Asbury Park Public Schools

Asbury Park Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district headquartered in Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States, serving children in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade.[3] The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide,[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]

Asbury Park School District
Address
603 Mattison Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
United States
Coordinates40.216699°N 74.006661°W / 40.216699; -74.006661
District information
Gradespre-K to 12
SuperintendentSancha K. Gray
Business administratorGeoffrey Hastings
Schools5
Affiliation(s)Former Abbott district
Students and staff
Enrollment2,204 (as of 2017-18)[1]
Faculty211.5 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio10.4:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupA
Websitewww.asburypark.k12.nj.us
Ind.Per pupilDistrict
spending		Rank
(*)		K-12
average		%± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$30,84568$18,89163.3%
1Budgetary Cost28,1206814,78390.2%
2Classroom Instruction14,488688,76365.3%
6Support Services6,817682,392185.0%
8Administrative Cost1,824601,48522.8%
10Operations & Maintenance3,942681,783121.1%
13Extracurricular Activities70667268163.4%
16Median Teacher Salary69,1755764,043
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

Students from Allenhurst and Interlaken attend the district's schools as part of a sending/receiving relationship.[7] In July 2014, the New Jersey Department of Education approved a request by Interlaken under which it would end its sending relationship with the Asbury Park district and begin sending its students to the West Long Branch Public Schools through eighth grade and then onto Shore Regional High School.[8] Students from Deal had attended the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship that was terminated and replaced with an agreement with Shore Regional.[9]

As of the 2017–18 school year, the district and its five schools had an enrollment of 2,204 students and 211.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.4:1.[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 lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[10]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2017-18 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[11]) are:[12][13][14]

Elementary schools
  • Bradley Elementary School[15] (427 students; in grades PreK-5)
    • Edwin Ruiz, Principal
    • William Wells, Vice Principal
  • Thurgood Marshall Elementary School[16] (440; PreK-5)
    • Thea Jackson, Principal
    • Dr. Sondra Minuskin, Vice Principal
  • Barack Obama Elementary School[17] (362; PreK-5)
    • Reginald Mirtil, Principal
    • Kelly Gayle, Vice Principal
Middle school
  • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School[18] (349; 6-8)
    • Mark Gerbino, Principal
    • Zakiya DelOrbe, Vice Principal
    • Melissa Lopusznick, Vice Principal
High school

In March 2011, the state monitor overseeing the district's finances ordered that Barack Obama Elementary School be closed after the end of the 2010–11 school year, citing a 35% decline in enrollment in the district during the prior 10 years. Students currently attending the school would be reallocated to the district's two other elementary schools, with those going into fifth grade assigned to attend middle school. In 2014, the Barack Obama Elementary School reopened, and Asbury Park Middle School reverted to serving students only from grade 6–8.[20]

With an annual cut in aid of $3.4 million for 2019-2020 and more on the way for subsequent years, the district was considering a reconfiguration of the district under which Obama Elementary School would be closed, the two remaining elementary schools would serve PreK-3, the middle school would serve grades 4-6 and the high school would cover grades 7-12. The district, which was spending a total cost per pupil of $42,382 in 2017–18, was the subject of an audit in 2019 which found that the district had a capacity to serve 3,095, but an enrollment of 1,862 in 2017–18, a decline from 2,132 nearly a decade earlier.[21] A 2019 audit [22]

Administration

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

  • Sancha K. Gray, Superintendent. Gray was named in April 2018 to fill the role as superintendent, after having been appointed as interim superintendent in January of that year.[25]
  • Geoffrey Hastings, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
  • Carol Morris, State Monitor[26]

In 2014, interim superintendent Robert Mahon resigned, expressing his frustration with the direction of the district after the board of education had been unable to hire a permanent superintendent; he was one of four superintendents that the district had gone through in a six-year period.[27] Gregory Allen was chosen in July 2014 to succeed Mahon as interim superintendent at that time.[28] Lamont Repollet served as superintendent from October 2014 to January 2018, when he was named to serve as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.[29]

The district's board of education has nine members who set policy and oversee 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.[30][31]

