By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
A legal issue involving the Millstone Township K-8 School District and the Upper Freehold Regional School District is proceeding in court.
The two districts have a long-standing relationship in which students of high school age who reside in Millstone Township can attend Allentown High School in the Upper Freehold Regional School District.
In 2016, the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education filed legal action against the Millstone Board of Education. The issue at hand concerns the Millstone board paying tuition for Millstone residents who enroll in specialized programs at Red Bank Regional High School, Little Silver.
Upper Freehold Regional claims the payment of that tuition is unlawful and is requesting Kimberley Harrington, New Jersey’s acting commissioner of education, to order Millstone to no longer send and Red Bank Regional to no longer receive students whose tuition is paid for by Millstone.
Under state law, a board of education that does not provide a particular high school course of study may pay to send a student who resides in the district to a high school in a district that offers the course of study the student seeks.
According to legal documents pertaining to the case, Millstone maintains that under that statute, it is legally sending students to Red Bank Regional because Upper Freehold Regional does not provide a course of study in the areas in which Millstone residents are enrolled.
Upper Freehold contests Millstone’s claim, arguing that Allentown High School provides instruction in the courses of study the Millstone students are pursuing at Red Bank Regional, according to the legal documents.
The Millstone residents attending Red Bank Regional High School, according to the legal documents, are enrolled in that school’s Academy of Finance, Academy of Information Technology, Academy of Engineering, Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, and a culinary program.
The matter moved to court after motions for summary decision filed by Upper Freehold Regional and Millstone were denied by Administrative Law Judge Sarah G. Crowley.
In denying the school districts’ motions for summary decision, Crowley wrote that she concluded that a material issue of fact exists as to what constitutes a course of study and to whether what Upper Freehold Regional and Red Bank Regional provide constitutes a course of study in the five disciplines pursued by the Millstone residents at Red Bank Regional.
In accordance with her conclusion, Crowley ordered that the matter between Upper Freehold Regional and Millstone proceed to a hearing on the issues of fact presented in the matter.
Upper Freehold Regional appealed Crowley’s decision to Harrington, but the appeal was denied.
In a document sent to Millstone residents, Millstone Superintendent of Schools Scott Feder said representatives of both boards engaged in settlement discussions. According to Feder, the settlement discussions were unsuccessful.
The case has been in trial since February and is scheduled to conclude this month. A final judgment is not expected until months later, according to Feder, who said that as of April 4, Millstone’s attorney fees totaled $183,000.
Feder’s document was met with a letter from Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education President Patricia Hogan to Millstone Board of Education President Sal Casale. In her letter, Hogan contended that Feder’s document contains factual inaccuracies and compromises the ongoing litigation.
Additionally, Hogan said she believes the document appears to have the purpose of impacting the relationship between the Upper Freehold board and Millstone residents.
“A large population of Allentown High School is Millstone Township students and the (Upper Freehold) board values the contributions these students and their parents make to help Allentown High School be the vibrant and rich institution it is,” Hogan said.
“The board is dismayed that Mr. Feder would release a document which appears to be intended to drive a wedge between the board and the many Millstone Township families it serves at Allentown High School. The board continues to value and promote the partnership it has with Millstone Township as we continue the tradition of excellence at Allentown High School,” Hogan said.