public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.
North America United States
In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
that serves students in
pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
through
eighth grade
Eighth grade (or grade eight in some regions) is the eighth post-kindergarten year of formal education in the US. The eighth grade is the ninth school year, the second, third, fourth, or final year of middle school, or the second and/or final ye ...
from
Merchantville
Merchantville is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 3,821,Camden County,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising one school, had an enrollment of 433 students and 33.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a
student–teacher ratio
Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
. Accessed April 1, 2020.
The district is classified by the
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
as being in
District Factor Group
{{refimprove, date=February 2013
Membership in a District Factor Group (DFG) is an indicator of the socioeconomic status of citizens in school districts of New Jersey. DFGs were first developed by the New Jersey Department of Education in 1975 for ...
"DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common
socioeconomic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...
characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.
Starting in September 2015, for
ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
through
twelfth grade
Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...
s, students from Merchantville attend
Haddon Heights High School
Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School, previously known as Haddon Heights High School (HHHS), is a six-year comprehensive public middle school / high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Haddon Heights, in Cam ...
as part of a new
sending/receiving relationship
A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...
with the
Haddon Heights School District
The Haddon Heights School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Haddon Heights, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2020–21 schoo ...
that was approved by the Commissioner of the
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...
, joining students from Barrington and Lawnside, who already attend the Haddon Heights school. As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 906 students and 77.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a
student–teacher ratio
Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...
of 11.7:1.
Schools
Merchantville Elementary School served 378 students as of the 2018–19 school year, per the
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
.
History
Starting in 1929, the district had its own high school,
Merchantville High School
Merchantville High School was a four-year public high school that operated from 1929 until 1972 in Merchantville, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Merchantville School District.
History
The school served st ...
Burlington County
Burlington County is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The county is the largest by area in New Jersey. Its county seat is Mount Holly.
. But with the loss of Maple Shade students to the new
Maple Shade High School
Maple Shade High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Maple Shade Township, in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school ...
in 1972, Merchantville closed its high school after the end of the 1971-72 school year and started sending its students to Pennsauken High School for grades nine through twelve.
After Merchantville High School shut down, Merchantville students attended
Pennsauken High School
Pennsauken High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, Pennsauken Township, Camden County, New Jersey, Camden ...
starting in the 1972 school year, as part of a longstanding sending/receiving relationship with the
Pennsauken Public Schools
The Pennsauken Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Pennsauken Township, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2019–20 school yea ...
in Pennsauken Township. In 1992 Merchantville considered severing its send-receive relationship with Pennsauken School District so Merchantville could send them to
Haddonfield Memorial High School
Haddonfield Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Haddonfield, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...
instead, on the grounds that Merchantville saw Pennsauken High as outdated and Haddonfield Memorial as having superior facilities. Merchantville officials publicly stated in the 1980s and 1990s that they felt Pennsauken High had too many students and was too large. John Ellis, the New Jersey State Commissioner of Education, blocked Merchantville leaving the partnership on the grounds that it would cause more white students to leave Pennsauken High and turn Pennsauken High into a majority minority school. The Pennsauken District sought to recommit to ties with Merchantville.
Starting in September 2015, students from Merchantville began to attend
Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School
Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School, previously known as Haddon Heights High School (HHHS), is a six-year comprehensive public middle school / high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Haddon Heights, in Cam ...
(for the high school level only); students already in high school before 2015 continued to attend Pennsauken High until their graduation.
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
*J. Scott Strong, Superintendent
*Greg Gontowski, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
Board of education
The district's
board of education
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
, 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.Board of Education Merchantville School District. Accessed May 10, 2020. "The Merchantville Board of Education (BOE) is nine members who are elected for a three-year term."
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...