Absecon Public School District

The Absecon Public School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Absecon, in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States.

Absecon Public School District
Address
800 Irelan Avenue
Absecon, NJ 08201
United States
Coordinates
District information
GradesPreK-8
SuperintendentDr. Daniel Dooley
Business administratorTina Maruca
Schools2
Students and staff
Enrollment887 (as of 2017-18)[1]
Faculty66.0 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio13.4:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupCD
WebsiteDistrict website
Ind.Per pupilDistrict
spending		Rank
(*)		PK-8
average		%± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$14,2976$18,891−24.3%
1Budgetary Cost11,259914,159−20.5%
2Classroom Instruction7,520138,659−13.2%
6Support Services1,33162,167−38.6%
8Administrative Cost1,250111,547−19.2%
10Operations & Maintenance1,09761,612−31.9%
13Extracurricular Activities5211104−50.0%
16Median Teacher Salary68,3307461,136
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of PK-8 districts with more than 750 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=84

As of the 2017-18 school year, the district and its two schools had an enrollment of 887 students and 66.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.4:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "CD", the sixth-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.[3]

For ninth through twelfth grades, public school students from Absecon attend the Pleasantville High School in Pleasantville as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Pleasantville Public Schools.[4][5] As of the 2017-18 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 757 students and 77.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.8:1.[6] Students are also eligible to attend the Atlantic County Institute of Technology and Charter-Tech High School for the Performing Arts.

A 2019 study looked at the possibility of dissolving the sending relationship with Pleasantville. The consultants considered a shift to either Mainland Regional High School or the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District (at either Absegami High School or Cedar Creek High School). The study concluded that Absegami High School was the preferred alternative and that the district would achieve significant savings from lower costs per student.[7] In 2020, Absecon district submitted a petition to end its agreement with Pleasantville and send its students to Absegami High School under a new sending/receiving relationship with the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District that Absecon argues would give its students a better education at a lower cost, without negatively impacting the demographics in Pleasantville High School. About 10% of Absecon's graduating students have been choosing to attend Pleasantville High School, for which the Absecon district has been paying $18,000 per student each year.[8]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2017-18 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics.[9]) are:[10][11]

Elementary school
  • H. Ashton Marsh Elementary School[12] (493 students in grades PreK-4)
    • Joseph N. Giardina, Principal
Middle school
  • Emma C. Attales Middle School[13] (381 students in grades 5-8)
    • Kevin Burns, Principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[14][15]

  • Dr. Dan Dooley, Superintendent of Schools
  • Tina Maruca, Business Administrator / Board Secretary

The district's board of education has seven members who set policy and oversee the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration.[14] 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 either two or three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election.[16]

References
  1. District information for Absecon Public Schools District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 9, 2014.
  4. High school options, Emma C. Attles Middle School. Accessed December 8, 2016. "Absecon is a sending district to Pleasantville High School. There are other high school options for students."
  5. Prisament, Steve. "Taxes rising as more Absecon students opt for public high school" Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine , The Current of Pleasantville & Absecon, March 10, 2011. Accessed July 12, 2017. "'The increase in high school tuition for 2011-'12 is the reason we qualified for a tuition adjustment and is the reason for our 6.1-cent tax increase,' Superintendent James Giaquinto said Monday, March 7. 'We have budgeted $363,000 for Charter Tech, $370,000 for Pleasantville High School and $375,000 for Atlantic County Institute of Technology.'"
  6. School data for Pleasantville High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  7. Statistical Forecasting LLC. A Feasibility Study on the Termination of the Sending-Receiving Agreement Between the Absecon Board of Education and the Pleasantville Board of Education, Absecon Public School District, May 2019. Accessed February 18, 2020. "If the sending-receiving relationship between Absecon and Pleasantville were terminated and a sending-receiving relationship between Mainland Regional and Absecon were created, Absecon students would attend Mainland High School for grades 9-12..... If the sending-receiving relationship between Absecon and Pleasantville were terminated and a sending-receiving relationship between Greater Egg Harbor Regional and Absecon were created, Absecon students would attend either Cedar Creek or Absegami for grades 9-12.... In addition, since Absegami High School has greater racial diversity than Mainland High School, the consultants conclude that Absecon should consider terminating its existing sending-receiving relationship with Pleasantville and create a new sending-receiving relationship with Greater Egg Harbor Regional so that Absecon children can attend Absegami High School (or one of Greater Egg Harbor’s academy programs)."
  8. Lowe, Claire. "Judge to hear Absecon schools request to leave Pleasantville, attorney says", The Press of Atlantic City, February 25, 2020. Accessed June 11, 2020 . "The Absecon School District will appear before a judge in July to argue why it should be allowed to leave its sending and receiving relationship with the Pleasantville School District.... The K-8 district submitted its request to the state Department of Education in August to sever its decades-old agreement with Pleasantville, citing the cost and quality of education there. The petition calls for students from Absecon to instead attend Absegami High School in neighboring Galloway Township."
  9. School Data for the Absecon Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  10. Public School Directory 2019-20, Atlantic County, New Jersey. Accessed December 15, 2019.
  11. New Jersey School Directory for the Absecon Public School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 8, 2016.
  12. H. Ashton Marsh Elementary School, Absecon School District. Accessed December 19, 2019.
  13. Emma C. Attales Middle School, Absecon School District. Accessed December 19, 2019.
  14. Board of Education, Absecon Public Schools. Accessed December 19, 2019.
  15. New Jersey School Directory for Atlantic County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
  16. 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.
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