Toms River-Seaside Heights School Merger Referendum Approved By State

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A request by the Toms River Regional and Seaside Heights school boards to hold a referendum on a proposed merger of the districts has been approved by the New Jersey Department of Education.

In a letter released to the districts Thursday, Kevin Dehmer, the acting commissionoer of education, said he was approving the request for a referendum to be held on April 16. The proposal also would allow Seaside Heights to withdraw from the Central Regional School District.

"The application submitted by the Petitioners is approved and the proposed referendum may proceed," Dehmer wrote. "Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:13-43, I hereby authorize the question presented by the proposed referendum to be presented to the voters at an election to be held on April 16, 2024, the third Tuesday in April 2024.

In approving the request, Dehmer cited the Feb. 27 response from Toms River and Seaside Heights to concerns raised by Central Regional High School that said Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School would remain open for up to five years.

"Central’s arguments do not specifically address most of the requisite factors in N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11," Dehmer wrote. "Further, Central’s primary argument is that the closing of Boyd Elementary School will detrimentally impact Seaside Heights students. Petitioners, however, indicated that Boyd Elementary will remain open for the 2024-2025 school year and for up to four years after that, depending on enrollment. (Petitioner’s February 27, 2024 Reply Letter)."

"The commitment to leaving Boyd Elementary School open for up to five years post-consolidation will ease the transition and dispells many of the concerns raised by Central," he wrote.

"Central Regional is shocked that the Acting Commissioner made such an important decision so quickly without further study of numerous factors likely to affect Seaside Heights students for many years," said Eric Harrison of the law firm Methfessel & Werbel, which is representing Central Regional in the matter. The factors "are not resolved by Toms River's 11th-hour commitment to keep Boyd Elementary School open, subject to a stipulation involving student enrollment which we suspect will result in the school closing much sooner than five years from now. "

"Seaside Heights has been a constituent member of Central Regional since 1956. We are surprised the Commissioner was so willing to allow the dissolution of over 65 years of history, and to tear apart Central Regional just to bail out Toms River Regional because of budgetary issues," Harrison wrote in an email to Patch.

"While we also believe that holding a vote in April on this referendum would violate applicable election laws, we will await word from the Ocean County Board of Elections on that issue before taking any further action," he said.

The full letter can be read below.

Read more: Seaside Heights-Toms River School Regionalization: What It Would Mean