Parents, residents urge Ocean Township board to spare middle‑school clubs and athletics in budget cuts

Several residents used the public‑comment period at the March 10 board meeting to press the board to protect extracurriculars and supports for intermediate‑school students as administrators laid out budget shortfalls.

Liz Duffy, who identified herself as a Wayside resident, said the intermediate school already receives the lowest per‑pupil funding in the district and called on the board to explore alternatives before cutting programs. "These extracurricular activities and athletics improve attendance, academic engagement, and student well‑being," she said, and she urged the board to "reconsider these proposed cuts to the intermediate school clubs."

Another public commenter, Miss Tortorello, said the district is losing students to private and parochial schools and warned that cutting opportunities in middle school would accelerate enrollment decline and further weaken district finances. Public speakers also raised concerns about transparency and access after a February meeting that some residents said was not open to online participation.

Board members responded directly to the concerns. The superintendent said some programs — for example multilingual tutoring — were shifted to grant funding and that administration does not want to remove clubs or athletics; she added that the district will try to repurpose existing staff where possible and pursue grant funding to lessen program losses. At the same time, several board members described the scale of the financial problem (health‑care increases, flat state aid) and said that, depending on the levy decision, some positions or services could nonetheless be affected.

Next steps: The district will prepare a tentative budget for board consideration; residents and parents were encouraged to follow the April public presentation window and contact the administration or board with further input.