CAPE MAY — Two focus group sessions held last week provided community members the opportunity to provide input into the possibility of merging Cape May and West Cape May schools.
Patty Weeks and Robert Previti of the Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC) at Stockton University conducted the sessions April 20 and April 22.
In September 2025, the school districts received a $50,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to study merging.
The schools issued a joint request for a proposal from independent consulting firms, with a deadline of June 1. The deadline will allow the school to plan and budget accordingly for the 2026-27 school year.
Zachary Palombo, who serves as superintendent, principal and director of special education for Cape May City Elementary School (CMCES) and West Cape May Elementary School (WCMES), said consolidation was studied in 2010, 2013 and 2014, but was found not to be feasible.
He said the information session provided an opportunity for attendees to share their thoughts with the group conducting the study.
The data set for the comparative analysis considers factors, primarily financial and statutory, to be evaluated when requesting to enter a new limited-purpose regionalization relationship for all prekindergarten through sixth grade students from both CMCES and WCMES.
Previti said the difference between limited-purpose and full-purpose is the grade level distributions. A full-purpose regional is pre-K to 12, and anything short of that is limited-purpose (not a full-purpose school district).
The four scenarios the study is examining include:
— The districts regionalize to a limited-purpose pre-kindergarten to sixth regional and retain students who currently attend both districts.
— The districts regionalize to a limited-purpose pre-kindergarten to sixth regional and cease to accept school choice students and move all remaining students into Cape May elementary.
— The districts regionalize to a limited-purpose pre-kindergarten to sixth regional, do not accept choice students and utilize both schools. Pre-kindergarten and grades four through six in Cape May elementary and kindergarten through three in West Cape May elementary.
— The U.S. Coast Guard Training Center closes, and all remaining students attend Cape May elementary.
(Projections for scenarios one and three assume that two classes are retained for each of grades of K-6).
“I only put number four in there because it was suggested to me that there’s rumors out there that the facilities at the Cape May training station is going to move the housing that is for personnel offsite and would no longer be in Cape May,” Previti said. “Therefore, the 94 students who attend Cape May elementary would no longer be students in a sending relationship.”
The data for the four scenarios may be presented through 19 different topics.
Questions and answers
Katherine Sloan asked if there was a difference in funding for limited-purpose schools.
“It comes from the municipalities that develop the region,” Previti said. “It’s based on two criteria, which is your equalized valuations and your enrollment.”
Previti said the feasibility study will include a summary of the equalized valuation and enrollment distribution for each municipality, as it would affect taxes. Additionally, it will detail how much it would cost per pupil and what it would cost the municipality to have a regional school district.
Another question asked if there were a percentage of schools that have undergone these studies and chosen regionalization, and if they offer shared services.
“To be frank, I’ve done 11 or 12 of these and I don’t have one comparison that shares services as much as you do,” Previti said.
Another question asked what would happen if the schools consolidated and one building closed.
“If one of the buildings became non-operating, it would become one of the non-operating school districts in New Jersey,” Previti said, adding that the state has 17 non-operating districts.
Previti said that closing the district would be up to the executive county superintendent to recommend to the Commissioner of Education.
“I want to be crystal on this, if the commissioner eliminates the non-operating school district and says you can’t operate as a non-operating school district, the facility and everything in it reverts back to the municipality,” Previti said. “The municipality then owns the building, the ground, everything in it, and they can do whatever they want.”
Previti said once the data is released to the community via a public presentation, because this study was funded by a grant, no action must be taken if it is not in the best interest.
“There is a referendum that goes out through both municipalities on the same day, in the same language, and it’s voted upon by the people in the municipalities,” Previti said. “It can’t pass in the aggregate; it has to pass both municipalities.”
Palombo said Cape May Point is a non-operating district.
“We have three students coming from Cape May Point to attend Cape May [elementary] because we have a send/receive relationship,” Palombo added.
Cape May City Board of Education President Dawn Austin asked Previti if no party wants to regionalize, who has the authority to close a school.
“That’s an interesting question, because that isn’t stated in this new bill, but it’s inferred,” Previti said. “Meaning they are going to go through an exhaustive remedy to take a look at districts that are under 500 [students] now.”
Senate bill S4861 is exploring mandatory school district regionalization in an attempt to lower property taxes and improve efficiency that aims to merge districts with fewer than 500 students. Another bill, S2049, focuses on establishing pilot programs for K-12 regionalization.
Another question asked if the study would provide information on staffing needs for consolidation.
“Based on the scenarios, there will be staffing considerations,” Previti said. “There will be considerations for blending contracts. You have two independent contracts, and you get three years to negotiate a contract.”
Previti added the bills would allow the largest teaching district to have priority in contracts, but it could be renegotiated.
Another question asked if there was data for combined school districts and if its performance standard improves or decreases. Previti said he did not have research documents like that, since the enrollment numbers are so small.
The feasibility study presentation is scheduled for 5 p.m. June 11 in the Lower Cape May Regional High School auditorium. Results of the study will be published on both school districts’ websites.
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave