Referendum, Regionalization Plan Get Seaside Heights School Board OK

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — In a morning meeting Friday, the Seaside Heights School Board moved to support closing its only building in a merger with Toms River Regional Schools, Patch has confirmed. Officials in both districts are considering petitioning the commissioner of education to put the matter before voters.

Under this proposed regionalization, Seaside Heights would close Hugh J. Boyd Elementary school and leave the Central Regional School District, where the borough's seventh through 12th graders currently attend middle and high school.

Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea said the board voted 4-0 Friday to approve a resolution in support of the merger and a petition for a referendum, with one board member absent.

The Toms River Regional Board of Education meets later Friday; more on that below. Central Regional, based in Bayville, appears to have no say in the withdrawal.

"Central Regional School District has no intention of allowing any neighboring school district to financially benefit at the cost of taxpayers in the remaining sending districts of Berkeley, Ocean Gate, Island Heights, and Seaside Park," the school board said last week. "The Central Regional School District remains deeply committed to ensuring students continue to receive a high-quality education, but the purpose of this study has very little to do with education."

In a statement, the Seaside Heights Education Association called on the board to reconsider its decision “until parents, educators and the Seaside Heights community can come together to make a thoughtful, well-informed decision that puts students first.”

“We are deeply concerned that it is being rushed through with little opportunity for thoughtful consideration or public input,” co-presidents Sherie Ensor and Suzanne Heagen said on Friday.

"While parents were walking their children to school this morning, board members quickly made a decision that will affect our entire community."

In November, the Seaside Heights Borough Council passed a resolution endorsing the conclusions of a regionalization study commissioned by the Seaside Heights Board of Education and Toms River Regional Board of Education, which says Seaside Heights should join the Toms River district for students from preschool through 12th grade.

The council resolution also authorizes a request to the state for permission to hold a referendum on Seaside Heights joining the Toms River Regional district and simultaneously withdrawing from the Central Regional School District, where the borough's seventh through 12th graders currently attend middle and high school.

A 104-page report on the study, which looked at the academic and financial impacts for Seaside Heights and for Toms River, says the proposal offers "distinct educational advantages for both districts and no identifiable impact, much less a substantial negative impact, on Central Regional if the small number of students from Seaside Heights (is) phased out."

Later Friday, the Toms River Regional Board of Education set a special meeting of their own to discuss the proposed regionalization. It begins with an executive session at 5 p.m., and a business session at 5:30 p.m.

The agenda for the meeting was posted to the district's website on Wednesday. The resolution and 104-page report on the proposal can be read online.

Toms River High School North is at 1245 Old Freehold Road, Toms River. The board meeting also will be available via live stream, and a link for the live stream will be published within 48 hours prior to the meeting.

Patch's Karen Wall and Veronica Flesher contributed to this report.

Past coverage:

• Seaside Heights-Toms River School Regionalization: What It Would Mean
• 'Questionable Findings' In District Merging Report: Central Regional