Reporting

The Middletown Township Board of Education voted 5–4 Tuesday, April 28, against approving a “Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP) Major Amendment Update,” then spent the end of the meeting arguing over whether — and how — that vote could be reconsidered.

In the end, the board president said the reconsideration would be withdrawn and that the original 5–4 rejection would stand.

On April 29, district leaders sent a post-meeting letter to the community — signed by Jessica Alfone and Chris Aveta — stating that, as a result of the board’s failure to adopt the LRFP, the district is now recommending holding off on the planned school closures and consolidations for the 2026–2027 school year.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill on April 27 signed Executive Order No. 17, directing New Jersey executive-branch entities to inventory state-controlled land and certain “unutilized,” “underutilized,” or “surplus” property that could be used for housing, and establishing a new interagency Housing Governing Council.

The order also adds a temporary procedural condition on property dispositions. Until an executive-branch department or agency has complied with the order’s reporting directives, it may not dispose of property it owns without approval from the Governor’s Office Chief Operating Officer (COO). The governing council must deliver its initial recommendations to the Governor’s Office within 150 days of the order taking effect.

A Middletown resident has filed a federal lawsuit against Christopher Aveta, president of the Middletown Township Board of Education, seeking emergency relief to block what the complaint describes as a requirement that public speakers disclose “group affiliation” before commenting at board meetings.

In filings reviewed by Public Record NJ, the plaintiff argues the disclosure requirement—appearing in meeting agendas and allegedly enforced by the presiding officer—violates the First Amendment. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey as Case No. 3:26-cv-04191.

The lawsuit arrives as disputes over school closures continue to unfold in Middletown. Attorney Roshan Shah also represents a group of parents who have challenged the district’s school-closure plan, linking this case to broader questions about public participation and decision-making at recent board meetings.

The Middletown Township Board of Education is asking New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education to dismiss a parents’ petition challenging its February 26 school-closure vote, while declining to address the substance of the claims raised in that petition.

In a March 23 filing, the district does not defend the closure plan on its merits. Instead, it argues the case should be dismissed on procedural grounds, including that it is too early for the state to intervene because the formal approval process has not yet run its course.¹

At the same time, the district continues to act on a timeline aligned with implementation. The February 26 vote directed the administration to proceed with a closure plan tied to the 2026–27 budget, and subsequent district activity has moved forward accordingly. The result is a dual posture: in court, the district argues the closures are not final; in practice, preparations continue as though they are.

Public Record NJ has obtained and reviewed the district’s letter brief to Commissioner of Education Lily Laux, submitted by Madden & Madden partner Regina M. Philipps in Kristin Rooney et al. v. Middletown Township Board of Education (Agency Ref. No. 079-03-26). The motion seeks dismissal “in its entirety” based on jurisdiction, ripeness, and failure to state a claim, and was filed in lieu of an answer.¹

The parents’ petition challenging Middletown school closures, filed March 4 by Shah Law Group, LLC, asks the Commissioner to void the closure resolution and require the district to keep Leonardo Elementary School, Navesink Elementary School, and Bayshore Middle School open through the 2026–27 school year, among other relief.²

The district’s response centers on whether the case should move forward, rather than the claims it raises.