Surf City officials last week weighed in on two hot-button issues splitting public opinion in five Island communities ahead of a $7.68 million renovation referendum: the future of the Ethel A. Jacobsen Elementary School and the LBI Consolidated District’s continued participation in the state’s Interdistrict Public Schools Choice program.

“I want to go on record that the E.J. School property will be for recreational use only and won’t be built on,” Mayor Francis Hodgson said during a presentation…