SOMERS POINT — The Board of Education has reached a lease agreement with a private organization to operate at New York Avenue School.
On Aug. 21, the board approved a three-year lease from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31, 2028, pending final attorney review.
Board of Education President Staci Endicott said the tenant, Interactive Kids, provides an array of behavioral, educational and social skills to children.
“We are finally there where we wanted to be years ago,” Endicott said.
The organization used the building over the summer through a use of facilities agreement and wanted to extend that into a long-term contract.
Endicott said the lease helps the district cut expenses of operating a third building and creates a revenue stream.
She said the board has been working on finding a tenant for the building since the beginning of the redistricting process that started in 2016.
“The New York Avenue building was the final phase of our redistricting plan, as our enrollment has been steadily declining throughout this process,” Endicott said. “For the 2022-23 school year, all preschool students were moved to Dawes Avenue School, with only administration remaining in the building.”
She said through the help of former interim superintendent Chris Kobik and current Superintendent Ted Pugliese, along with interim Business Administrator Mark Leung, “the final phase of this plan, which all along has been to lease out all three floors of the entire building to generate revenue, gained momentum which finally allowed the plan to be realized.”
Endicott said having three buildings was not sustainable.
“When we began shrinking, we knew we had to look at different things. We wanted to maximize all of our finances so there is no duplication of services,” she said. “It wasn’t feasible to keep three buildings open and there was room to shrink them into two.”
The redistricting plan moved all kindergarten to third-grade students to Dawes Avenue School and fourth- through eighth-graders to Jordan Road School.
“This framework concept was defeated here in Somers Point on two separate occasions in the previous decade out of a desire to retain ‘neighborhood schools,’ which unfortunately resulted in a high duplication of services across buildings, teachers and staff who traveled between two buildings to deliver services, and 12 part-time positions of teachers and staff,” Endicott said.
She added that three current board members took part in developing the redistricting plan and were able to provide the continuity and support needed while working in conjunction with the rest of the board members to accomplish this longstanding goal.
Students finally stopped attending New York Avenue School in the 2022-23 school year.
Constructed in 1914 with an addition in 1922, the school was refurbished in 2005. At one point there were five full-day preschool classes held in the building, along with the central office, business office and child study team offices. In addition, the HVAC system was replaced in 2015.
– STORY and PHOTO by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff