JACKSON – During the most recent township Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Nicole Pormilli reported on the status of the school district’s ongoing strategic plan which is calling for the closure of a middle school and realignment of grades at its two high schools.
Pormilli previously reported that the School District was reviewing several models of action that would involve possibly consolidating the district’s two high schools into one and/or merging two middle schools.
It was announced that the Carl W. Goetz Middle School will close and will be put up for sale. The school district’s five elementary schools will go back to pre-kindergarten-4 with Christa McAuliffe Elementary School housing 5th and 6th grades as an “upper elementary” school.
Jackson Memorial High School will go to 7th and 8th grade while Jackson Liberty High School will become the only 9th-12th grade public high school in the township.
Members of the Board have been discussing the district’s declining pupil enrollment and budget problems noting that a merger of schools might be necessary to meet some of its fiscal challenges caused by the state aid funding formula S-2 that was introduced several years ago by Governor Phil Murphy’s administration.
The governor and state administrators have repeatedly refused to fully adjust S-2 which has caused Jackson’s School system and others in Ocean County severe financial hardship.
Last year the school district was forced to close and sell the Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School which was one of its six public elementary schools. That property was recently purchased for $13.1 million.
Pormilli said prior to a PowerPoint presentation that explained the announcement, that “this is not really what any Board or administer wants to do in a district. It is a lot of work and a lot of emotion and a lot of change.”
“Change is never easy but we respect the fact that these decisions impact people, our students our staff and our community. We’ve had many sleepless nights. The process that the (Strategic Planning) Committee took has considered many multiple factors in the decision and every possible avenue and area so that we can provide a recommendation that we feel is going to benefit all of our students in this district,” she added.
She added that the school district wants strong programs for students that would include timely curriculum updates “that we haven’t been able to do over the last eight years. We want to keep and expand AP offerings, academies and have robust electives and strong supports for all of our students, intervention, enrichment, supplies, technology and we want to have strong opportunities for everybody.”
“We are tired of losing things for students,” Pormilli said. “We are tired of the fiscal issue that was not created by this district.” She explained that the restructuring was due to the declining pupil population and to save costs. The district is possibly facing a $13 million deficit for the 2025-2026 school year.
Pormilli said that the Board originally had eight different options to consider which was narrowed to half and last month it was determined that merging the two high schools wasn’t feasible “so that came off the plate which led us to two models.”
That was later narrowed to one model. Pormilli said all resident concerns that were voiced were taken back to the committee and shared with the Board of Education. The idea of redrawing sending areas for schools was eliminated based on public input. Current enrollment trends were also factored into the final decision.
Change Of BOE Leadership
The township’s Board of Education has a change of leadership which occurred during its reorganization meeting held earlier in the month.
Board Vice President Tina Kas was sworn in as a reelected member of the board and now serves as Board president. She was first sworn in as a Board member in January 2022 and has been serving as vice president for several years now with Giuseppe Palmeri having served as Board President.
Palmeri was sworn in on January 2 as a member of the township council and left his Board position at the end of 2024.
Palmeri attended the Board’s reorganization meeting. He serves as liaison between the Board and the Township Council and remarked at a recent council meeting, “I wanted to congratulate Ms. Kas, Dr. (Erica) Osmond and Mr. (Michael) Walsh on their electoral victories and taking the oath of office.”
“I would also like to congratulate Mrs. (Megan) Gardella on becoming Board vice president and Ms. Kas as being appointed president. The Board is in good hands. I look forward to advocating for our students continually and supporting the Board to the best of my ability as their liaison,” Councilman Palmeri added.
Kas has an accounting background and has managed the finances for other non-profit organizations in town. Gardella was sworn in to a three-year term in January 2023.
