Merchantville School District

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

Merchantville School District
Address
130 South Centre Street
Merchantville, NJ 08109
United States
Coordinates39.949339°N 75.048688°W / 39.949339; -75.048688
District information
Gradespre-K to 8
SuperintendentJ. Scott Strong
Business administratorGreg Gontowski
Schools1
Students and staff
Enrollment433 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Faculty33.5 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio12.9:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupDE
Websitewww.merchantvilleschool.org
Ind.Per pupilDistrict
spending		Rank
(*)		K-8
average		 %± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$17,70527$18,891−6.3%
1Budgetary Cost13,8542014,159−2.2%
2Classroom Instruction8,669268,6590.1%
6Support Services1,731152,167−20.1%
8Administrative Cost1,794491,54716.0%
10Operations & Maintenance1,502211,612−6.8%
13Extracurricular Activities1583710451.9%
16Median Teacher Salary71,1516861,136
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-8 districts with up to 400 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=71

As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising one school, had an enrollment of 433 students and 33.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.9:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-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]

Starting in September 2015, for ninth through twelfth grades, students from Merchantville attend Haddon Heights High School as part of a new sending/receiving relationship with the Haddon Heights School District that was approved by the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, joining students from Barrington and Lawnside, who already attend the Haddon Heights school.[4] As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 906 students and 77.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1.[5]

Schools

Merchantville Elementary School served 378 students as of the 2018–19 school year, per the National Center for Education Statistics.[6]

History

Starting in 1929, the district had its own high school, Merchantville High School, for students of both the borough and the neighboring communities of Cherry Hill and Pennsauken Township, as well as Maple Shade in Burlington County.[7] But with the loss of Maple Shade students to the new Maple Shade High School in 1972, Merchantville closed its high school after the end of the 1971-72 school year and started sending its students to Pennsauken High School for grades nine through twelve.[8]

After Merchantville High School shut down, Merchantville students attended Pennsauken High School starting in the 1972 school year, as part of a longstanding sending/receiving relationship with the Pennsauken Public Schools in Pennsauken Township. In 1992 Merchantville considered severing its send-receive relationship with Pennsauken School District so Merchantville could send them to Haddonfield Memorial High School instead, on the grounds that Merchantville saw Pennsauken High as outdated and Haddonfield Memorial as having superior facilities. Merchantville officials publicly stated in the 1980s and 1990s that they felt Pennsauken High had too many students and was too large. John Ellis, the New Jersey State Commissioner of Education, blocked Merchantville leaving the partnership on the grounds that it would cause more white students to leave Pennsauken High and turn Pennsauken High into a majority minority school. The Pennsauken District sought to recommit to ties with Merchantville.[9]

Starting in September 2015, students from Merchantville began to attend Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School (for the high school level only); students already in high school before 2015 continued to attend Pennsauken High until their graduation.[10][11][12]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[13]

  • J. Scott Strong, superintendent[14]
  • Greg Gontowski, business administrator and board secretary

Board of education

The district's board of education, with 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.[15][16][17]

References
  1. District information for Merchantville School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  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 September 2, 2014.
  4. Merchantville School District 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 1, 2016. "In the Spring of 2015, Merchantville School won a ruling to start a send/receive relationship with Haddon Heights. We continue to work closely with Haddon Heights High School to ensure that our students are well prepared to meet their expectations. We will continue to phase in one grade level at a time into Haddon Heights High School until all high school students are enrolled for the 2018–2019 school year."
  5. School data for Haddon Heights Jr./Sr. High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  6. School Data for the Merchantville School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  7. Van Sant, Will. "Decades Of Merchantville Students Stay True To Their School A Reunion Took Years To Organize, But Nearly 1,000 People Are Expected. It Will Begin With A Friday Night Tradition.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 20, 2000. Accessed December 24, 2015. "Next weekend, after more than a decade of preparation, alumni of Merchantville High, from the year the school opened in 1929 until it closed in 1972, will be meeting for a reunion.... Early on, Merchantville High served the surrounding region. As population growth during the 1950s and '60s affected Pennsauken, Maple Shade and Cherry Hill, other high schools were built in the area. Students were drawn away from Merchantville, and the high school shut down."
  8. McPherson, Gary. "Looking back through the Maple Shade archives", The Central Record, December 8, 2010. Accessed September 2, 2014. "With the then brand new Maple Shade High School slated to open its doors in 1972, Merchantville residents were faced with a dilemma. Keep the high school open and support a 200 student building or close the school and send local students to Pennsauken High School instead."
  9. Florio, Gwen. "Looking Beyond The School Decision Time To Make Up, Officials Say, After A Decade Of Fussing.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 1992. Accessed July 10, 2008. "Ever since its own high school closed in 1972, the Borough of Merchantville has been sending its public school students to Pennsauken High School." - Clipping from page S1 and from page S6 from Newspapers.com
  10. Romalino, Carly Q. "Merchantville school decision 'historic'", Courier-Post, April 17, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2015. "The state's final authorization this week allowing Merchantville to choose Haddon Heights High School over Pennsauken, is a 'landmark decision' for a state focused on school choice, according to education officials."
  11. "Send/Receive Final Decision; The Commissioner of Education affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's decision to start a send/receive relationship with Haddon Heights for our High School students.", Merchantville School District. Accessed November 1, 2015. "The Merchantville Board of Education is proud to announce that the Commissioner of Education has affirmed the Administrative Law Judge's decision to sever its sending-receiving relationship with Pennsauken and enter into a new sending-receiving relationship with Haddon Heights.... The current graduating 8th graders (Merchantville Class of 2015) will be able to attend Haddon Heights High School under the send/receive agreement. However, students that are already attending Pennsauken HS or other high schools will not qualify to attend under the new send/receive agreement. Instead, every year for four years, a new class will be sent to Haddon Heights until all of our students are phased into Haddon Heights."
  12. Send / Receive Trial, Merchantville School District. Accessed May 10, 2020. "We are excited to work with Haddon Heights and to phase in our students into their high school. The students will be phased into Haddon Heights High School. The current graduating 8th graders (Merchantville Class of 2015) will be able to attend Haddon Heights High School under the send/receive agreement. However, students that are already attending Pennsauken HS or other high schools will not qualify to attend under the new send/receive agreement. Instead, every year for four years, a new class will be sent to Haddon Heights until all of our students are phased into Haddon Heights."
  13. New Jersey School Directory for Camden County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
  14. Staff, Merchantville School District. Accessed May 10, 2020.
  15. 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.
  16. Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Merchantville Borough School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2018. Accessed May 1, 2020. "The Borough of Merchantville School District is a Type II district located in the County of Camden, 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 and staggered so that three members are elected each year. The purpose of the District is to educate students in grades K-8."
  17. Board of Education, Merchantville School District. Accessed May 10, 2020. "The Merchantville Board of Education (BOE) is comprised of nine members who are elected for a three-year term."
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