Middletown School District Considering Redistricting

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Could redistricting be coming to the Middletown school district?

The year 2020 has not been kind to the Middletown school system. Incredibly, in this year alone the district has had to grapple with a virus that is not going away; a new superintendent; balancing a delicate hybrid balance of in-class and virtual learning; continued state aid cuts; closing a beloved elementary school (Port Monmouth) and now the kicker: A possible redistricting plan on the horizon.

Redistricting means students will be shifted and go to different schools than where they are currently assigned. It also could mean additional Middletown schools may be closed.

Plans are still very vague and the district is being coy about what will happen. New superintendent Mary Ellen Walker (she started Aug. 1) did not respond when asked if the district is considering redistricting.

But Board of Education President Pam Rogers did get back to Patch and said:

"Everything is on the table," said Rogers. "We have an overcrowding issue in the district, such as at Thompson and High School South, whereas other schools have room for 100 students. That's what we're experiencing right now. None of these decisions are easy since we lost that state funding."

To study Middletown's changing demographics, the district paid $48,000 to hire Milone & MacBroom planning firm, which gave a presentation at the most recent Board of Education last Wednesday (you can watch it below).

In their presentation, the firm showed that district-wide K-12 enrollment has gone down two percent in the past six years. At the elementary level, it's gone down seven percent.

The firm found there was a much higher birth rate in the late '90s and early 2000s in Middletown. After that, however there was a period of steady population decline.

Middletown is still an attractive community for young families. For example, two new developments, Heritage at Middletown and Middletown Walk, will bring new students into the system.

But the population gains are not evenly spread throughout the Township, according to the consultants.

Over the next five to ten years, Fairview, Lincroft and Middletown Village elementary schools are expected to see the highest gains in student enrollment. Bayview, Harmony, Leonardo and New Monmouth will experience smaller gains. And Navesink Elementary School is projected to see an actual decrease in students.

At the middle school level, Bayshore and Thompson will see steady student enrollment, but Thorne is expected to lose students over the next five to ten years.

Enrollment will be on the decline at both North and South high schools, but South is losing students at a faster pace, the consultants found.

Watch the consultants' Sept. 23 presentation:

Middletown's drop in students has led to an ongoing reduction in state aid over the past several years.

For 2020-21, Middletown received $15.7 million from the state, which is five percent less than the district has gotten in prior years.

In 2019, Middletown property taxes went up as the district lost $550,000 in state aid that year.

In March, the Middletown BOE said it was forced to close Port Monmouth elementary, due to a lack of students and a lack of funding. All Port Monmouth students were moved into New Monmouth starting this September. There was one section of second grade and one section of third grade enrolled at Port Monmouth when the district closed it.

What's next? The consulting firm will advise Middletown on next steps.

"We're going to run through some scenarios and present what the implication and various options are," said Mike Zuba, of Milone & MacBroom.

Read: Tears And Anger: Middletown BOE Votes To Close Port Monmouth (March 12, 2020)