Findings to be presented at board meeting Thursday

LONGPORT – Will high school students here remain Vikings, or will they become Red Raiders?

That is the question the Longport Board of Education will be tackling as it prepares to hear the findings of Centennium Consultants LLC, which was commissioned several months ago to undertake a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating a send-receive relationship between Longport and Ocean City High School.

The consultants will present their findings at a special public board meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 in Borough Hall.

Board President Carl Tripician said the board has discussed the option for a number of years, but this summer the board decided to take it a step further and undertake the feasibility study.

“There will be no action taken at this meeting. This is fact finding, and after we understand the facts then the board is able to make an informed decision,” Tripician said. He said board members are hoping that the many stakeholders in education – taxpayers and parents whose children are in the school system – will come to the meeting and hear what the consultants have to say.

“As board members we have a responsibility, and we want to know if a send and receiving relationship with Ocean City would be the best decision both educationally and a fiscally,” Tripician said.

There are a lot of questions to be answered, he said, not the least of which is whether the borough could maintain its send-receive relationship with Atlantic City High School while giving students the option to go to Ocean City High School.

“We need to have all of the facts in order to make any kind of decision,” concluded Tripician.

The 53-page study can be viewed on the borough website, www.longport-nj.us. Click on the site map across the top of the welcome page, scroll down to Board of Education and then Feasibility Study.