References
  1. District information for Asbury Park School 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. Asbury Park Board of Education District Policy: Identification, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020. "The Asbury Park School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of the City of Asbury Park."
  4. Abbott School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 1, 2020.
  5. What We Do, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2020.
  6. SDA Districts, New Jersey Schools Development Authority. Accessed March 1, 2020.
  7. 13 Non-Operating School Districts Eliminated, New Jersey Department of Education press release dated July 1, 2009. Accessed December 25, 2009.
  8. Board of Education of the Borough of Interlaken v. Board of Education of the City of Asbury Park, et al., New Jersey Department of Education, July 17, 2014. Accessed August 18, 2014. "IT IS ORDERED on this 17th day of July 2014 that – pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-13 and N.J.A.C. 6A:3-6.1 – the application of Interlaken for severance of its send-receive relationship with Asbury Park and to establish send-receive relationship with West Long Branch and Shore Regional, as set forth in its petition of appeal, is APPROVED."
  9. Reorganization Agenda January 7, 2016, Shore Regional High School. Accessed October 21, 2018. "Whereas, the content of the announcement was to advise the public that the Deal Board of Education filed a Petition of Appeal with the Commissioner of Education to sever its Sending-Receiving Relationship with the Asbury Park Board of Education, and to establish a new Sending-Receiving Relationship with the Shore Regional High School Board of Education"
  10. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 9, 2014.
  11. School Data for the Asbury Park Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  12. Our Schools, Asbury Park Public Schools.Accessed January 28, 2020.
  13. District Administration, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  14. New Jersey School Directory for the Asbury Park Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
  15. Bradley Elementary School, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  16. Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  17. Barack Obama Elementary School, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  18. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  19. Asbury Park High School, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  20. Shields, Nancy. "State monitor orders Asbury's Barack Obama School closed", Asbury Park Press, March 18, 2011. Accessed April 1, 2011.
  21. Strupp, Joe. "Asbury Park Schools shake-up would close one school, expand high school grades", Asbury Park Press, July 8, 2019. Accessed January 28, 2020. "The changes come as the district is facing a multi-million dollar state aid cutback that has already meant a 13 percent drop in state aid of $3.4 million for the 2019–2020 school year, Gray stated. She added that estimates of state funding losses through 2025 amount to nearly $25 million."
  22. Strupp, Joe. "State audit: Asbury Park schools need to consolidate and strengthen approval policies", Asbury Park Press, December 4, 2019. Accessed January 28, 2020. "The audit by State Auditor Stephen Eells was a follow-up to a similar review done in 2011 that criticized the district's then-per-pupil spending of $24,306, more than $7,000 above the state average and the highest in the state. It is now at $42,382, according to data released in August.... The audit found that the district population had dropped from 2,132 in 2008-2009 to 1,985 in 2012-2013 and 1,862 in 2017–2018. That has resulted in a reduction in class size for many schools and a waste of resources in others, it said. The data revealed that the district's five schools — three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school — have a capacity for 3,095 students, but enroll just 1,862."
  23. Central Administration, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020.
  24. New Jersey School Directory for Monmouth County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
  25. Strupp, Joe. "How will Asbury Park schools function with a $24M loss in state aid - and could it impact your taxes?", Asbury Park Press, July 17, 2019. Accessed January 28, 2020. "She was appointed interim superintendent in January 2018 after former superintendent Lamont Repollet was appointed state education commissioner. Gray became permanent Asbury Park superintendent in April 2018."
  26. Terry, Nicquel. "Who is Asbury's school monitor?", Asbury Park Press, July 25, 2014. Accessed October 21, 2018. "Morris, 75, of Neptune, took the job in September, the fifth monitor for the city since 2007. She has the last say over who the school board hires, fires and how it spends its tax dollars. She also holds the authority to override any action by a school administrator or vote by the school board."
  27. Terry, Nicquel ."Inside Asbury ed board's fights", The Journal News, July 11, 2014, updated January 13, 2015. Accessed January 28, 2020. "Interim schools superintendent Robert Mahon had enough. First, there was the failed superintendent search. The nine-member school board spent the past year in arguments, litigation and division over the selection of a schools chief.... The next day, Mahon resigned.... There have been six directors of curriculum in the past five years, four superintendents in six years and five state monitors since 2007."
  28. Terry, Nicquel. "Asbury picks interim schools chief", The Journal News, July 10, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2020. "The city's Board of Education has voted to appoint Gregory Allen for its interim superintendent, nearly eight months after the state overturned Allen for the permanent schools chief position."
  29. Zimmer, Russ. "Repollet leaving amid Asbury schools resurgence", Asbury Park Press, January 12, 2018. Accessed January 28, 2020. "As Lamont Repollet prepares to take charge of the state's education apparatus, he leaves behind an Asbury Park School District that is simultaneously struggling and improving.... Repollet, 47, came to Asbury Park in October 2014 from Carteret, where he had been high school principal for nine years."
  30. 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.
  31. Board of Education, Asbury Park Public Schools. Accessed January 28, 2020. "The Asbury Park Board of Education is responsible for setting the policies, goals and objectives for the district - and works with the Superintendent in making sure those goals are achieved."
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