NJ Education Commissioner Refers Middletown School Closings To Administrative Law Judge

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Seven Middletown parents asked the New Jersey Department of Education to halt the three school closings, but the state referred the matter to an Administrative Law judge, the parents' lawyer said Thursday.

Administrative law judges rule on disputes within state agencies, such as school districts.

On March 4, the seven parents filed this 206-page appeal with NJ Education Commissioner Lily Laux, asking her to intervene and keep Leonardo and Navesink elementaries and Bayshore Middle School open for one more year.

The parents who filed that are Kristin Rooney, Scott McPherson, Emilie Donohue, Jessica Donohue, Melissa Daus, Megan Daus and Kathleen Young. Their lawyer is Roshan Shah, owner of Shah Law Group in Shrewsbury.

In response, on March 23 lawyers for the Middletown school district asked Laux to dismiss the parents' petition (read what the district sent here or here).

What happens now?

What the seven parents filed is not a lawsuit. It was simply a formal request asking the NJ Education Commissioner to intervene in the closing of Middletown schools.

However, it appears Laux decided not to. Her agency asked an administrative law judge to make a ruling on the parents' appeal.

There will be a pre-hearing conference May 13, said Shah. However, that May 13 date is just a scheduling conference that will be done by phone. It will decide, among other things, the date of a hearing on the case, and whether or not oral arguments will even be heard. (An administrative law judge could dismiss the parents' appeal without hearing oral arguments.)

It's rare that the state Department of Education has intervened to stop the closure of a school.

Shah said he's taken the parents' case for free. He told Patch Thursday:

"I don’t know if the NJ Dept. of Education has stopped closures in the past. I would also imagine that most closures don’t draw challenges because: a) residents don’t want to pay legal fees to make the challenge; and b) lawyers don’t usually volunteer pro bono services for these types of cases. In this instance, I opted to take on this matter pro bono. I attended my first board meeting in February 2026, couldn’t believe what I witnessed. That was all the motivation I needed to dig deeper."

The Middletown school board will be asked to accept next year's budget at next Tuesday night's meeting, April 28. That's the budget that includes and prepares for closing/converting the three schools.

If a majority of the board adopts the budget next week, Monmouth County will sign off on it and the budget will be submitted to the NJ Department of Education.

Even if the county and state accept next year's budget, with school closures in it, an administrative law judge could still rule to stop the school closings — if he or she rules on behalf of the seven parents.

7 Middletown Parents File Appeal With State, Seeking To Block School Closures (March 6)

Here's The Latest With Closing Schools In Middletown (April 22)