School Days

Sea Isle discusses school's fate at forum
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, April 18, 2007

SEA ISLE CITY — At tables stationed between foul lines on the school gymnasium's basketball court, residents began public discussions on the fate of the city's only school.

Enrollment at the 93-student school is declining and could drop to 61 in five years, with class sizes too small to field a basketball team, according to projections.

More than 100 residents attended a public forum Monday night, sitting in groups and brainstorming the pros and cons of keeping the small school on Park Road or sending students to other districts.

Among the considerations were decreased school taxes if the school closed, paired with loss of community if it closed. Joining another district could also mean the school loses much of its elected representation on a school board.

“I think this community has some tough decisions to make,” said Interim Chief School Administrator Timothy Wade. “My experience is that although this is hard, time-consuming and messy-in a democratic sense — it's far better than a board in isolation making a decision (the public) feels they don't have a say in.”

The city scheduled a second public forum for April 23.

The results will be put in the form of minutes and distributed to the city Board of Education, said Charles Ivory, executive director of the Educational Information and Resource Center, which published a city-funded feasibility study on the school in March.

Wade said the student population is expected to drop over the next five years, to 81, 69, 65, 64 and 61.

Class sizes of six to eight students per grade are possible, he said.

As a result, the per-student spending will go up.

Already the highest in the state at $33,805 per student, the school's per-student spending is nearly three times the state average.

City officials said the Board of Education will face an important decision.

At Monday's forum, the likeliest options included keeping the school as it is or sending all students to the Ocean City School District.

The feasibility study also included the possibility of sending students to Middle or Dennis townships. Sea Isle City currently sends it high school students to Ocean City.

“My eyes are open a little more,” Mike Boyle said following the meeting.

Boyle said he feels the city should try to keep the school open “for the spirit of our community.”
“Yes, it will have some cost, but we won't lose that spirit,” he said.
John Vliet supported sending students to Ocean City.

“Our kids need that socialization you have when you're with more students,” Vliet said.

Keeping the school has obvious advantages and disadvantages on paper.

Sending students to Ocean City would drop the school-tax rate about 30 percent, or $181 for a homeowner with a $564,000 house, which is the average assessment, Wade said.

Also, the school building leaks and has other problems.

A long-range facility plan from October 2006 identified $2.2 million in repairs “that are in the realm of must be made,” he said.

But if it joined another district, Sea Isle City would likely lose representation on the elected body that decides future tax rates and educational issues, he said.

There could be other losses as well.

Inside the school's gymnasium are banners proudly touting past successful soccer and sports teams through the decades.

Tara Crowell said she would like to see the school remain open for younger students but perhaps send middle-school-aged students to another district.

Wade said the forums serve to eliminate rumors or inaccurate information regarding the school and to allow residents to listen for themselves.

“This was really good to answer some basic questions… and now that you have a baseline of data, what do you do?”

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press: BIanieri@pressofac.com