Ho-Ho-Kus Public School

Ho-Ho-Kus Public School
Superintendent: Deborah Ferrara
Business Administrator: Dave Rinderknecht (interim)
Address: 70 Lloyd Road
Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423
Grade Range: K-8
School facilities: 1
Enrollment: 683 (as of 2009-10)[1]
Faculty (in FTEs): 51
Student–teacher ratio: 13.39
District Factor Group: J
Web site: http://www.hohokus.org
Ind. Per Pupil District
Spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-8
Average		  %± vs.
Average
1 Comparative Cost $12,730 31 $12,420 2.5%
2 Classroom Instruction 7,893 41 7,588 4.0%
6 Support Services 1,604 25 1,771 -9.4%
8 Administrative Cost 1,639 40 1,411 16.2%
10 Operations & Maintenance 1,442 36 1,462 -1.4%
13 Extracurricular Activities 149 46 97 53.6%
16 Median Teacher Salary 64,799 57 54,453
Data from NJDoE 2009 Comparative Spending Guide.[2]
*Of K-8 districts with 401-750 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=64

Ho-Ho-Kus Public School is a community public school district located in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the district's lone school had an enrollment of 683 students and 51 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.39.[1]

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

Local high school students attend high school at the Northern Highlands Regional High School in nearby town of Allendale,[4] which serves students in the 9th-12th grades from Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Upper Saddle River and part of Saddle River.[5]

Contents

History

The original school building was constructed in 1936.[6] Over the years, several additions have been made to the school. The most recent construction added 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of space, primarily in the middle school wing, but the addition included the new cafeteria, two science rooms, and administrative offices. There was also a renovation of the existing school building.

A 1973 plan to have students from Ho-Ho-Kus attend Midland Park High School in Midland Park, New Jersey as part of a combined regional district never came to fruition, despite official approval and encouragement by the New Jersey State Board of Education. Ridgewood had been hosting students in grades 9 to 12 from Ho-Ho-Kus at Ridgewood High School for 75 years as part of a sending/receiving relationship, though the Ridgewood board of education ended the arrangement in 1973 due to overcrowding and a proposed regionalization agreement between Ho-Ho-Kus and Ridgewood was rejected by voters from both communities in 1969. The state had proposed the formation of a regional agreement between Ho-Ho-Kus and Midland Park, though the choices of funding based on either property values or on the number of students would mean that one borough would shoulder higher costs than the other, regardless of which method was selected, given the sharp differences in demographics between the two communities.[7]

The small size of Midland Park High School and the lack of electives led to efforts in the mid-1990s to find another high school to serve students from the borough.[8] Since then, high school students from Ho-Ho-Kus have been attending Northern Highlands Regional High School.[9] The current agreement between Ho-Ho-Kus and Northern Highlands runs through 2018.[10]

Awards and recognition

During the 1989-90 school year, Ho-Ho-Kus Public School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[8][11] the highest award an American school can receive.[12][13]

In 2002, John Smith of the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School was recognized with the History of Distinguished Leadership Award by the New Jersey Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.[14]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[15]

References

  1. ^ a b District information for the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 22, 2011.
  2. ^ Comparative Spending Guide March 2009, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 28, 2009.
  3. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 10, 2010.
  4. ^ District Information, Ho-Ho-Kus Public School. Accessed January 4, 2007.
  5. ^ Northern Highlands Regional High School Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed August 22, 2011. "A four-year public high school, Northern Highlands strives to address the needs of all of its students, who come from four towns in northern Bergen County: Allendale, Upper Saddle River, Ho-Ho-Kus, and Saddle River."
  6. ^ District Information, Ho-Ho-Kus School District. Accessed August 22, 2011.
  7. ^ Staff. "High-School Merger in Doubt", The New York Times, April 29, 1973. Accessed August 22, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Ho-Ho-Kus; A Borough That Guards Its Traditions", The New York Times, February 5, 1995. Accessed August 22, 2011. "The district serves kindergarten through eighth grades. High school students are sent to nearby Midland Park, an arrangement Mayor Sayers terms "unsatisfactory" because, he says, Midland Park High School is small and offers few electives. The Ho-Ho-Kus Board of Education is discussing possible alternatives."
  9. ^ Peterson, Iver. "Taxes May Fuse School Districts; Rising Expenses Test New Jerseyans' Love of Local Control", The New York Times, April 29, 1994. Accessed August 22, 2011. "The proposed district would send Ho-Ho-Kus ninth graders to Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale. Northern Highlands High is nationally known for quality, but it is operating at just over half capacity and desperately seeking ties to other districts. Now, Ho-Ho-Kus children go to Midland Park High School after eighth grade."
  10. ^ Crusco, Jennifer. "Trustees approve new 10-year contract with Highlands", The Villadom Times, March 4, 2009. Accessed September 7, 2011. "The Ho-Ho-Kus Board of Education last week signed a new send/receive contract with Northern Highlands Regional High School in Annandale, which covers 2008 (retroactively) through 2018.... Ho-Ho-Kus has been sending its high school age students to Northern Highlands since the 1990s, when the district severed its send/receive relationship with Midland Park High School."
  11. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006
  12. ^ "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."
  13. ^ "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."
  14. ^ Awards History, New Jersey Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Accessed January 4, 2007.
  15. ^ Administration, Ho-Ho-Kus School District. Accessed August 22, 2011.

External links

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