On July 13, 2015, I blogged about the Alpine (Bergen County) school district’s confidential settlement in which it agreed to pay 73.77% of the $108,449 annual cost of sending a special needs student to an out-of-district school.  In response to a subsequent Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request in which I challenged the district’s decision to redact the name of the child’s new school, the district provided me with a more narrowly redacted agreement that disclosed that new school is the Little Keswick School in Keswick, Virginia, where the student apparently resides in a dormitory.

The settlement agreement was unanimously approved by the Alpine Board of Education at its October 2, 2014 meeting.  The resolution passed by the Board (shown below) is somewhat vague and does not disclose the cost to the district.

D01364 Moved by Mr. Roura, seconded by Mrs. Kurtz BE IT RESOLVED by the Alpine Board of Education (“the Board”) that the terms, stipulations and conditions as established in the Settlement Agreement and Release between the Board and the Parents of a student whose name is on file in the Superintendent’s office, which is annexed to this Resolution, are hereby adopted and approved by the Board. The Board President and Superintendent are hereby authorized and directed to execute the Settlement Agreement and Release, and any other documents necessary to effectuate the settlement.
Background: This is a new placement for an existing out of district student. (student #3184213983)  Via Voice: 5 Ayes 0 Nays

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to paff@pobox.com