Millville Public Schools

Millville Public Schools
110 North Third Street
Millville
, Cumberland County, New Jersey, 08332
District information
GradesPreK-12
SuperintendentTony Trongone
Business administratorRichard Davidson
Schools9
Affiliation(s)Former Abbott district
Students and staff
Enrollment5,107 (as of 2021–22)[1]
Faculty433.5 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio11.8:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupA
Websitewww.millville.org
Ind. Per pupil District
spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
average		 %± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$18,37247$18,891−2.7%
1Budgetary Cost14,5985514,783−1.3%
2Classroom Instruction8,197308,763−6.5%
6Support Services2,972892,39224.2%
8Administrative Cost1,535681,4853.4%
10Operations & Maintenance1,683561,783−5.6%
13Extracurricular Activities20233268−24.6%
16Median Teacher Salary59,4962664,043
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103

Millville Public Schools is a school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten-twelfth grade from the city of Millville, in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[3] The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke[4] which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.[5][6]

As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of nine schools, had an enrollment of 5,107 students and 433.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.8:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "A", the lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From the lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[7]

The district has high school sending/receiving relationships with Commercial Township, Lawrence Township and Maurice River Township.[8][9] Students from Woodbine had attended the district's high school programs until a July 2013 ruling by the New Jersey Department of Transportation under which Woodbine students would start attending Middle Township High School as of September 2014, while Woodbine students who had already started attendance in Millville would be allowed to graduate.[10]

History

In 2013 Woodbine School District chose to change its receiving high school district from Millville district to Middle Township School District, which meant it would begin sending high school students to Middle Township High School instead of the Millville high schools. Lynda Anderson-Towns, superintendent of the Woodbine district, cited the closer proximity and smaller size of Middle Township High.[11] Millville is 20 miles (32 km) away from Woodbine while Middle Township High is 12 miles (19 km) from Woodbine.[12]

Starting in the 1960s, grades 9-10 had been served in Memorial High School and grades 9-12 at Millville Senior High School.[13]

R. D. Wood Elementary School, which opened in 1915 and therefore at the time was the oldest school in the district, was closed at the end of the 2017-18 school year. The closure was estimated to result in savings of $1.8 million annually.[14] At one time, Thunderbolt Academy leased space at the ex-St. Mary Magdalen Regional School building, but in 2017 the district announced it would move it into the former Wood elementary building, which meant the district would save $50,000 each year.[14]

As part of an expansion and renovation project overseen by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority that ultimately cost $145 million and had been scheduled to start in 2017, the school's size and capacity was doubled to accommodate up to 2,300 students, allowing all of the freshmen and sophomore classes that had been at Memorial High School to be consolidated at the Senior High School building; for the 2017–18 school year, all high school students were shifted temporarily into Millville High School.[15][16] The completion of the project was marked in September 2023, which ultimately doubled the size of the building and added 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of space to the facility that had opened in 1964 to replace the original high school building that was completed in 1925.[17]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[18]) are:[19][20][21]

Preschool
  • Child Family Center[22] with 520 students in PreK
    • JoAnn Deckert Burns, principal[23]
Primary schools
  • R. M. Bacon Elementary School[24] with 262 students in grades K-5
    • Spike Cook, principal[25]
  • Holly Heights Elementary School[26] with 487 students in grades K-5
    • Stephen Saul, principal[27]
  • Mount Pleasant Elementary School[28] with 173 students in grades K-5
    • Harry Drew, principal[29]
  • Rieck Avenue Elementary School[30] with 415 students in grades K-5
    • Michael Coyle, principal[31]
  • Silver Run Elementary School[32] with 423 students in grades K-5
    • Eric Reissek, principal[33]
Middle schools
  • Lakeside Middle School[34] with 999 students in grades 6-8
    • Amanda Gauntt, principal[35]
High schools
Alternative school
  • Thunderbolt Academy[38] is a partnership between Millville Public Schools and Camelot Education. Camelot offers an alternative setting for students facing behavioral, emotional or academic challenges.
    • Abdul Payne, executive director[39]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[40][41][42]

  • Tony Trongone, superintendent[43]
  • Richard Davidson, business administrator and board secretary[44]

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; there is one representative from Commercial Township and one from Lawrence Township, who represent those communities about issues related to their sending relationship at the high school. 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.[45][46][47]

