Morris School District

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The Morris School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from three municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, with a total student population of approximately 4,800. The communities in the district are Morristown (2,443 students from a 2000 Census population of 18,544) and Morris Township (2,121 students from a population of 21,796), along with students from Morris Plains (175 students) in grades 9-12 who attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Morris Plains Schools.[1]

In addition to its preK-12 program, the Morris School District operates a Community School that offers an extensive adult school curriculum. The Community School also provides a before and after-school childcare program, Sunrise Sunset, for Morris School District children of busy parents. Housed in each of the District's elementary schools, Sunrise Sunset offers a supervised environment in which boys and girls can work and play before and after school. The Community School's summer program, Summer Plus, provides children with a local alternative to summer camp.

Contents

[edit] Schools

Schools within the District (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[2]) are:

Preschool

Primary Schools (K-2)

Intermediate Schools (3-5)

Multiage Magnet School (K-5)

Middle School (6-8)

High School (9-12)

[edit] Administration

  • Tom Ficarra - Superintendent
  • Susan Young - Board Secretary

The superintendent is under contract with the school board for one year. He is paid a salary of $170,000.[3]

[edit] Board of Education

The Morris School District Board of Education is comprised of ten individual members. There are five representatives from Morris Township, four from Morristown, and one from the Borough of Morris Plains. Representatives from each constituent municipality are elected by the voters to three-year terms of office. The Morris Plains representative is a member of the Morris Plains Board of Education appointed annually by that body to the Morris School District Board to represent Morris Plains on issues affecting Morristown High School. The Morris Plains representative can also vote on district-wide issues.

School Board elections are held in April of each year. In addition to selecting members of the Board of Education, voters also are asked to vote on the proposed budget for the subsequent school year.

The budget for 2007-8 was $94,255,303.[4]

[edit] History

Two schools are known to have operated in near the Green in Morristown in the 1700s. One was in use from 1732 - 1767; the other, known as the “Steeple School,” stood from 1767 - 1799.

From the early to mid-1800’s local schools included the Franklin Street, Bridge Street, Mt. Kemble, and Washington Valley Schools.

The Maple Avenue School opened in 1869 on land donated by George T. Cobb.

An early school (1700s) located three miles west of Morristown was described as follows: ”The building was constructed of logs, and instead of glass window, sheep skins were stretched over apertures made by sawing off an occasional log.

In 1971, the district was regionalized under an order by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which ruled that the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education can cross district lines for desegregation purposes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Morristown High School 2007 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 23, 2008. "It is composed of 1503 ethnically diverse students representing more than 31 different languages from Morristown, Morris Township and Morris Plains."
  2. ^ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Morris School District, accessed February 23, 2008.
  3. ^ 2005 Administrative Reports New Jersey DOE retrieved on May 19, 2008
  4. ^ Morristown Daily Record,Minhaj Hassan, March 27, 2007

[edit] External links