the Feb. 26 meeting, which was when a majority of the board voted to close Leonardo and Navesink elementary school buildings, and make Bayshore Middle School an elementary school.

However, Torres' motion failed, as the same five board members who voted for the school closures in February did not vote Tuesday night to rescind their vote.

Torres said she wants to postpone closing schools for one year, "until we can have an actual plan," she said. She said she also wants the school closures done "under a new superintendent that will guide us through this process."

(Superintendent Jessica Alfone will retire in June.)

Torres made this motion after Alfone read a statement at Tuesday night's meeting:

"I believe that school closures are necessary and inevitable for us in Middletown," said Alfone, in part. "This is necessary for the district to continue to move to greater financial health."

However, Alfone revealed she was not the one who put the proposal to close schools on the agenda at the February meeting. This was because a) she did not know if a majority of the board would approve it and b) the district had not held enough conversations about school closures last summer and fall. That was because the district's current budget shortfall was not known until mid-winter.

It was Board president Chris Aveta who first introduced the proposal to close the three schools at that Feb. 26 meeting. His introduction was seconded by Jacqueline Tobacco and Frank Capone, who both support school closures.

At Tuesday night's meeting, Aveta defended how the vote to close schools was done, saying it was introduced and debated in a public forum, at the school board meeting.

"I can only act on the information and the facts that are presented by the administration that runs this district," Aveta said Tuesday night. "And they are telling me there's a structural deficit in our budget and we need to do something, otherwise we are gonna be $30 million short in four years. They say you can decide to close schools this year or next year, but you're gonna have to take action because we can't support the footprint of this district as it is."

The Middletown school district says it has a budget deficit of $3.2 million for the current 2026-2027 school year. That deficit is predicted to grow to $6.6-million deficit for 2027-2028, a $10-million deficit for 2028-2029 and balloon to $13.9 million in 2029-2030.

"And by the way, this isn't just a Middletown problem. This is happening for every suburban district across the state of New Jersey," said Aveta.

"At least they have a plan," shot back Joan Minnuies, who, like Torres, is calling for more time for the district to prepare a plan. She again said closing the three schools is the wrong idea.

"We are ripping the heart out of this town ... People come here for our schools. We should be coming up with a plan."

Middletown School Board Votes To Close 3 Schools: Leonardo, Navesink Elementaries And Bayshore Middle School (Feb. 27)

Mark Soporowski said the school board was never presented with other budget alternatives that did not include closing the three schools.

Torres similarly asked if the district had prepared any other budget options, as an alternative to closing the schools. She said the district stopped taking other ideas into consideration in the strategic planning process in July/August.

"We've had no strategic planning meetings since," said Torres. "We have no real numbers. Nobody can say how much the moving is going to cost; nobody can say how much the teachers are going to be paid."

Soporowski called next year's budget "a Band-Aid."

"There is no long-term plan. That's not how you run a district," he said.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you voted to raise taxes 10 percent," Capone said to Soporowski last night. "Mark, I told you last year 10.1 percent would get you back here this year with the same problem."

Minnuies, who also voted for last year's 10.1 percent tax increase, defended it.

"Our kids needed what we did last year; we needed a bridge," she said at the BOE meeting. "We needed that money ... We are in the same position last year we are now and we shouldn't be."

This was only the first half of Tuesday night's Middletown school board meeting, which lasted for more than five hours. In the second half of the meeting, the board took a vote on the preliminary budget for next year: Middletown BOE Approves Next Year's Preliminary Budget, Which Includes Closing 2 Schools, 3 Percent Tax Hike

Editor's note: Chris Aveta said there is predicted to be a $30-million deficit for the Middletown school district in four years. Patch thought he said $13 million.

Watch the Tuesday night BOE meeting: