Newton Public School District

Newton Public School District
Superintendent:		Dr. G. Kennedy Greene
Business Administrator:		Donna Snyder
Address:		57 Trinity Street Newton, NJ 07860
Grade Range:		K-12
School facilities:		3
Enrollment:		1,577 (as of 2008-09)[1]
Faculty (in FTEs):		134.8
Student–teacher ratio:		11.7
District Factor Group:		CD
Web site:		http://www.newtonnj.org
Ind.	Per Pupil	District Spending	Rank (*)	K-12 Average	%± vs. Average
1	Comparative Cost	$13,097	31	$13,632	-3.9%
2	Classroom Instruction	7,606	32	8,035	-5.3%
6	Support Services	1,932	33	2,166	-10.8%
8	Administrative Cost	1,634	34	1,379	18.5%
10	Operations & Maintenance	1,342	13	1,674	-19.8%
13	Extracurricular Activities	563	39	258	118.2%
16	Median Teacher Salary	59,770	40	57,597
Data from NJDoE 2009 Comparative Spending Guide.[2] *Of K-12 districts with 0-1800 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=45

The Newton Public School District is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from Newton, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. The district's enrollment includes high school students from Andover Borough and Andover and Green townships, who attend the high school as part of sending/receiving relationships.^[3]

As of the 2008-09 school year, the district's three schools had an enrollment of 1,577 students and 134.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7.^[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.^[4] Despite its District Factor Group, Newton has been considered the top school district in Sussex County, registering the highest test scores in the county.^[5]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2008-09 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[6]) are:

• Merriam Avenue School, served 463 students in grades K-5.
  • Karen Perez, Principal
  • Kristi Bennett, Assistant Principal
• Halsted Street Middle School served 270 students in grades 6 through 8.
  • Jeff Waldron, Principal
  • Kristi Bennett, Assistant Principal
• Newton High School served 844 students grades 9-12
  • James Tasker, Principal
  • Kurt Walton, Assistant Principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:^[7][8]

• Dr. G. Kennedy Greene, Superintendent
• Donna Snyder, Business Administrator / Board Secretary

2007 Teachers' contract negotiations

The teachers of the Newton Public School District and their union, the Newton Education Association, are currently in the process of negotiating new contracts with the Newton Board of Education, the old contract having expired as of June 30, 2007, with the previous contract's terms extended by agreement. Union representatives cited salary and health insurance as the main issues in the dispute, with the district proposing that teachers pay some of the costs of health insurance premiums. State mediators were scheduled to begin mediation between the two sides in January 2008.^[9]

Teachers have staged two public demonstrations, a march from the high school to the Board of Education meeting in December and informational picketing at district schools in January.^[9]

Guy Schultz, a technology teacher at Newton High School for the past nine years, was indefinitely suspended after the district was notified that Schultz did not have proper certification. The district has stated that the teaching credentials of all teachers had been reviewed over the past year and that they had been notified on January 31, 2008 that Schultz lacked the appropriate credentials to teach technology courses. Schultz was the teachers' union representative for Newton High School, and his dismissal was criticized by the union as illegal. Schultz was to be officially fired at the NBoE meeting on February 12; however, Schultz has since been rehired as an Agricultural Science teacher until he acquires the correct credentials.^[10]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} District information for the Newton School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 5, 2009.
2. ^ Comparative Spending Guide March 2009, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 28, 2009.
3. ^ Newton High School 2010 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2011. "Newton High School serves students from Andover Township, Andover Borough, and Green Township as well as historic Newton."
4. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 27, 2009.
5. ^ Home Page, Newton High School. Accessed April 3, 2011.
6. ^ Newton Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 3, 2011.
7. ^ Newton School District Administrative Team, Newton School District. Accessed April 3, 2011.
8. ^ Sussex County School Directory, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed November 5, 2009.
9. ^ ^{a b} Scruton, Bruce A. "Mediation next step in Newton education dispute", The New Jersey Herald, January 29, 2008. Accessed February 15, 2008.
10. ^ Novak, Stephen J. "Newton fires school union head", The New Jersey Herald, February 13, 2008. Accessed February 15, 2008.

External links

• Newton Public School District
• Newton Public School District's 2009–10 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Newton Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics

Coordinates: 41°03′26″N 74°44′56″W / 41.057229°N 74.748882°W / 41.057229; -74.748882