Elizabeth Public Schools

Elizabeth Public Schools
Superintendent: Pablo Muñoz
Business Administrator: Harold Kennedy
Address: Mitchell Building
Elizabeth, NJ 07207
Grade Range: K-12
School facilities: 30
Enrollment: 22,068 (as of 2009-10)[1]
Faculty (in FTEs): 2,066
Student–teacher ratio: 10.68
District Factor Group: A
Web site: http://www.elizabeth.k12.nj.us
Ind. Per Pupil District
Spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
Average		  %± vs.
Average
1 Comparative Cost $15,217 83 $13,632 11.6%
2 Classroom Instruction 9,414 93 8,035 17.2%
6 Support Services 2,174 71 2,166 0.4%
8 Administrative Cost 1,395 63 1,379 1.2%
10 Operations & Maintenance 2,027 92 1,674 21.1%
16 Median Teacher Salary 59,979 58 57,597
Data from NJDoE 2009 Comparative Spending Guide.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with 3,501+ students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=105

Elizabeth Public Schools is a public school district headquartered in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in prekindergarten through 12th grade. The district is one of 31 Abbott Districts statewide.[3] The district is one of New Jersey's largest, with a culturally diverse student body coming from 50 countries and speaking more than 37 languages.[4]

As of the 2009-10 school year, the district's 32 schools had an enrollment of 22,068 students and 2,066 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.68.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "A", the lowest 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.[5]

Contents

Awards and recognition

In the 2008-09 school year, Victor Mravlag Elementary School No. 21 was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[6] the highest award an American school can receive.[7][8] For the 2006-07 school year, William F. Halloran Alternative School #22 was one of four schools in New Jersey recognized with the Blue Ribbon Award.[9]

In 2007, Dr Albert Einstein Academy School No. 29 became one of 24 schools selected from across the United States and the only NASA Explore School in the state of New Jersey at that time.[10]

The Washington Post's 2011 "High School Challenge", a continuation of high-school rankings formerly published in Newsweek,[11] ranked Elizabeth High School as the second-best high school in New Jersey, and the 176th-best in the United States.[12][13]

Schools

High Schools

PreK-8 Schools

Early Childhood Centers

Under Development

Controversy

In June 2011, the Union County Prosecutor's Office was investigating charges that members of the school board gave jobs and promotions to employees in exchange for political contributions. Republican members of the New Jersey General Assembly asked for records relating to district spending for entertainment, travel, equipment and other expenditures.[14]

The Investigations Unit of the New Jersey Department of Education reviewed district practices in 2008, following a state auditor's report that undocumented aliens were being improperly hired by the district in custodial and clerical positions. The district's business administrator indicated that the district had been hiring non-citizens for math and science teaching positions due to the inability to find qualified citizens qualified to work in those positions. . Other findings had shown that $88,000 was spent by the district for what was deemed to be political advertising and that employee information had been taken from confidential files to be used for soliciting political contributions.[15]

Some other recent headlines include:

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b District information for the Elizabeth School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed September 4, 2011.
  2. ^ Comparative Spending Guide March 2009, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 28, 2009.
  3. ^ Abbott Districts, New Jersey Department of Education, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 15, 2009. Accessed April 13, 2011.
  4. ^ EPS at a Glance, Elizabeth Public Schools. Accessed September 8, 2011.
  5. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 27, 2009.
  6. ^ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: 2008 Schools, United States Department of Education. Accessed April 13, 2011.
  7. ^ "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  8. ^ "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test", The Washington Post. September 29, 2005. "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  9. ^ No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools in 2006, United States Department of Education. Accessed April 13, 2011.
  10. ^ Smith, Heather R. Starry-eyed, NASA. June 22, 2010. Accessed April 13, 2011.
  11. ^ Mathews, Jay (May 25, 2011). "Catching up on national high school ranks". The Washington Post (Washington, DC: The Washington Post Company). http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/catching-up-on-national-high-school-ranks/2011/05/25/AGkXoXBH_blog.html. Retrieved June 2, 2011. 
  12. ^ "Elizabeth High School Ranks No. 2 In State". NJTODAY.NET (CMD Media). June 2, 2011. http://njtoday.net/2011/06/02/elizabeth-high-school-ranks-no-2-in-state/. Retrieved June 2, 2011. 
  13. ^ "New Jersey Schools". The High School Challenge. Washington, DC: The Washington Post Company. http://apps.washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge/schools/2011/list/new-jersey-schools/. Retrieved June 2, 2011. 
  14. ^ Sherman, Ted. "Two investigations launched into Elizabeth school board", The Star-Ledger, June 13, 2011. Accessed September 5, 2011. "The Elizabeth Board of Education has become the focus of two investigations in the wake of charges that jobs and promotions at one of the state's largest school systems were tied to political contributions.
  15. ^ Cuozzo, Kenneth. "Elizabeth schools get state scrutiny", The Star-Ledger, May 30, 2008. Accessed September 5, 2011.
  16. ^ | At least $1.5M paid out secretly by Elizabeth schools, a fraction of workers' settlements from The Star-Ledger Sunday, July 24, 2011
  17. ^ | Elizabeth Board of Education used taxpayer money to keep lawsuits hush-hush from The Star-Ledger Editorial July 27, 2011
  18. ^ | Investigation finds Elizabeth school board pressures workers to fill campaign coffers from The Star-Ledger Sunday, May 22, 2011
  19. ^ [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/elizabeth_school_officials_kid.html | Elizabeth school officials' kids don't pay full meal costs, records show from The Star-Ledger Sunday, August 21, 2011]
  20. ^ | FBI press release on Robert Firestone
  21. ^ |Former Elizabeth schools employee admits to defrauding district Star-Ledger Wednesday, January 05, 2011
  22. ^ Directory, Elizabeth Public Schools. Accessed April 13, 2011.
  23. ^ Union County School Directory, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed November 5, 2009.

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