Sea Isle City — The Sea Isle school board held a facilities meeting Sept. 30 to inform the public about options and issues with the Park Road school building.

The school board is trying to determine how to maintain the building, lower cost of operating it, and what do to with all of its extra space, now that half of its grade levels are no longer there.

Finance Chairman Dan Tumolo, who stirred anger last month when he approached a builder to inquire about selling the school building and property and then leasing it back, presented a lengthy PowerPoint presentation detailing options the board has regarding building use.

Tumolo said the building itself costs the district $11,000 per day to operate, whether it is in use or not. That figure, he said, is something the board needs to find ways to lower.

The board needs to make decisions, he said, about conditions of the building and the possibility of state funding for any projects. The school received 40 percent funding for the roof replacement done this past summer, and for upcoming lighting upgrades and a new handicapped accessible entrance. The lighting upgrade was required by the state and the roof replacement was necessary in order for the school to have opened last month.

The second grant also includes demolition of the mobile unit, put in place in 1986, that housed the school library. Noting the unit, one of two attached to the school, is in bad shape, Tumolo said the estimate to repair and upgrade the space, according to Garrison Architects, could reach close to $1 million. “We don’t think it is worth putting that money into that part of the building,” Tumolo said.

When that trailer is demolished, the space will provide 20 new parking spaces for the school on property, he said.

Tumolo said the school has another mobile unit and three classrooms in the school building that are unused or under-used and could be part of space the board would like to lease out to another entity.

“Financially, we have to make this school a dual purpose building, and get someone in to share space and expenses with us,” Tumolo said.

State regulations would require work to be done to make that option possible. For any group to lease space in the school, security regulations require that part of the building be totally separate from areas where children are educated during the school day. That would include building a new entrance and bathrooms, as well as other security upgrades.

The ideal partner, board members have said, would be the city, but Tumolo said there has been little positive response from the city about doing that. He said city officials said they don’t have a need for additional space and converting classrooms into offices would be costly.

Tumolo said because of the amount of use the school sees for city events, the school board should consider a fee structure for use of the building. When the school is used outside of the school day by any organization, the school district is required to have someone on site, often a custodian, which incurs additional expenses for the school district.

The presentation also included Tumolo’s criticized sale-lease back option, which he presented to the crowd as a “last resort.”

He said the sale-lease would have a financial benefit only if it was definite the school was closing in two to three years. Beyond that, he said, the school district would lose money with that option, where the building would be sold to a developer and leased back by the school.

Tumolo said concerns of neighbors of the school that the property would be developed into housing is unfounded as zoning for the entire property is non-residential.

School board members are aware they are dealing with a divided community where, despite no school tax increase in three years, the school budget is repeatedly overwhelmingly defeated.

“The community is divided about keeping the school open or closing it,” Tumolo said.

He said that split kept school boards of the past five or six years from attempting to do repairs – such as the roof replacement – that were needed to maintain the school building.

Even without finding a partner to lease out part of the building, Tumolo said there is work to be done to remain operational as a school. One issue requiring attention is a two-year-old state mandate to replace classroom doors with new, more secure and fireproof doors. To date, the district has not done so.

Tumolo also addressed demands of parents to send fourth graders to Ocean City, as the fifth to eighth graders have done this year. He explained it would require an updated feasibility study by the county superintendent, and agreement on Ocean City’s part to take more students.

“We would have liked to send our fourth graders, but the one thing Ocean City hammered us on is they do not want to take our teachers,” Tumolo said. “If we have any attrition of teachers this year, we will try to get our fourth graders to Ocean City next year, and we will be a pre-K to third grade school. I think that is our future.”

That would tie in with Sea Isle City’s plan to have Ocean City school district take over its administrative duties. Tumolo explained Sea Isle is due to lose its three top school administrators within the next year, because they are retired administrators and are bound by pension laws. County Executive Superintendent Terrence Crowley issued a report recently stating it would be feasible for Ocean City School District administration to run Sea Isle’s school. The move, Tumolo said, would bring the school stability, but would not save money.

Tumolo said it appears almost unavoidable that, at some point, Sea Isle’s school would merge with Ocean City entirely. He said with the Elmer school district going “non-operational,” Sea Isle will be the only pre-K through fourth grade school district in the entire state, putting them “in the eye of the storm” of state Department of Education efforts to consolidate school districts. Tumolo presented data showing there are only two school districts in the state with fewer students than Sea Isle.

“We have to get someone to come in and share the building with us. If we decide to keep this school open, we have to make it a top award winning primary school,” Tumolo said. “This school building is vital to the community.”