Union County Regional High School District was a 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 ...
that served students in
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 at four
high schools
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in
Union 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. Established in 1937 as the state's first regional high school district, conflict between the constituent municipalities about school funding and grievances related to the closure of one of the four schools led to the passage of a referendum for the district's dissolution in May 1996, which took effect at the end of the 1996-97 school year. 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 ...
called Union County Regional "the highest-spending regional high school in the state".
[
]
History
Formation and growth
The district's six participating municipalities -- Berkeley Heights, Clark
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
, Garwood Garwood can refer to: People
* Doug Garwood, American golfer
* Edmund Johnston Garwood, British geologist
* Julie Garwood, author
* Kelton Garwood, American actor
* Richard Garwood, Air Marshall in the Royal Air Force
* Robert R. Garwood, prison ...
, Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...
, Mountainside and Springfield Township -- began class in September 1937 at Jonathan Dayton Regional High School in Springfield, which was named for founding father Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760October 9, 1824) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the Constitution of the United States ...
.
Arthur L. Johnson Regional High School, named for a longtime county superintendent who had advocated for regionalization, opened in September 1956. The school was constructed at a cost of $2 million and included of space for classes and other facilities.
In September 1960, Governor Livingston Regional High School opened its doors to 800 students from Berkeley Heights and Mountainside. Designed to accommodate an enrollment of 900, projected increases in the numbers of students lead the district to consider a $1.5 million expansion to add capacity for an additional 600 students before the school had even opened.
The name David Brearley Regional High School was chosen in March 1964 to honor David Brearley
David Brearley (often misspelled as ''Brearly'') (June 11, 1745 – August 16, 1790) was an American Founding Father, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a delegate from New Jersey to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which dra ...
one of four New Jersey signatories of the Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, along with Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760October 9, 1824) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the Constitution of the United States ...
and William Livingston
William Livingston (November 30, 1723July 25, 1790) was an American politician who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congress, he sig ...
who had already had high schools in the district named for them. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 1964 for the new school facility, which would be the fourth high school in the district and was expected to be the first in the state with air conditioning and electric heating. The school opened to 640 students from Kenilworth in September 1966. The original building contained 40 classrooms, an auditorium with a capacity of 820, a cafeteria with a capacity of 430, a gymnasium with a capacity of 2,000, and offices.
Deregionalization
With enrollment declining, costs rising on a per-student basis and budgets being rejected by voters, the district approved a recommendation to close David Brearley and have the students from Garwood and Kenilworth, the two lowest-income communities in the district, be shifted to Jonathan Dayton. In the wake of the closure of David Brearley High School, groups of residents pushed for a measure that would allow for deregionalization of school districts, which was part of legislation introduced in 1993 by Richard Bagger
Richard Hartvig Bagger (born March 27, 1960) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, and former State Senator who later served as chief of staff to Governor Chris Christie.[New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...]
.
By 1993, with nearly three-quarters of all teachers at the top of the salary scale and enrollment having dropped by more than 60% from a peak of 6,000 in 1971, the district was the highest-spending in the state with a cost per pupil of $15,594, which ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted was "much more than many top private schools charge for tuition". With property taxes being based on equalized value in each municipality and with significant differences in numbers of students from each community, sharp discrepancies developed in the costs per student (school taxes paid divided by the number of students attending high school), with Garwood paying $8,600 per pupil while Mountainside's cost per pupil was more than double that, at $20,000.
In the May 1996 referendum, 55% of ballots cast were in favor of dissolving the district, with "yes" votes prevailing in Berkeley Heights, Kenilworth, Mountainside and Springfield, though 88% of Clark residents and 97% of those from Garwood opposed the measure.
With the district's dissolution in 1997, the four high school facilities owned by the regional district were turned over to the host municipalities, with all four communities becoming K-12 districts. David Brearley High School, which had been closed by the district in 1992 due to declining enrollment and projected cost savings, became part of the Kenilworth Public Schools
The Kenilworth Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from the borough of Kenilworth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2019–20 ...
; Jonathan Dayton High School (which had 629 students from both Kenilworth and Springfield) was added to the Springfield Public Schools; Arthur L. Johnson High School (with 763 students from Clark and Garwood) was taken over by the Clark Public School District
The Clark Public School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Clark, in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Students from Garwood, attend the dist ...
; and Governor Livingston High School (with 735 students from Berkeley Heights and Mountainside) shifted to the Berkeley Heights Public Schools. The two remaining communities without school facilities in their borders remained as K-8 districts and established 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 ...
s for grades 9-12, with Garwood Public Schools sending to Arthur L. Johnson and Mountainside School District with Governor Livingston.[Hanley, Robert]
"Schools Weigh Impact Of District Breakup"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', May 16, 1996. Accessed April 28, 2021. "They are Springfield, with Dayton High; Berkeley Heights, with Governor Livingston High; Clark, with Arthur Johnson High, and Kenilworth, with Brearley High, which closed three years ago but will reopen after Commissioner Klagholz sets a date for the formal dissolution. Many expect it will be June 30, 1997. The district's two towns without high school buildings -- Garwood and Mountainside -- will remain kindergarten-to-eighth-grade districts and ship out their high school students. Mountainside's will go to Livingston High in Berkeley Heights."[Paglia, Bernice]
"Stakes high in vote on deregionalization"
''Courier News
The ''Courier News'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Somerville, New Jersey, that serves Somerset County and other areas of Central Jersey. The paper has been owned by Gannett since 1927.
Notable employees
* John Curley, former pre ...
'', May 13, 1996. Accessed April 28, 2021, via Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
. "When it comes to changing the way schools operate, proposals on sharing and cost-saving can run head-on into issues of turf, identity and historic grudges. In 1992 the Union County Regional High School District 1 board voted to close one of its four high schools, a move aimed at saving $4 million. That move may come full circle on Tuesday, when voters from six municipalities will decide whether to dissolve the district itself, which state Education Commissioner Leo Klagholz has called 'the highest-spending regional high school in the state.'... Of the 2,127 students in the regional high school district, 629 from Springfield and Kenilworth attend Jonathan Dayton, and 763 mainly from Clark and Garwood attend Arthur L. Johnson, and 735 from Berkeley Heights and Mountainside attend Governor Livingston."
Schools
Schools in the district were:
* Jonathan Dayton Regional High School, Springfield Township, opened 1937
* Arthur L. Johnson Regional High School, Clark
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
, opened 1956
* Governor Livingston Regional High School, Berkeley Heights, opened 1960
* David Brearley Regional High School, Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...
, opened 1966 and closed 1993
Board of education
The district was operated by a nine-member board of education with membership apportioned on the basis of municipal populations. Originally, Garwood, Kenilworth, and Springfield had two members each, while Berkeley Heights, Clark, and Mountainside had one member each. Following the 1960 Census, the board was reapportioned with Berkeley Heights and Clark gaining a member while Garwood and Kenilworth lost a member. This apportionment was maintained through the district's dissolution in 1997.
References
{{Reflist
1937 establishments in New Jersey
1997 disestablishments in New Jersey
Educational institutions disestablished in 1997
School districts established in 1937
Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Clark, New Jersey
Garwood, New Jersey
Kenilworth, New Jersey
Mountainside, New Jersey
Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey
Former school districts in the United States