References

  1. ^ a b c d District information for Millville School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. ^ Millville Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Millville Public Schools. Accessed March 26, 2022. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through twelve in the Millville School District. Composition: The Millville School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Millville."
  4. ^ What We Do: History, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022. "In 1998, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the Abbott v. Burke case that the State must provide 100 percent funding for all school renovation and construction projects in special-needs school districts. According to the Court, aging, unsafe and overcrowded buildings prevented children from receiving the "thorough and efficient" education required under the New Jersey Constitution.... Full funding for approved projects was authorized for the 31 special-needs districts, known as 'Abbott Districts'."
  5. ^ What We Do, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.
  6. ^ SDA Districts, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2022.
  7. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 18, 2015.
  8. ^ About Us, Maurice River Township School District. Accessed August 24, 2014. "The Maurice River Township School District consists of one elementary school and is a sending district to the Millville School District for its high school students.... Maurice River Township transports approximately 180 students to the Memorial and Senior High Schools in Millville."
  9. ^ Jones, Jean. "Sending districts Maurice River, Commercial, Lawrence, Woodbine suing Millville School District over tuition rates", The News of Cumberland County, April 13, 2009. Accessed August 24, 2014. "The suit, filed in the state Administrative Law Court, asks the commissioner of education to resolve a dispute about the method which the Millville school district is using to estimate and audit tuition for four sending districts. The four districts, Maurice River, Commercial, Lawrence and Woodbine, have joined in the suit with Maurice River as the lead agency."
  10. ^ D'Amico, Diane. "Woodbine students to begin attending Middle Township High School instead of Millville", The Press of Atlantic City, August 6, 2013. Accessed August 24, 2014. "Education Commissioner Chris Cerf has approved the petition by Woodbine in Cape May County to end its sending/receiving relationship with Millville High School and instead send its high school students to Middle Township, which is closer and in the same county."
  11. ^ D'Amico, Diane (July 23, 2013). "Woodbine seeks to send students to Middle Township High School". The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  12. ^ D'Amico, Diane (August 6, 2013). "Woodbine students to begin attending Middle Township High School instead of Millville". The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  13. ^ Lowe, Claire. "School officials celebrate as $137M Millville High School expansion underway", The Press of Atlantic City, February 8, 2019. Accessed July 9, 2020. "It's been decades since the freshmen at Millville High School attended the same building as the juniors and seniors, but in a little more than two years, that will change.... The multiphase, $137.5 million project funded through the New Jersey Schools Development Authority will renovate and update the aging and overcrowded building, and bring unity to the high school, Gentile said. In all, the project will include 230,000 square feet of additions and 55,000 square feet of renovations, according to the SDA."
  14. ^ a b Smith, Joseph P. "Millville closing R.D. Wood Elementary to save money", The Daily Journal, March 17, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. "The city school system is dropping a budget ax on its oldest institution — R.D. Wood Elementary School.... Gentile told The Daily Journal the district faces a 2017-18 budget gap of about $3 million based on its current anticipation of state aid. Closing Wood School would save a little more than $1.8 million, including transportation costs."
  15. ^ Smith, Joseph P. "Millville planners get look at high school expansion", The Daily Journal, March 15, 2016. "Schematic designs submitted to New Jersey for a proposed $110 million Millville Senior High School expansion were laid out before city planners Monday night.... On completion, the district will be able to consolidate at the senior high all freshman classes and those sophomore classes now in Memorial High School.... Additional space will allow the student population to increase from 1,200 now, approximately, to about 2,300."
  16. ^ Smith, Joseph P. "First look Wednesday at Millville senior high expansion proposals", The Daily Journal, February 8, 2017. Accessed December 10, 2017. "Companies interested in taking on a pending Millville Senior High School expansion and renovation project submitted their technical proposals, as well as sealed pricing bids, on Wednesday afternoon to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. The authority and Millville intend to start the multiyear project in mid-2017 after graduation. Students will be present during portions of the construction, though, since the estimated $110 million project should last into 2020.... The senior high will become a freshman class through senior class campus once the work is finished."
  17. ^ Conklin, Eric. "Millville High School overhaul brings new era for students, officials say", The Press of Atlantic City, September 24, 2023. Accessed February 4, 2024. "After years of patience, a more than $140 million transformation of Millville High School is over. Officials on Thursday celebrated the project’s completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the doorway leading into the school’s new auditorium. The four-phase renovation began in 2018.... More than 200,000 square feet of additions and about 55,000 square feet of renovations were implemented at the building on North Wade Boulevard. The project increased the school’s size to about 375,000 square feet.... The original high school opened in 1964, replacing a building built in 1925, Superintendent Tony Trongone told the ceremony’s roughly 30 attendees."
  18. ^ School Data for the Millville Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
  19. ^ About the District, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024. "Millville Public Schools is a public school district serving the students of the City of Millville (grades Pre-K to 12) and the Townships of Commercial, Maurice River, and Lawrence (grades 9-12)."
  20. ^ School Performance Reports for the Millville Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.
  21. ^ New Jersey School Directory for the Millville Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  22. ^ Child Family Center, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  23. ^ Administrative Team, Child Family Center. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  24. ^ Bacon Elementary School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  25. ^ About Bacon, R. M. Bacon Elementary School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  26. ^ Holly Heights Elementary School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  27. ^ Administrative Team, Holly Heights Elementary School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  28. ^ Mount Pleasant Elementary School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  29. ^ Administrative Team, Mount Pleasant Elementary School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  30. ^ Rieck Avenue Elementary School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  31. ^ Administrative Team, Rieck Avenue Elementary School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  32. ^ Silver Run Elementary School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  33. ^ Administrative Team, Silver Run Elementary School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  34. ^ Lakeside Middle School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  35. ^ Administrative Team, Lakeside Middle School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  36. ^ Millville High School, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  37. ^ Administrative Team, Lakeside High School. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  38. ^ Thunderbolt Academy, Millville Public Schools. Accessed July 8, 2020.
  39. ^ Administrative Team, Thunderbolt Academy. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  40. ^ District Administration, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  41. ^ Business Office Millville Public Schools. Accessed December 28, 2019.
  42. ^ New Jersey School Directory for Cumberland County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  43. ^ Superintendent's Office, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  44. ^ Business Office, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.
  45. ^ New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election, New Jersey Department of Education, updated February 16, 2018. Accessed January 26, 2020.
  46. ^ Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Millville School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2022. Accessed January 8, 2024. "The Millville Board of Education (hereafter referred to as the 'School District') is a Type II district located in the County of Cumberland, State of New Jersey. As a Type II district, the School District functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that three member's terms expire each year. The purpose of the School District is to educate students in grades preschool through twelfth at the School District's ten schools"
  47. ^ Board of Education, Millville Public Schools. Accessed January 8, 2024.