TOMS RIVER – Residents of five towns will be going to the polls to decide if Seaside Heights students should leave Central Regional and join the Toms River Regional School District.
A Seaside Heights Board of Education meeting held early in the morning had board members vote to ask the state to allow them to have a referendum. Later that day, at 5:30 p.m., Toms River Board of Education also met and voted for a referendum.
The vote was not unanimous. Jennifer Howe, Ashley Lamb, Joseph Nardini, Anna Polozzo, Michele Williams, Kathy Eagan and Kevin Kidney voted to create the special election and have residents decide. Lisa Contessa and Melissa Morrisson voted against it.
This means that at some time in the near future, there will be a vote in Seaside Heights, Toms River, Pine Beach, Beachwood, and South Toms River where residents will decide whether Seaside Heights kids should join Toms River.
There is about one class worth of students per grade level currently attending Seaside Heights schools.
Prior to the vote, Superintendent Michael Citta outlined how accepting the new town will be good for all children, and will be fiscally responsible. It will give them a continuity of education that they don’t get while going to one school for elementary and Central for middle and high school.
Douglas Corbett, the interim superintendent of Central, gave a statement to this newspaper prior to the meeting. “The feasibility report raises numerous questionable findings that ultimately will require legal clarification and further study by all impacted parties,” he said. “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 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.”
Residents were able to voice their opinion, with some wanting Seaside to join and some disagreeing with that move.
Seaside residents have said that they have no choice, because the town wants to take over the school and turn it into a new police station.
Seaside resident Glen Tuzzolino said “Seaside Heights is being built up. It’s all about money. It’s not about loving the community. The more students you have, the more money you get from the state.”
Some Toms River Board members said that was exactly why they voted to accept Seaside.
“These children are going to be moved somewhere,” Toms River board member Nardini said. “I can’t think of any other district that will give them more than Toms River.”
Two years ago, there was a shared services study performed regarding the future of the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School.
Borough administrator Christopher Vaz said at the time that studying this has been part of the annual Transitional Aid Memorandum of Understanding. In order to keep receiving Transitional Aid, the borough has to explore ways to save money or be more efficient. Other examples of this would be sharing services with other towns.
In 2021, when making the application, the state asked them to explore school regionalization. This led to a feasibility study on sending and receiving districts.
The borough first applied for Transitional Aid after losing so much in Superstorm Sandy and the boardwalk fire, he explained. The town lost more than $240 million in property, creating a huge financial shortfall. Transitional Aid is designed to take the place of that lost income while properties rebuild.
