Anderson: Wildwood High School Isn’t Closing

WILDWOOD — In a letter read at the Wednesday, Jan. 21 Wildwood City Board of Education meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dennis J. Anderson reported to the board that Wildwood High School is not closing.
“Despite some of the rumors floating around, we have absolutely no plans to close the high school. Not now. Not next year. Never,” he stated.
As part of his response to a December letter sent by Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. asking for an “exit strategy” to close the high school in order to save taxpayers money, Anderson stated, “Based on our analysis there would be no economic advantage to the taxpayers of Wildwood by closing the high school.”
“When you factor in the additional costs to any district that receives all of our students — building, additional staff, additional services — and the cost of transporting our students we just do not see a savings,” Anderson stated in a release made available Thursday, Jan. 22.
Reluctant to be specific, Anderson stated that normally studies of those issues take two years. “We were asked to come up with an analysis in three weeks. We took a little longer, and have done the best we can, but it is irresponsible to think these numbers are solid enough to act upon.”
Anderson stated that their estimate showed that sending Wildwood’s high school students to Middle Township as sending/receiving students would incur an additional cost to the city taxpayers of more than $50,000. Sending the students to Lower Cape May Regional would incur an additional cost of more than $100,000.
According to Anderson using a regionalized arrangement, in which a district uses the equalized base of property values as the basis of the cost paid, Wildwood taxpayers would pay an additional $200,000.
“It is important for people to know that there are no plans to close Wildwood High School,” said Anderson. “Ever since we began dealing with this issue we have received calls from people who think we are closing the school. That just is not happening.”
According to Anderson, the board of education was “reluctant to be drawn into this projection” due to the short time frame in which they were asked to respond.
“It usually takes nearly two years to do these studies properly,” he said. “Any numbers we quote here must be taken with that in mind, and must be understood to be only the roughest of estimates.”
Anderson added that the county branch of the Department of Education is currently in the midst of a study of all the schools in the county looking for any possible efficiencies, including shared services, consolidation, and regionalization.
“That study is due to be done next spring. It will be a comprehensive analysis of the very issue Mayor Troiano asked us to look at, but it will look at all options across all the schools in the county. The Wildwood City Board of Education will await that report and take appropriate action at that time,” Anderson stated.
Anderson explained that any recommendations for consolidation, regionalization, or a change in sending-receiving relationships must then be voted on by the residents of all the districts affected by the changes.
If even one of those districts votes against the recommendation, then the change is defeated.
In 1990, the school districts on the island received a comprehensive study on the benefits of regionalizing all the schools on the island. That study took two years to complete and cost over $10,000, according to Anderson.
The study cited the financial incentives being offered by the Department of Education at that time calculated a combined savings — to all the schools on the island — of approximately $73,000.
The study stated that the big advantages of regionalization would be increased efficiency, better curriculum articulation between the districts, improved professional development, increased efficiency in central administration, increased purchasing power through cooperative purchasing, and other similar advantages.
According to Anderson, over the past three years, through sharing of services, “We have accomplished almost all of the goals the 1990 regionalization study recommended — and we have saved money for the districts while doing them.”
“We share a superintendent of schools, a business administrator, a technology coordinator, payroll preparation, food service preparation, and child study team services. We participate in purchasing cooperatives, a transportation cooperative, insurance cooperatives, shared staff development, and other similar activities to improve services and save money. Through these, and other methods, we have been able to avoid increasing the school’s tax levy for two years,” he continued.
Anderson stated that the district would be forwarding its review and analysis to County Executive Superintendent Terrence Crowley for review.
In Troiano’s December letter to Anderson, he stated, “Nowhere will you find a bigger proponent of Wildwood High School.”
Personal feelings aside, Troiano added, “I am placed in the position of having to investigate all possible tax cuts and reductions throughout the city, including the possible closing of Wildwood High School.”
“I am left with few options when faced with an overwhelming amount of residents in the community who are no longer willing to fund local education,” the mayor continued in that letter.