The Hopewell Valley Regional School District is a comprehensive regional

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 ...

serving 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

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 ...

from three communities in Mercer 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.''2021-2022 Charter And Public Schools DCP&P Directory''

Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission's ...

. Accessed February 8, 2022. The municipalities that are part of this district are Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township and Pennington Borough. As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,467 students and 351.1 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 9.9:1.District information for Hopewell Valley Regional School District

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, 2021. 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 "I", the second-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.

Awards and recognition

In 2022, the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

announced that Stony Brook Elementary School was named as a

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

, along with eight other schools in the state and 297 schools nationwide. In 2011, the district was named to the College Board's AP Honor Roll. The honor roll consists of the 388 U.S. public school districts that simultaneously achieved increases in access to AP courses for a broader number of students and also maintained or improved the rated at which their AP students earned scores of 3 or higher on an AP Exam. In 2004, the district was named to the

American Music Conference American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

's list of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in New Jersey". The district has been recognized on multiple occasions for its high-caliber music and performing arts programs.

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide. The district's high school was the 16th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'' magazine's September 2018 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 39th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The magazine took into account factors such as class size, teachers with advanced degrees, and socioeconomic factors.

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the

) are: ;Elementary schools *Bear Tavern Elementary School with 397 students in grades PreK-5 **Christopher Turnbull, principal *Hopewell Elementary School with 400 students in grades PreK-5 **David Friedrich, principal *Stony Brook Elementary School with 378 students in grades K-5 **Steven Wilfing, principal *Toll Gate Grammar School with 306 students in grades K-5 **Jane-Ellen Lennon, principal ;Middle school *Timberlane Middle School with 820 students in grades 6-8 **Nicole Gianfredi, principal **Melissa Lauri, vice principal **Raquel Rivera, vice principal * Hopewell Valley Central High School with 1,097 students in grades 9-12 **Patricia Riley, principal **Anson Smith, vice principal **Courtney Underwood, vice principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are: *Dr. Rosetta D. Treece, superintendent *Robert W. Colavita Jr., assistant superintendent for business and 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 ...

, comprised of 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. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the day-to-day operation of the district. The board of education, whose members are elected by the Hopewell Valley community, has nine members allocated to each of the three municipalities based on population, with Hopewell Township assigned seven seats and both Hopewell and Pennington each assigned a single seat. Members of the board are: *Deb Linthorst, Hopewell Township, president *Jessica Grillo, Hopewell Borough, vice president *Adam J. Sawicki Jr., Hopewell Township *Bill Herbert, Hopewell Township *John Mason, Hopewell Township *Jenny Long, Pennington Borough *Anita Williams Galiano, Hopewell Township *Deb O'Reilly, Hopewell Township *Andrea Driver, Hopewell Township According to Business Practice 9000, the local board of education has full power to operate the local public schools in compliance with state and federal mandates and pertinent to the laws of the municipality. The board functions as a corporate body only when in session.

Controversy and sexual abuse allegations

There have been several allegations made against the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. In 2015, Former Hopewell teacher Matthew Hoffman was found liable for repeated sexual abuse of a student in a classroom. Allegations against a current Hopewell Social Studies teacher were made in a court filing on October 31, 2019.Alexander, Dan
"NJ teacher still teaching as district investigates sex assault accusation"

WKXW WKXW (101.5 FM, "New Jersey 101.5") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Trenton, New Jersey. It is owned by Townsquare Media. Its studios and offices are located in Ewing and its broadcast tower, which is shared with WPRB, is l ...

, November 7, 2019. Accessed December 30, 2020. Although initially issuing a press release defending the teacher, further investigation by the school found cause to immediately pull him from the classroom effective November 12, 2019.

References

External links

Hopewell Valley Regional School District
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Hopewell Valley Regional School District

{{Mercer County, New Jersey School Districts Hopewell, New Jersey Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Pennington, New Jersey New Jersey District Factor Group I School districts in Mercer County, New Jersey