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Montague loses court battle over where to send high school students

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In response, Montague's school board attorney filed a lawsuit aimed at modifying the contract with High Point

gavel.jpgA state appeals court declined to hear Montague's request for a stay of an order requiring ninth and 10th-grade students to attend High Point Regional High School. (File photo)
 

MONTAGUE -- In the northern Sussex County community of Montague, the school year began this week with a vigorous court battle over where its students would go to high school.

For now, it appears, Montague has lost the battle after being told to abide strictly by a 2013 contract to send students in grades 9 through 12 to High Point Regional High School in Wantage Township.

The Montague school board voted in August to allow ninth- and 10th-grade students a choice between High Point and Port Jervis High in New York -- the school that Montague students had attended for 85 years prior to 2013. Those students had attended middle school in Port Jervis and should be allowed to continue there, the board reasoned.

Students from Montague in grades 11 and 12 are still attending Port Jervis because they were already going there in 2013. Eighth-graders from Montague also go to Port Jervis because the district added seventh grade to its former K-6 district this year but hasn't added eighth grade yet.

What appeared to be the final decision, at least for the time being, came on Thursday when a state appeals court declined to hear Montague's request for a stay of state Education Commissioner David Hespe's decision on Wednesday requiring students to attend High Point.


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Thomas Manahan, an appeals court judge, said Montague's application "does not concern a genuine emergency" and "does not warrant adjudication on short notice."

On Wednesday, Hespe "decided to affirm the current contract between Montague and High Point until a resolution is reached on the pending litigation" over the schools set-up, said David Saenz, deputy press secretary for the education department.

Hespe's decision reversed a ruling earlier that day by a state administrative law judge who denied High Point's request for an injunction barring Montague from enrolling its students in Port Jervis.

But Montague did not take Hespe's decision and Manahan's affirmation lightly.

The Montague board's attorney, Daniel Perez, on Friday filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Newton, seeking to declare Montague's contract with High Point illegal.

Montague is not trying to stop sending students to High Point, but wants to modify the contract to give those who had already been going to Port Jervis -- even for middle school -- the chance to continue going there, Perez said.

"A state education commissioner shouldn't decide where all the kids will go," Perez said. "He's literally breaking families apart."

Under the present rules, some Montague families have children attending schools far apart in Port Jervis and Wantage Township, he said.

Scott Ripley, High Point's superintendent, did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.

It was not immediately clear how many Montague students have been going to Port Jervis High School, and whether Montague would enforce the ruling. 

Tacia Johnson, president of the Montague Board of Education, said she did not know exactly how many Montague ninth- and 10th-graders are going to Port Jervis High, but said the number was more than 12.

As for whether the board will require all the students presently going to Port Jervis High to switch to High Point, Johnson said that subject will be addressed at a special board meeting Wednesday night.

Turnover on the Montague Board of Education resulted in the change of position.

After the board agreed in 2013 to switch its high school students from Port Jervis to High Point, five of the seven board members were replaced in elections.

"The board that made that decision wasn't following the will of the people," Johnson said. 

She added that board members had hoped for "a fair decision" from the education commissioner "for the sake of the kids," but that didn't happen. 

Johnson acknowledged that the board signed an agreement for students to attend High Point, but pointed out that the contract with Port Jervis was "never terminated."

"We'd like to honor both contracts," Johnson said.

With all the confusion and changes, "It's the kids who are suffering," Johnson said. "We're trying to protect the rights of the kids."

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

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