Sea Bright officials: SRHS building plan sprung on us
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT - News of Shore Regional High School District's plans for a $50 million construction referendum next month has caught some borough officials by surprise.

Moreover, the regional school board's expectation that Sea Bright property owners would agree to pick up about 12 percent of nearly $32 million that the district expects to pass on to taxpayers has not sat well with Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams and the Borough Council.

Were it not for the district newsletter dated July 2006 sent to residents in Shore Regional's four sending communities - Sea Bright, Oceanport, West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach - Kalaka-Adams and other council members wonder when and how they would have otherwise heard about the bond referendum scheduled for Sept. 26.

During the council's Aug. 1 meeting, Kalaka-Adams said she spoke with the high school's administration in West Long Branch in March and no one from the district even brought up the referendum, then under consideration by the board.

"There was no mention of this," Kalaka-Adams said. "I was also a little puzzled that the only way we were notified was by this newsletter."

Because some residents might not have received the newsletter yet, the council might need to inform them of the upcoming vote, said Councilwoman Dina Long, who chairs the governing body's education committee.

"No one I've spoken to has received this [newsletter]," Long said.

The referendum carries a total price tag of $49,797,221.

Shore Regional Business Administrator Stephen J. Brennan indicated last week that the district's Community Facilities Task Force decided in December to pursue the construction plan.

Sea Bright officials and residents should have been invited to participate in that task force when it first organized last September, according to Councilwoman Maria Fernandes.

"There must have been many discussions," Fernandes said. "Shame on us. We got burned this time."

The council might want to consider asking Sea Bright's sole representative on the 10-member board for a monthly report on that group's activities and proposals, Fernandes said.

Sea Bright's board representative, Joan Brearley, was in attendance and took exception to the remarks by the mayor and council members.

"I'm very disappointed to hear that you people feel that there was a lack of communication between the school board and Sea Bright," Brearley said. "Our phones are open all of the time."

Although borough officials say they are not sure what the tax impact in Sea Bright would amount to if the referendum passed, they still expressed concern about its costs, even with the predicted state contribution."

Kalaka-Adams noted that she has written to Shore Regional's Superintendent/

Principal Leonard Schnapphauf to get more information about the task force and monthly meeting reports.

"Fifty million dollars is a lot of money," Kalaka-Adams said.

Council President William "Jack" Keeler, who oversees finance, indicated that he would contact the borough's auditor to work up preliminary figures as a point of reference for officials.

Still, Keeler agreed also that paying for extensive renovations at Shore Regional, where about 20 Sea Bright students attended classes last year, could put a wrench in the council's intentions to renovate its existing borough hall at 1167 Ocean Ave. or construct a new facility in the municipal parking lot.

Regardless of their opinions of the referendum, Long encouraged officials and residents to tell one another about the vote, which is scheduled for Sept. 26.

"Be sure to get out the vote," Long said.

Sea Bright has historically rejected the Shore Regional budget, even when the other three municipalities accepted it.

The board's $13.2 million budget failed by 93 votes initially in April, with Sea Bright and Oceanport voters turning it down.

The school board's next public meeting is set for 7 p.m. on Aug. 24 inside the building's media center.