LONGPORT – The Board of Education voted unanimously Monday, Dec. 12 to formally ask the commissioner of education to allow it to sever its send-receive relationship with Atlantic City High School and establish a send-receive relationship with Ocean City High School.

The meeting was the third the board has held on the topic. The first, in July, explained the need for a feasibility study. The second meeting Dec. 1 presented the results of the study and explained the three basic requirements that must be met for a change in a send-receive status in any district to take place.

The change in status cannot have a negative impact on education, finances or the racial balance of either school.

During the discussion after the motion was made to vote, school board solicitor George Miller said that with Longport having so few students in high school, the planned move meets the criteria of having no significant effect on the present receiving district.

“It is not going to affect Atlantic City,” Miller said. “The discussion has been informally going on for 15 years, but it seems the climate is right now to make the request for a change.”

He said the request to end the relationship with ACHS would likely go one of two ways. It could go to an administrative law judge to render a decision, which Miller said could be “an endless trail.” A more expedient route would be for the parties involved to discuss the idea and resolve it, he said.

“We have a choice to send our children to a new school. We are asking the state to expand what we are already doing,” said Miller.

“The state had been handling this type of application. There is no detrimental impact on Atlantic City. We are trying to establish a relationship with a new district and doing so in terms of how beneficial it might be. We have looked at what is best for our students,” he said.

The change in status is the prudent course to take, from an educational and an economical perspective, he said.

Although he has no vote on the matter, Mayor Nick Russo said he is in favor of establishing a relationship with OCHS.

Longport resident and longtime educator and coach Dan Heyman said he is enthusiastic about the possibility of his son and daughter someday attending OCHS.

“This is a great opportunity for our students,” he said.

“They are already getting a great elementary education in the Margate School District and it would be really great if they could continue their education at Ocean City High School. Ocean City is a district on the rise and I have no doubt they will continue that trend. They have already proved that when they requested to be one of the state’s designated choice schools.”

Heyman added that OCHS has the room now to take on additional students, but it may not always have that space, so it is prudent for the Longport school board to appeal to the state to establish the new send-receive relationship.

The board members discussed the option of having a relationship that allows parents to choose between ACHS and OCHS, but that is not part of the formal request to the commissioner of education.