By David Kilby, Staff Writer
Parents in Jamesburg and Monroe have formed a group, Citizens of Jamesburg and Monroe United, which aims to do all it can to keep Jamesburg high school students in Monroe Township High School.
About 60 people attended the group’s second meeting Monday in the Elks Lodge in Jamesburg.
Last month, the boards of education of Jamesburg and Monroe agreed to stop sending Jamesburg’s approximately 205 high school students to Monroe Township High School starting September 2012. Those who already are enrolled in MTHS at that time would continue to attend, but incoming Jamesburg freshmen would be going somewhere else.
School officials have said the Jamesburg School District cannot afford to pay the tuition rate and debt service required for the new Monroe Township High School. The tuition rate per pupil for Jamesburg students is $16,100. School officials have said other schools in the area could make an offer of around $13,000 to $14,000, but nothing regarding the tuition of other high schools has been confirmed.
Citizens of Jamesburg and Monroe United have signed a petition asking the Jamesburg Board of Education to undertake a feasibility study and appoint a public advisory committee to explore the options Jamesburg has regarding the send-receive relation with Monroe and the severing of it.
The petition asks for the educational and financial implications of all the options available to Jamesburg. It also asks for a restructuring of the Jamesburg School District, “including but not limited to consolidating or sharing services with the Monroe School District.”
Jamesburg school officials have been researching Jamesburg’s options.
”There are firms that do these studies,” said parent Paul Gentile, who conducted the meeting Monday. “They could consult these firms. How much that will cost I don’t know.”
Mr. Gentile has sent letters to various politicians as well as state and county school officials, including Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf and Samuel Stewart, Middlesex County superintendent of schools.
His letter asks to slow down the process of ending the send-receive relation so everyone can make a more informed decision and also asks for whatever help possible.
The letters stresses Jamesburg and Monroe are “two towns but one community.”
Mayor Tony LaMantia, who attended the meeting Monday, said the New Jersey Department of Education is undertaking a study regarding Jamesburg’s situation, and he said he will be meeting with it within the next week to discuss what it has found.
He said he is in contact with the state but not with the county.
He said he can’t partake in any Board of Education decisions, but “I’m still part of this borough, and I’m going to do what I need to do,” he said.
”We need to understand all of the options,” Mr. Gentile said. “This is our community. I think we need to be involved.”
He said when the send-receive relation between Jamesburg and Monroe began 32 years ago, “It was not a pretty picture. There were a lot of lawsuits involved.”
He explained that when the state court-ordered Jamesburg High School to close in 1979 and send its students to Monroe, Monroe at first was not pleased with the decision since MTHS couldn’t quickly accommodate the new students.
At the meeting Monday three parents, Richard Reynolds, Monica Ludwig and Tom Van de Sande, announced they were going to run as write-in votes at the election Wednesday.
They received a significant number of votes at the polls. Mr. Reynolds received 136 votes, Ms. Ludwig, 136, and Mr. Van de Sande, 120.
Incumbent Linda Newton won the election with 188 votes. Incumbent Salvatore Brucato also won with 182 votes. William Maresca will fill the third available seat after receiving 181 votes, taking the place of Donald Peterson, who is stepping down from the board.
The budget of $12,437,264 passed 230 to 179. The budget is $467,767 or 3.9 percent more than last year’s $11,969,499.
Mr. Van de Sande, who has children in Jamesburg’s eighth, seventh and fifth grades, had an opinion a bit different from the rest of the group.
”I’m not sure I want to pay more in taxes so my child can attend a school one mile down the road,” he said. “The cost to go to a private school may be less than it is to go to public.”
He said the ultimate goal is to stay with MTHS without raising taxes.
”This is going to have to be a marathon, not a sprint,” Mr. Gentile said.
He said he hopes to put together an ad hoc committee, similar to the one formed in 1979 when Jamesburg began sending its students to Monroe.
Kathy Slomian, a Monroe resident who has three children in Monroe schools, said Jamesburg parents have to remember one of the main reasons for the high tuition rate for MTHS is due to the Monroe school district’s low state aid amount. The district will receive only $204 per student for the 2011-12 school year.
”My children’s education basically comes from me, my taxes,” she said.
”The governor keeps talking about (education) reform,” Mr. Gentile said. “I think we can be a model of success if other people step in.”

