T.F. rejects Navy stance on Earle students

T.F. rejects Navy stance on Earle students
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
Tinton Falls officials are taking issue with a report by the U.S. Navy that states that children living in private housing at Naval Weapons Station Earle will attend borough schools.

“The Navy can scream and yell all they want, but all we ever asked for is children of naval personnel,” Martin Barger, attorney for the Tinton Falls Board of Education, said last week.

But a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy disagreed.

“From what the statute says, all schoolage children will go to Tinton Falls,” Lt. Laura Stegherr said in an interview last week.

The Navy is proceeding with plans to privatize 300 housing units at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck under an agreement with the developer of the Laurelwood housing area,

In a report issued May 22, the Navy states that there would be a significant impact on the schools in Tinton Falls as a result.“ Significant impacts … are anticipated at the Mahala Atchison Elementary School, the Swimming River Elementary School and the Tinton Falls Middle School as a result of an increased number of school-age children being sent to these schools under the proposed action,” the press release states.

“Specific impacts include physical capacity impacts, class size increases, additional school bus costs and the potential need for additional faculty.”

The Navy’s stance on educating children who will be living at the Laurelwood housing was contained in a Record of Decision for the Laurelwood Housing Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that announced the Navy’s decision on providing an unimpeded access roadway to the housing area.

The report estimates that additional annual costs to the Tinton Falls and Monmouth Regional school districts will be close to $2 million and $500,000, respectively. The report also projects that the amount of Federal Impact Aid will decrease.

Under the terms of an agreement with the U.S. Navy, for nearly 20 years the district has educated the children of Naval personnel stationed at Earle, and has received funding from the federal government to do so.

At issue is a 20-year-old statute that is being interpreted differently by the Navy and the Tinton Falls Board of Education.

The statute, N.J.S.A. 18A:38-7.8, states, “In the event that no board of education adopts a resolution indicating an interest in being designated pursuant to this section, the county superintendent shall not designate district and the pupils residing on the federal property shall attend the school of the district in which they reside.”

However, Barger and board President Peter Karavites interpret the statute differently.

“The statute does say that the county superintendent will say where the children go,” Barger said.

According to Karavites, since the housing units are located in another municipality, Tinton Falls must make a formal request to educate the students to county Superintendent Carole Knopp Morris.

Karavites said the Tinton Falls School District made the request for children of Naval personnel 19 years ago but has never made a request for any students but Navy children.

“The state law says that you have to request the kids to get them,” Karavites said. “Tinton Falls requested nothing but Navy children 19 years ago.”

Stegherr said the Navy would not be the party making the final decision on the issue.

“The Navy cannot be the deciding factor,” she said. “It is really for the state and local legislatures to decide.”

State legislators representing the 12th District opposed the privatization of housing units on the Navy base, based on security concerns.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said last week that the Navy should not be commenting on where students living at Earle will attend school.

“The Navy has no business saying where these kids are going,” O’Scanlon said. “I don’t understand it.”

O’Scanlon’s view is that officials in Colts Neck and Tinton Falls should reach a consensus on the issues.

“Our job is to get everyone working together and to get the best answer for everybody,” O’Scanlon said. “Tinton Falls has every right to find out what the interpretation of the law is.”

O’Scanlon doesn’t think that either school district is equipped to handle the additional students.

“Neither one can handle the impact,” O’Scanlon said. “Every school board and municipality is at the breaking point.”

O’Scanlon faults the Navy for opting to allow privatization of some housing units at Earle, which was part of its agreement with the developer.

“It’s just a lousy decision,” O’Scanlon said. “The whole thing is a bad idea.”

The housing units to be privatized, known as Laurelwood Gardens, are located within the borders of Colts Neck, but the Colts Neck Board of Education claims the Tinton Falls School District is obliged to educate any new students, military or civilian, who reside on the base.

Tinton Falls is currently educating about 80 Navy children, but Karavites expects the number of children to rise once the housing units become privatized.

“There are about 78 or 80 Navy children going to Tinton Falls [schools] right now,” Karavites said. “There are 300 housing units with two, three or four bedrooms each, so that could be anywhere between 100 and 300 kids.”

According to the Navy, school-age children at the naval base, including those living at Laurelwood Gardens, could total about 272.

While the Tinton Falls district is currently receiving federal money for educating the Navy dependents, according to Karavites, the district would receive no funds for educating private citizens living at the complex.

“We will be receiving no impact aid for educating the civilians that live in Colts Neck,” Karavites said. “Why would we education hundreds of kids with no taxes coming to us?”

The press release from the Navy agrees, stating, “There is a potential for a net decrease in the amount of federal impact aid available … .”

Another issue Karavites cited is where the children living in privatized housing at Earle will attend high school.

Tinton Falls currently sends students to Monmouth Regional High School, which is a regional school district. Colts Neck students attend Colts Neck High School, which is part of the Freehold Regional High School District.

According to Karavites, Monmouth Regional will not accept the disputed students, and the regional district has never had a contract with the Navy to educate these students.

“Monmouth Regional has no contract at all,” Karavites said. “They can’t make Monmouth take the kids.”

According to Barger, Monmouth Regional has educated a relatively small number of Navy children in high school as a courtesy, but cannot possibly take the impact of a large population increase.

“There are only five or six children from Earle going to the high school,” Barger said. “Most naval personnel are young and have younger children. By the time they get to high school, they are gone.

“The impact would be huge on Tinton Falls and the high school,” Barger added. “We’d have to build a new school and they’d probably have to build a new wing.”

The Tinton Falls Board of Education filed a lawsuit against the county superintendent and state commissioner of education last year that maintains that the district’s agreement is to educate the children of Navy personnel, not civilian children living on the military base.

A court date has been set for July 25 for arguments in Tinton Falls’ attempt to block non-Navy children at the Naval Weapons Station Earle housing complex once it is privatized in 2010.

The Colts Neck Board of Education filed a motion asserting that the time limit for Tinton Falls to object has passed. That motion has been rejected by a judge, who ruled on June 12 that Tinton Falls could move forward with its appeal.

“We can now move forward after Colts Neck tried to hold us back,” Karavites said.

“They [Colts Neck] argued that we should have argued that 19 years ago,” Karavites said. “The judge said that was ridiculous.”

At the June 16 Borough Council meeting, Paul Ford, outgoing councilman and liaison to the Board of Education, said that the council stands behind the board and that the potential impact of the issue is large.

“The impact of these children could be very detrimental to the town of Tinton Falls, and the board has done an excellent job in navigating this complex issue,” Ford said at the meeting. “It has a huge potential impact to the taxpayers of Tinton Falls.”

The impact may go beyond just educating the students.

“It could mean we could have to build a new school, an investment of $30 million, plus educating the children, hiring teachers, etc,” Ford said. “We’ve basically said to the Board of Ed., ‘We are here to help.’ ”

The council has not spent much time discussing the issues recently, but Borough Attorney James Berube said that might change next month when a new mayor and two new council members are sworn in.

“We will be in better shape to address the issue after the first meeting of the new council, July 7,” Berube said.

“The Tinton Falls Board of Ed. is very confident that the decision made will be made in favor of Tinton Falls,” Karavites said.

“For anyone who sees any of the papers, this is a no-brainer,” Karavites said. “But when politics and New Jersey work hand in hand, this is what happens.”

Staff Writer Mark Rosman contributed to this story

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.


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