Ventnor City School District

Ventnor City School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Ventnor City, in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Ventnor City School District
Address
400 North Lafayette Avenue Ventnor City , Atlantic County, New Jersey, 08406 United States
Coordinates	39.341884°N 74.481932°W / 39.341884; -74.481932
District information
Grades	PreK-8
Superintendent	Carmela Somershoe
Business administrator	Beth Steinen
Schools	2
Students and staff
Enrollment	495 (as of 2023–24)[1]
Faculty	71.0 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio	7.0:1[1]
Other information
District Factor Group	B
Website	www.veccnj.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-8 average %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $20,058 76 $18,891 6.2% 1 Budgetary Cost 14,182 42 14,159 0.2% 2 Classroom Instruction 9,227 64 8,659 6.6% 6 Support Services 1,919 31 2,167 −11.4% 8 Administrative Cost 1,530 38 1,547 −1.1% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,422 31 1,612 −11.8% 13 Extracurricular Activities 84 36 104 −19.2% 16 Median Teacher Salary 79,165 82 61,136 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2] *Of K-8 districts with more than 750 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=84

As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 495 students and 71.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 7.0:1.^[1]

Public school students in ninth through twelfth grades, along with those from Brigantine and Margate City, attend Atlantic City High School in neighboring Atlantic City, as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Atlantic City School District that has existed since 1920.^[3][4] As of the 2023–24 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 1,699 students and 144.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1.^[5]

History

Until the 1970s, the district operated three school facilities, with a total enrollment in excess of a thousand students. In the face of declining enrollment, those three schools were demolished or repurposed. Lafayette School was constructed in 1970 and an adjoining middle school was constructed in 1983 on a single 10-acre (4.0 ha) plot of publicly owned property. For the 1995–96 school year, the two facilities — the PreK–4 Lafayette School and Ventnor Middle School for grades 5–8 — were consolidated to become the Ventnor Educational Community Complex.^[6] The district had a total of 905 students in 2013, which had dropped to just over 500 by 2022, while the number of students sent to Atlantic City High School over that same period had dropped from 286 to 128.^[7]

The Ventnor district has considered options for an alternative high school sending relationship other than Atlantic City High School.^[8]

The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "B", the second lowest 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.^[9]

Schools

The Ventnor City School District operates two schools for PreK-8 within the Ventnor Educational Community Complex. Schools in the district (with 2023–24 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[10]) are:^[11][12][13]

• Ventnor Elementary School^[14] with 302 students in grades PreK–5
  • Carmela Somershoe, principal^[15]
• Ventnor Middle School^[16] with 177 students in grades 6–8
  • Anthony Lupo, principal^[15]

The original school was built in 1970, with renovations in 1974, 1997 and 2001.

Administration

Core members of the district's administration include:^[15][17]

• Carmela Somershoe, superintendent
• Beth Steinen, business administrator and board secretary^[18]

Board of education

The district's board of education is comprised of seven members who set policy and oversee the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type I school district, the board's trustees are appointed by the mayor to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either two or three members up for reappointment each year. Of the more than 680 school districts statewide, Ventnor City is one of approximately a dozen districts with appointed school districts. 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.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}