Middletown School Board Votes To Close 3 Schools: Leonardo, Navesink Elementaries And Bayshore Middle School

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Thursday night, the Middletown school board took a historic vote to close three schools, as it further shrinks the size of one of the largest school districts in Monmouth County.

The school board voted to close Leonardo and Navesink elementary school buildings, and Bayshore Middle School. The students currently at Leonardo and Navesink will be moved into Bayshore Middle School building, and the building will be renamed Bayshore Elementary School.

Current Bayshore Middle School students will be rezoned to attend Thorne and Thompson middle schools.

Middletown will reduce the size of its district to 10 elementary schools that will now feed into two middle schools (Thorne and Thompson). Here is an outline of the plan the school district released to the public Saturday.

The school district plans to start the process of closing the two elementary schools in the 2026-'27 school year.

The Middletown school district, under superintendent Jessica Alfone, has been pushing to close these three schools since last year. The Middletown school district has been trying to reduce its size for several years now; it closed Port Monmouth Elementary in 2020, citing reduced enrollment.

The district said closing the schools is necessary because the Middletown school district has budget deficits: The district reported a budget deficit of $3.2 million for the 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 that deficit will swell to $13.9 million in 2029-2030.

"Shrinking the district footprint allows us to use staff more efficiently, needing less staff, which is the largest driver of the budget," the district said Saturday.

The school board approved this vote as it works to prepare the 2026-'27 budget, which is due to the state in March.

Board president Chris Aveta was the first to put closing schools on the agenda Thursday night. His introduction was seconded by Jacqueline Tobacco and Frank Capone, who both support school closures.

"The board has a legal obligation to adopt a budget," said Aveta. "The board must make a decision so the administration can proceed accordingly in meeting its budget obligations."

Thursday night's meeting lasted for more than five hours, with dozens of Middletown parents speaking against the school closures. Right before the vote was taken, parents in the audience started chanting "Put children first," in what appeared to be an attempt to drown out the roll call from being taken. Some parents warned they will sue the district for closing schools.

Caterina Skalaski, who was a pivotal swing vote on the issue, sobbed as she read a statement saying why she voted to close the schools.

"I know the outcome will be difficult for many," she said, in part. "Continuing to delay difficult decisions can create even greater challenges for our students, family and community."

She also apologized to the public for voting to close the schools.

Five BOE members voted to approve the school closures, and four voted against. Here is how the vote went:

• Chris Aveta, Frank Capone, Jacqueline Tobacco, Sarah Weinstein and Skalaski voted "yes" to close the three schools.
• Mark Soporowski, Joan Minnuies, Erin Torres and Deb Wright voted "no" against it.

"It is irresponsible at best to put a plan in place when we have a superintendent that's leaving," said Soprowksi, referring to the fact that superintendent Alfone put in her papers to quit the district at the end of June.

Before the vote was taken, Minnuies proposed multiples times tabling the school-closure proposal and Wright introduced another motion to create the 2026-'27 school year budget without school closings. But both Minnuies' and Wright's efforts failed to get enough votes.

Torres wanted to know if the proposal to close the schools was discussed by the five "yes" members before Thursday's meeting.

"This was discussed in executive session," responded Aveta. "A majority of the board wants to move forward."

Both Soporowksi and Minnuies warned this will lead to severe overcrowding in Middletown's two remaining middle schools, Thorne and Thompson.

"What concerns me most is not just the proposal (to close schools), but how we got here," said Soporowski. "This is not leadership; this is a reaction."

Soporowski further criticized the proposal to close the three schools because "there are no academic benchmarks tied to this proposal. And no multi-year financial modeling. (This) does not take into account student performance."

Soporowski was met with claps from the audience many times.

Torres accused the school district of not working with her when she proposed other ways to find revenue.

"My questions have not been answered in the past year. Enough is enough," she said. "We deserve responses; we've been waiting for a year ... Where is the creativity in finding money for this district?"

Torres said the way the school district carried out the school closures "divided the town, and it divided everything that makes this town great. It was disgusting."

Torres also warned more Middletown school closures will come in the future .

Here's the school closing plan: Middletown Unveils 2026 Plan To Close 2 Elementary Schools, And Bayshore Middle School

Here is Thursday night's school board meeting: