Sea Isle City Board of Education Reflects on School Closure

SEA ISLE CITY — This past year or so has been very eventful for the Sea Isle City Board of Education. While the Ordered closure of our School as of June 30, 2012 was extremely sad, it was also, in many ways, necessary and a disguised blessing. Specifically, due to continuing declining enrollment, and the numerous program and financial issues that resulted, the closure was necessary in order to guarantee our students a top-quality educational experience and program, as well as provide the taxpayers of Sea Isle with some much needed relief.
Although the closure was ordered effective June 30, 2012, that decision by the State Board of Education was actually the end result of several years of dedicated efforts by our Board during which countless meetings, conversations and public discussions were held in an attempt to provide the best educational program for our students under the circumstances. After reviewing all of the options, it was the Board’s steadfast belief that the best option for all the students of the City was to attend the Ocean City School District.
In addition to the benefits our students received, the closure of our School also provided an ancillary benefit for the taxpayers of Sea Isle City. The closure of our School allowed the Board to lower the school taxes by $993,852, or by 28.74%, and allowed the tax rate to fall from $.0711 to $.0507. This savings proved to be even more important in the terrible aftermath of Superstorm Sandy as it helped to offset some of our City’s cost to clean-up and rebuild.
The closure of School also provided a shelter and haven for many City Offices and Departments that were displaced as a result of Sandy since the School thankfully withstood the Storm with minimal damage and was left dry after the flooding. Seeing the devastation and challenges facing the City, the School Board welcomed the City and its departments into the School, rent free in response to the emergency our community was facing. Having the City re-located into our School also allowed for the acceleration of previously started discussions with the City over the ownership of the School Building and Property. The end result of those discussions not only helped the City, but also the taxpayers, since ownership of the School Building and Property were turned over to the City for just $1.
The Board of Education is proud of all that has been achieved and accomplished, and would like to thank all those people who have helped them achieve their goals for the students of Sea Isle City. The Board would especially like to thank the three past Board Presidents, Mr. Szczurek, Mrs. Egnasko and Mr. Organ, who had started and continued the process to get us where we are today. They would also like to thank the Ocean City Board of Education, Dr. Kathleen Taylor and Thomas Grossi for their assistance in running the school district and for accepting our students. Finally, they would like to thank their attorney Mark Toscano, whose guidance and legal advice has been invaluable during this entire process.