Teaneck Public Schools

Teaneck Public Schools
Superintendent: Barbara Pinsak
Business Administrator: Robert Finger
Address: 1 Merrison Street
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Grade Range: K-12
School facilities: 7
Enrollment: 4,129 (as of 2009-10)[1]
Faculty (in FTEs): 371
Student–teacher ratio: 11.3
District Factor Group: GH
Web site: http://www.teaneckschools.org
Ind. Per Pupil District
Spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
Average		  %± vs.
Average
1 Comparative Cost $17,395 98 $13,632 27.6%
2 Classroom Instruction 10,097 98 8,035 25.7%
6 Support Services 2,645 85 2,166 22.1%
8 Administrative Cost 1,661 100 1,379 20.4%
10 Operations & Maintenance 2,532 99 1,674 51.3%
13 Extracurricular Activities 302 76 258 17.1%
16 Median Teacher Salary 70,250 95 57,597
Data from NJDoE 2009 Comparative Spending Guide.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with 3,501+ students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=105

Teaneck Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the district's seven schools had an enrollment of 4,129 students and 371 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.13.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide, ostensibly 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] However, because socioeconomic data is derived from the municipality as a whole and a significant proportion of Teaneck's more affluent families send their children to parochial or other private schools, the usefulness of District Factor Grouping in the Teaneck district's case is disputed.

Contents

Awards and recognition

The Teaneck Public Schools have been recognized by the New Jersey Department of Education as part of its Best practices program. The district was awarded in the 1997-98 school year for its Passport Portfolio Program [4], and in the 2000-01 school year for its Early Literacy Initiative.[5]

History

Harvey B. Scribner, who later served as New York City School Chancellor, was hired in 1961 by the Teaneck Public Schools to serve as superintendent of the district. There he oversaw the adoption of mandatory busing in 1965 that made Teaneck the first district in the nation to voluntarily integrate its public schools.[6] Despite angry phone calls from some parents and the occasional death threat, Teaneck's integration went smoothly and Scribner recalled that he was "literally crying" on the first day of school in 1965 when buses rolled into school without incident.[7] Teaneck's 1965 busing plan made it the first district in the nation with a white majority to implement a voluntary school integration program.[8][9]

A 1982 teachers strike that lasted for 19 days was settled after a judge threated to jail striking teachers and pressured the board of education to negotiate an agreement.[10]

Schools

Schools in the district (with school facilities and principals as listed at the district web site,[11] school history from the Teaneck Virtual Village[12] and 2009-10 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[13]) include the following:

Elementary schools

High school

Defunct schools

Controversy

Teaneck has received attention in the media due to sexual crimes committed against minors by faculty members. Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School pleaded guilty to official child endangerment in June 2006 and was sentenced to one year in prison. White had been charged in 2002 with fondling a 17-year-old student and was subsequently acquitted.[15] James Darden, an award-winning former eight grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was charged with sexual assault and misconduct in June 2007. He pleaded guilty on December 2007 to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and faces up to 8½ years in prison when sentenced on January 18, 2008.[16]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[17]

References

  1. ^ a b District information for the Teaneck School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 31, 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 27, 2009.
  4. ^ New Jersey Department of Education Best Practices: Passport Portfolio Program, accessed June 6, 2006.
  5. ^ New Jersey Department of Education Best Practices: Early Literacy Initiative, accessed June 6, 2006.
  6. ^ Marks, Joan. "The Lessons of Teaneck", The New York Times, November 19, 1972. Accessed August 18, 2010.
  7. ^ Blair, Jayson. "Harvey B. Scribner, New York Schools Chancellor in a Turbulent Era, Dies at 88", The New York Times, December 24, 2002. Accessed August 18, 2010.
  8. ^ Staff. "Harvey Scribner", The Record (Bergen County), December 27, 2002. Accessed August 18, 2010. "He was a champion of school integration in Teaneck, the first community in the nation to voluntarily integrate its school system by busing."
  9. ^ Teaneck, Fairleigh Dickinson University. Accessed August 18, 2010.
  10. ^ McGrath, Ellie. "Little Room to Negotiate", Time (Magazine), October 18, 1982. Accessed June 4, 2007. "There were a record 242 strikes in the 1979-80 school year. The following year there were 191; so far this fall there have been about 65. Only some 20 strikes are still in progress today, and few seem likely to continue for long. A 19-day strike ended in Teaneck, N.J., last week after State Superior Court Judge Sherwin Lester leaned on both sides. He ordered teachers back to work and, when they refused, began commandeering school buildings for use as makeshift jails to confine groups of teachers during the day. When an intransigent board of education failed to produce a quorum for a crucial bargaining session, the judge pressured board members to negotiate with the union. The final three-year settlement for the teachers represents yearly pay increases of from 7.5% to 9.7%."
  11. ^ Teaneck Public Schools
  12. ^ Teaneck Virtual Village - History of Teaneck Public Schools
  13. ^ Data for the Teaneck Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 31, 2011.
  14. ^ a b c Pinto, Jennifer. "New Principals to Greet Students This Year: Dennis Heck takes the helm at THS; Angela Davis to lead TJMS; and Deirdre Spollen-LaRaia fills principal role at Hawthorne", TeaneckPatch, August 31, 2011. Accessed August 31, 2011.
  15. ^ Markos, Kibret. "Ex-principal in Teaneck gets 1 year", The Record (Bergen County), November 3, 2007. Accessed December 24, 2007.
  16. ^ Markos, Kibret. "Teaneck teacher admits classroom sex with student", The Record (Bergen County), December 18, 2007. Accessed December 24, 2007.
  17. ^ Administration, Teaneck Public Schools. Accessed March 9, 2011.
  18. ^ Prosnitz, Howard. "Barbara Pinsak named superintendent for Teaneck schools", Teaneck Suburbanite, April 13, 2011. Accessed April 13, 2011. "Barbara Pinsak, who has served as Teaneck's Interim Superintendent of Schools since the summer of 2010, has been appointed superintendent. The appointment will become formalized at a Board of Education meeting on April 13."

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