JERSEY SHORE — Dr. Brian Ulmer was approved by the Jersey Shore Area School Board as the district’s new superintendent by a unanimous vote. The vote took place at a special meeting livestreamed earlier this week.

Ulmer comes to the district from the Milton Area School District where he was part of the central office as the director of secondary education and was in charge of all academic programs for grades six through eight. Prior to that, he served as a building administrator and classroom teacher.

One of the most critical issues facing Jersey Shore and all districts this year, Ulmer believes, is budgets for the upcoming school year.

“Obviously with everything that’s going on, we are all in every school district concerned about upcoming budgets,” he said.

“We know it’s going to be difficult for people that are struggling with losing jobs and dealing with family situations, that budget is going to be a concern going forward. People know that at the state level they’re talking about restricting the ability to raise taxes next year,” he added.

Ulmer noted that at the Jersey Shore School Board meeting at the beginning of the week, it was recommended that the board not raise taxes for next year, which means that they could be barred from also raising them next year.

Although he stressed that he’s not saying that he wants to raise taxes, Ulmer said, “We want to make sure that we provide all the services we need to kids and we do it in an economically feasible way so that we don’t put an additional burden on our taxpayers.”

Ulmer said that he was also concerned about comments made last week by the state’s secretary of education, Pedro Rivera, that some schools may not be able to be in session even in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re concerned about what the fall will look like for all Jersey Shore students,” he said.

“If we’re told we cannot come back to school at the beginning of the year. We have started having those conversations already because that’s a big concern that I have that we need to make sure that we’re educating all students and they all have access,” he added.

Students in the Jersey Shore have struggled with a lack of access to reliable internet and even cell phone service during the shutdown of schools. Ulmer met with the administrative team at Jersey Shore to begin finding ways to deal with delivering instruction to students.

“I have had one conversation so far with the admin team and I’ve given them some ideas. I would want to sit down have more planning time with the team and have conversations with the faculty because I’m sure they have some ideas,” he said. He noted that during the interview process with the board he had discussed this issue.

Ulmer said that he had shared with the board what other districts in different areas of the country have done to deal with similar situations.

“There are schools in the western part of the country that are prepared every year for blizzards. They may not have school for a week and they for sure don’t have internet reliability during that time,” he said.

“So, there are definitely things that can be done,” adding that it’s up to the legislature to solve the problem of rural broadband.

Ulmer shared that he’s very excited to come to Jersey Shore, where he actually served as a student teacher.

A native of Cogan Station, Ulmer said, “It’s exciting to return, in my mind, back home to lead a school district. I purposely sought out Jersey Shore because there’s so much about Jersey Shore that is comfortable for me in terms of the services they give to kids and the programs they have.

Ulmer earned a doctorate in public administration from West Chester University and a master’s degree in education and a superintendent’s letter of eligibility from California University of Pennyslvania. He did his undergraduate work at Mansfield University.