Seaside Park School Board Wants Town to Buy Non-Operating School

Seaside Park Elementary School, June 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Seaside Park Board of Education has solicited an offer to borough officials to buy the shuttered Seaside Park Elementary School building, which has been closed to students since 2009. The board, as well as its superintendent, oversee a small number of administrative functions for the non-operating district. The board retains the building that once housed the school, located on SW Central Avenue near 4th Avenue.

School board President June Korzeneski said the building has deteriorated into an “unsatisfactory” condition, as confirmed by an engineering firm the district hired to evaluate the school. The school board, she said, previously approached the borough council about purchasing the building, but no plans materialized. Ultimately, at the Dec. 16, 2024 meeting, the board voted to offer the building to the borough for $1.

“We have confirmation that the letter was delivered in late December,” she said, adding that she was still seeking a response from the town.

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The school building has been used for a number of purposes since it was shut down due to low enrollment before the 2009-10 school year. Superintendent Lisa Gleason said it has been used for board meetings, PTA functions and student activities. It has also been home to the borough’s code office since Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012, as well as a weight room for the police department. Numerous community activities, including pickleball, Zumba, mahjong, canasta, a marine science summer camp and Zumba classes are held there. The school also contains a small community library.

“Due to the natural aging of the building, as well as other impact issues following Superstorm Sandy, the board conducted an architectural analysis of the building in June 2023,” Gleason said. “It has become apparent that the cost of repairs, maintenance and monthly upkeep of the building exceeds the purpose of a non-operating school district.”

Gleason said the district has reached out to numerous organizations to gauge interest in a leasing deal, including the YMCA, Ocean County Vocational school district, Ocean County College and the Montessori Public Works, without getting a bite. In the event the borough were to take the district’s offer, the board would provide up to $350,000 for the development of outdoor community park space, she said. The board would ask, in return, that one office be maintained and that the BOE would be able to utilize the building for its meetings.

The playground area of the Seaside Park Elementary School property, Oct. 2022. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Mayor John Peterson said notice of the offer was sent electronically shortly before the holidays, and not all members of the borough council received it.

“Last Thursday was really the first meeting of the governing body of the year for business to be conducted, so it was the first time several of the members had learned of it,” he said. “We have a committee that is going to be looking at the request.”

Peterson said he believes the board is acting in a more urgent manner because repairs to the building are required, including a leaky roof. Regardless, the mayor and council will need to engage their own attorneys, engineers and financial advisors to conduct due diligence before accepting or rejecting the offer.

“I suspect that, maybe, a committee or the council and the school board will get together to work out whatever issues they can,” Peterson said. “That seems to be where it’s going in the short term. In the long term, I think it’s an issue that needs to be researched and looked at more thoroughly by the governing body.”

Peterson said that the location of the school – west of Central Avenue – may disqualify it from receiving state grant funding due to its designation as a flood zone. State officials previously denied the borough’s application to use up to $500,000 in pledged grant funding for clean energy at the nearby Park Central Condominium site for that reason. Whether a school building under borough ownership would fare any differently is yet to be determined.

“I think it’s premature at this juncture to determine what decision might be made by the two bodies,” said Peterson. “It will require input from the attorney and engineer.”