Greater Brunswick Charter School

Greater Brunswick Charter School (GBCS) is a free, public charter school serving grades kindergarten through eighth located on 429 Joyce Kilmer Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The school has a Spanish-English bilingual program for grades K-4, and has plans to extend it through grade five.[2]

Greater Brunswick Charter School
Location
429 Joyce Kilmer Avenue,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Information
TypePublic elementary school/middle school
Established1998
Faculty33.0 FTEs[1]
GradesK - 8
Enrollment395 (as of 2017–18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio12.0:1[1]
WebsiteSchool website

History

The school opened in the 1998-99 school year. In 2004, it purchased its current building, formerly a bowling alley, with the help of a $500,000 government grant and a $2.5 million loan from New Jersey Community Capital and the Community Redevelopment Fund.[3]

Over the summer of 2010, the charter school expanded, creating over a dozen classrooms and a larger gymnasium out of warehouse space in the building. The funding for this was secured by the nonprofit organization Build With Purpose (then known as READS).[4] For a year prior to this expansion, the school's middle school and one fifth grade classroom had been housed across the street from the school building. The following year, a playground was added, with assistance from KaBOOM!.

Student body

As of the 2017–18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 395 students and 33.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1.[1] 70.4% were Hispanic, 19.4% were black, 8.1% were white, and 1.8% were Asian. 63.4% of the students were eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch.[5] 55.2% of students primarily spoke Spanish and 44.8% primarily spoke English at home.[6] The school has a student:teacher ratio of 15:1.[7] GBCS will accept students from any district in New Jersey, although it gives preference to those from Edison, New Brunswick, and Highland Park.[8]

Administration

Core members of the school administration include Vanessa Jones, the education director; and Hector Alvarez, the assistant education director.[9]

Performance Programs

Theatre

The school formed a theatre program in 2014:

  • 2014: 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Don Zolidis
  • 2015: Seussical Jr.
  • 2016: GBCS the Musical

Choir

A choir program was added for students 4th grade and up in the 2010-11 school season; however, they never performed. The following year it was switched to 3rd grade and up, and though they performed numerous times in the 2011-12 season, they never performed in the 2012-13 season.

The program was reworked for 2013-14's school year, making an elementary school choir and a middle school choir, each of which performed at various school events, concluding with an end of the year concert. This was changed in the 2014-15 year to just a single school appearance and a competition at Six Flags.

References
  1. District information for Greater Brunswick Charter School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  2. Greater Brunswick Charter School website: Dual Language Program Archived 2015-01-28 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 1/23/15.
  3. Greater Brunswick Charter School website: About US. Accessed 5 February 2016.
  4. Build With Purpose article. Accessed 25 February 2016.
  5. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) website Archived 2015-01-19 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed January 23, 2015.
  6. Greater Brunswick Charter School 2013-14 School Performance Report, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 16, 2015.
  7. Education.com. Accessed September 29, 2015.
  8. Greater Brunswick Charter School website: Enrollment. Accessed January 23, 2015.
  9. Greater Brunswick Charter School Website: Directory. Accessed 9 December 2017.

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