Ocean Gate To Close School, Send Students To Berkeley

OCEAN GATE, NJ — The end of the school year will mark the end of the Ocean Gate School, which will shutter and students will attend the Berkeley Township School District.

The decision was made unanimously at March 3's Ocean Gate Board of Education meeting. It comes after a failed referendum to keep the borough's only elementary school open. That referendum, if it had passed, would have increased taxes by $700,000, or 27 percent.

Under the new send-receive arrangement, Ocean Gate preschoolers through fourth grade will attend H & M Potter School, while fifth and sixth graders will attend Berkeley Township Elementary School. That will be about 140 students.

Ocean Gate's tenured teachers will also be hired by the Berkeley Township School District, board attorney Christopher Supsie said.

Ocean Gate's school board will remain, but will have a lesser role as Berkeley Township will handle student education.

"This transition changes how we educate our children, but it does not change who we are and our responsibility to advocate for them," Board of Education President Richard Casey said.

Ocean Gate will pay tuition to Berkeley Township for the five-year agreement.

The Berkeley Township Board of Education will vote on the agreement March 4.

It's unknown what will happen with the Ocean Gate School building. A decision has not been made.