Jefferson Township Public Schools

The Jefferson Township Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Jefferson Township, in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.^[3]

Jefferson Township Public Schools
Address
28 Bowling Green Parkway Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849 United States
Coordinates	40.961896°N 74.596896°W / 40.961896; -74.596896
District information
Grades	PreK-12
Superintendent	Jeanne Howe
Business administrator	Rita Oroho-Giacchi
Schools	6
Students and staff
Enrollment	2,672 (as of 2023–24)[1]
Faculty	246.7 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio	10.8:1[1]
Other information
District Factor Group	GH
Website	www.jefftwp.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-12 average  %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $18,371 39 $18,891 −2.8% 1 Budgetary Cost 14,224 43 14,783 −3.8% 2 Classroom Instruction 8,041 31 8,763 −8.2% 6 Support Services 2,478 55 2,392 3.6% 8 Administrative Cost 1,606 48 1,485 8.1% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,726 43 1,783 −3.2% 13 Extracurricular Activities 274 8 268 2.2% 16 Median Teacher Salary 56,239 10 64,043 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2] *Of K-12 districts with 1,800-3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=68

As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 2,672 students and 246.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.8:1.^[1]

History

District enrollment, which had peaked at 3,648 in the 2006–07 school year, had dropped to 3,406 by 2012–13 and had reached 2,529 in the 2022–23 school year. Enrollment at the high school reached its highest in 2007–08 with 1,125 students, declining to 1,034 in 2012–13 and 839 in 2023–24.^[4]

In the face of declining enrollment and a state school-funding formula that favors districts with rising student populations, the district said that the changes to the calculation of aid numbers resulted in a loss $45 million in state funding from 2018 to 2024, leading to the closure in 2021 of Milton Elementary School and plans to close Cozy Lake Elementary School after the 2024–25 school year.^[5]

The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.^[6]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2023–24 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[7]) are:^[8][9][10]

Elementary schools

• Ellen T. Briggs Elementary School^[11] with 213 students in grades PreK–K
  • Randi De Brito, principal^[12]
• Cozy Lake Elementary School^[13] with 211 students in grades PreK–K
  • Timothy Plotts, principal^[14]
• Arthur T. Stanlick Elementary School^[15] with 396 students in grades 1–5
  • Danny Papa, principal^[16]
• White Rock Elementary School^[17] with 479 students in grades 1–5
  • Michael Valenti, principal^[18]

Middle school

• Jefferson Township Middle School^[19] with 563 students in grades 6–8
  • Margaret M. Widgren, principal^[20]

High school

• Jefferson Township High School^[21] with 791 students in grades 9–12
  • Kevin Lipton, principal^[22]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration include:^[23][24]

• Jeanne Howe, superintendent of schools
• Rita Oroho-Giacchi, business administrator and board secretary^[25]

Board of education

The district's board of education, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.^[26][27][28]