School Boards Association Cancels Annual Atlantic City Conference

January 18, 2010

The New Jersey School Boards Association has canceled its annual three-day conference in Atlantic City in October, which is an estimated $7 million hit to the city’s struggling economy, acco rding to Jeffrey Vasser, president of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority.

School Boards Association spokesman Frank Belluscio confirmed Friday that the group has decided not to hold the large conference this year, and is instead looking at other smaller or regional options to assure that members get state-mandated training. The convention had been held in Atlantic City for 57 years, during what is normally a slow season.

The estimated 5,300 people who attended the annual event last year at the Atlantic City Convention Center used 9,800 room nights at local hotels and resorts, resulting in $7.16 million in delegate spending for hotels, meals, entertainment, transportation and other related expenditures, Vasser said.

Alyce Parker, spokeswoman for the four Harrah’s Entertainment properties, said last year that attendees occupied close to 2,000 room nights.

Joel Dincher, executive chef and general manager at Megan’s Good Grub & Pub on the Boardwalk, said people attending conventions make up a good part of their business. The restaurant’s public-relations team is involved with the ACCVA, and markets heavily at the convention center, Dincher said.

“We do get a lot of business off the conventioneers,” Dincher said, adding it’s a shame that the NJSBA is not coming back this year.

Belluscio said concerns about the economy, tight school budgets and the state budget shortfall’s possible effects on school aid were the determining factors. With school boards looking to control costs for 2010-11, they are less likely to want to reimburse board members who attend the conference and typically stay overnight.

School districts pay dues to belong to the association, costing districts thousands of dollars per year. In a sign of just how pinched they are feeling, Assemblyman John Burziche lli, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, recently proposed repealing the law that makes NJSBA membership mandatory.

The NJSBA has been meeting in Atlantic City since 1952, first at the Chalfonte Haddon Hall, and later at Boardwalk Hall before moving to the convention center. Belluscio said the decision was made now to give the ACCVA ample notice.

“We had a temporary hold on the dates, but not a contract,” Belluscio said. “It was time to decide.”

Of the 5,300 people who attended the 2009 conference, 2,900 of them were school board members and the rest educators and guests. That was a slight decrease from previous years. The New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the New Jersey Association of Business Officials also co-sponsor the conference.

Vasser expressed disappointment at the loss for the convention center and the city’s economy.

“We have have been holding their 2010 dates since 1998 and were also holding dates through 2015 at the request of the (NJSBA),” he said in a statement Friday.

Vasser said aside from the cancellation, the convention center has had a very good relationship with the association.

“(I) hope we will be able to renew our working relationship in the future,” he said.

Belluscio said they also hope to return.

“We’ve always had a wonderful experience in Atlantic City, and we do hope to go back,” he said.

The school boards conference is traditionally the warm-up for the much larger New Jersey Education Association conference in early November which attracts more than 40,000 teachers and their guests to the resort. NJEA spokesman Steve Baker said Friday they have no plans to cut back their 2010 conference.