Netcong School District

The Netcong School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Netcong, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States.[3]

Netcong School District
Address
26 College Road Netcong, NJ 07857 United States
Coordinates	40.899821°N 74.699237°W
District information
Grades	PreK to 8
Superintendent	Kathleen E. Walsh
Business administrator	Paul Stabile
Schools	1
Students and staff
Enrollment	289 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Faculty	26.0 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio	11.1:1[1]
Other information
District Factor Group	DE
Website	www.netcongschool.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-8 average %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $16,141 9 $18,891 −14.6% 1 Budgetary Cost 12,511 13 14,159 −11.6% 2 Classroom Instruction 8,154 21 8,659 −5.8% 6 Support Services 1,293 3 2,167 −40.3% 8 Administrative Cost 1,701 41 1,547 10.0% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,238 11 1,612 −23.2% 13 Extracurricular Activities 125 29 104 20.2% 16 Median Teacher Salary 62,000 55 61,136 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 289 students and 26.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1.[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.[4]

For ninth through twelfth grades, public school students attend Lenape Valley Regional High School, which serves Netcong and the Sussex County communities of Stanhope and Byram Township.[5] As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 691 students and 58.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.9:1.[6]

History

The district formerly operated Netcong High School. The school, which opened in the 1900s, closed in 1974; the building became Netcong Elementary School.[7]

Judge Joseph Stamler of New Jersey Superior Court issued a decision in February 1970 in the case State Board of Education v. Board of Education of Netcong, New Jersey regarding a matter in which the district's school board had a policy providing for voluntary daily school readings at the start of the school day at the high school of prayers that had been published in the Congressional Record, as delivered by Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. Attendance at these readings was voluntary, and the board said that they were intended as inspirational remarks, rather than prayer in the schools.[8] In his decision, Judge Stamler prohibited what he described as a "subterfuge [that] is degrading to all religions", arguing that by taking what were "beautiful prayers" and referring to them merely as "remarks", the school district was working to "peddle religion in a very cheap manner under an assumed name." The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously affirmed Stamler's decision and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the district's school board.[9]

School

Netcong Elementary School had an enrollment of 285 students in grades PreK-8 as of the 2018–19 school year.[10] Netcong's school offers small class sizes that allow teachers to offer personalized attention not possible in larger schools.

• Dr. Kurt Ceresnak, Principal[11]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[11][12]

• Kathleen Walsh, Superintendent
• Paul Stabile, Business Administrator / 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.[13][14]

References

1. District information for Netcong 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. Netcong Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Netcong School District. Accessed May 11, 2020. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through eight in the Netcong School District. Composition: The Netcong School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Netcong."
4. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 8, 2014.
5. Lenape Valley Regional High School 2016 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed July 21, 2017. "Lenape Valley Regional High School is a comprehensive, academic high school serving approximately 800 students in grades 9 through 12 from Byram Township and Stanhope Borough in Sussex County and from Netcong Borough in Morris County."
6. School data for Lenape Valley Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
7. January 2009 (Calendar). Netcong Borough. Accessed December 15, 2016.
8. State Bd. of Ed. v. Bd. Of Ed. Of Netcong, NJ, Justia, decided February 9, 1970. Accessed January 24, 2018. "The implementation of the resolution has occurred in the following way: At 7:55 A.M. in the Netcong High School gymnasium, immediately prior to the formal opening of school, students who wish to join in the exercise either sit or stand in the bleachers. A student volunteer reader, assigned by the principal on a first come, first serve basis, then comes forward and reads the 'remarks' (so described by defendants) of the chaplain from the Congressional Record, giving the date, volume, number and body whose proceedings are being read."
9. Saxon, Wolfgang. "Joseph Howard Stamler, 86, Influential New Jersey Judge", The New York Times, October 23, 1998. Accessed January 24, 2018. "His most celebrated case involved the school board of Netcong, N.J., which had a policy providing for daily school readings of prayers published regularly in the Congressional Record, as delivered by Congressional chaplains at the start of the day. Attendance at these readings was voluntary, and the board said they were inspirational remarks, rather than prayer in the schools, but Judge Stamler nevertheless ordered the practice stopped in 1970."
10. School Data for the Netcong Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
11. Administration, Netcong School District. Accessed May 11, 2020.
12. New Jersey School Directory for Morris County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
13. 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.
14. Board of Education Members, Netcong School District. Accessed May 11, 2020.

External links

• Netcong School District
• Netcong School District's 2015–16 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Netcong School District, National Center for Education Statistics
• Lenape Valley Regional High School