OCEANPORT — A win-win situation.
That is how Board of Education members and school administration are describing the proposed shared service agreement for the school district’s child study team services with the Deal School District.
The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed shared service agreement at the regularmeeting Thursday at Maple Place Middle School. The board is expected to vote on the measure the same night.
A copy of the agreement is available for inspection by the public between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Oceanport Board of Education offices, 29 Wolf Hill Ave.
Superintendent Andrew Orefice said the idea of the shared service agreement with Deal came out of a meeting of the Shared Service Committee, which Orefice said is composed of the superintendent, business administrator and board presidents of the Oceanport, Monmouth Beach, Shore Regional High School and West Long Branch school districts.
“This agreement allows the Deal School District to have a continuous presence of a child study team in their district,” said Orefice. “Right now they contract out for a child study team.”
A child study team consists of a psychologist, a learning consultant and a social worker and sometimes a therapist, Orefice explained.
“The team evaluates students who may have a learning disability,” he explained.
Deal Superintendent Anthony F. Moro Jr. said the proposed child study team shared service agreement would provide students in both school districts with “better services and at times better suited to meet the needs of students.”
“By entering into a shared service agreement, both boards will save substantial funds, which will benefit the taxpayers,” he said.