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Closing schools back on table at Jersey Shore

JERSEY SHORE — School closings are back on the table in the Jersey Shore Area School District.

This week, the administration presented two cost-cutting measures to the board.

One outlines closing Avis and Salladasburg Elementary schools.

The other is selling the administration building.

District Superintendent Jill Wenrich on Monday night outlined plans so the school board could provide input and decisions.

Assistant Superintendent Ken Dady Jr. offered the school-closing proposal entitled, “Consolidation of Buildings Movement Plan.”

It involves closing the elementary schools and again reconfiguring remaining schools.

Under this plan, kindergarten through third grade would be in the elementary school, fourth through seventh grades would be in the middle school and eighth through 12th would be in the high school.

Avis and Salladasburg, two outlying schools, would be closed and sold.

The proposal has the schools closed prior to the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

Board member Mary Thomas urged the board to stop and think a little before moving forward with any plan.

“I think we need to think a little more and think outside the box,” she said. “I feel we’re not being fair to our students or fair to our taxpayers to make premature decisions without looking at the overall picture of what the future of this district should be.”

As for the administration office at 175 A&P Drive in the borough, those offices would be moved to various buildings.

Wenrich cautioned that such a move means a decentralization of materials, supplies and equipment, so it’s likely, for example, that a pole building would need to built to house some equipment.

“I wanted to report to the board what we have found as we have begun our research on the selling of the administration building and I’m going to need some direction,” she said.

Operational costs for the administration building are about $54,000.

Selling the building could return it to the tax rolls if a private owner buys it. Estimating the sale price at $1 million would generate an annual $17,000 tax bill, she said.

Following a discussion of the feasibility of the plan, board members each stated where they stood.

Four said they’d favor the move; four vocalized against it.

Board member Merrill Switzer, who is against the plan, said, “I wish we would stop talking about moving out of this building. It’s the perfect setup as far as I am concerned.”

Last spring, the district furloughed a dozen teachers amid growing payroll, benefit and pension costs.

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