TOMS RIVER – Voters will decide whether Seaside Heights should join the Toms River Regional School district today, at election sites from 1:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Schools are on half days today because the schools are voting sites for some areas.
Residents in Toms River, Pine Beach, Beachwood, South Toms River and Seaside Heights will be voting. If the “yes” votes win, the changes will come about in September with the 2024-2025 school year. However, if Seaside Heights votes “no” to regionalization, it doesn’t matter if Toms River votes “yes.”
The Seaside kids currently go to the Hugh J. Boyd Jr. School for kindergarten through 6th, and then go to Central Regional for middle and high school.
Originally, Seaside Heights officials were going to close down the Boyd school. The new plan would keep Boyd open. The school would be run by a local principal but under the umbrella of Toms River Regional administration. This is the same situation as Beachwood, Pine Beach, and South Toms River elementaries.
A child currently enrolled in Boyd would stay in Boyd, Superintendent Michael Citta said during a recent informational session. When a child graduates from Boyd, they would go to Intermediate East. If they are in 7th grade at Central, they have a choice to go to Intermediate East or Central Middle School next year. If they are in 8th grade now, they would go to High School East next year. If they are already in Central High, they’d have a choice to go to either Central High or High School East next year.
“Once you’re ready to transition buildings…you transition districts,” Citta said.
“We’re going to keep the school open, if it’s passed, up until five years – minimum two – or at least until enrollment drops below 125,” Citta said. He noted there are a large number of homes being built in Seaside right now.
He said there are about 175 students currently in Boyd, and less than 300 if you add middle and high school students. There would be a continuity of curriculum if all of them were in the same district.
If the vote passes, every town – including Seaside – will see a cut in school taxes, Citta said. Additionally, the school will start the steps toward making pre-kindergarten available district-wide.
If Seaside joins Toms River, it will solve many of the financial woes Toms River has – mostly due to a state funding formula that cut millions of dollars in aid from them.
Criticism
Some Seaside residents have been critical of the plan. They enjoy the home rule and lower class sizes that they currently have. Many residents have spoken about how the staff know each child in the school – something that might not happen when the kids go to larger schools and join the mix.
However, it’s unclear how long Boyd would stay open even if the vote goes down.
Central Regional officials have been challenging the idea of Seaside leaving. They said that they can provide better instruction than Toms River, listing factors such as Toms River not providing afterschool busing. They were also worried about the financial impact of an entire town’s worth of tax revenue leaving.
Business Administrator William Doering said that the $3 million in taxes coming from Seaside Heights would leave Central and then come to Toms River. However, Central would be made whole in the immediate term, then there would be a five-year phase out of taxes. “It’s not like if this passes, that $3 million gets ripped out away from Central Regional. It remains and then there’s a phase-out.”
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