The Woodbridge Township School District is a comprehensive community

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

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

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 Woodbridge Township in Middlesex 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. All schools are accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...

. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising 26 schools, had an enrollment of 13,888 students and 1,122.7 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 12.4:1.District information for Woodbridge Township 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, 2020. The high schools offer more than 150 courses, including

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

, college preparatory, business, vocational and cooperative work/study programs. 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.

Awards and recognition

During the 2008-09 school year, Kennedy Park School #24 was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by 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 ...

, the highest award an American school can receive. Lynn Crest School was recognized as a "Blue Ribbon" School during the 2009-10 school year. For the 2005-06 school year, the district was recognized with the "Best Practices Award" by the

for its "Blooming Buddies-The Garden Club" Science program at Matthew Jago Elementary School. For the 2004-05 school year, Matthew Jago Elementary School was named a "Star School" by the

, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the

) are: ;Elementary schools *Mawbey Street School #1 (365; K-5 - built 1962) *Avenel Street School #4&5 (398; K-5 - built 1912) *Port Reading School #9 (392; K-5 - built 1962) *Ross Street School #11 (383; K-5 - built 1920) *Ford Avenue School #14 (247; K-5 - built 1924) *Indiana Avenue School #18 (514; K-5 - built 1955) *Menlo Park Terrace #19 (349; K-5 - built 1958) *Claremont Avenue School #20 (305; K-5 - built 1958) *Oak Ridge Heights School #21 (289; K-5 - built 1959) *Lynn Crest School #22 (336; K-5 - built 1959) *Woodbine Avenue School #23 (506; K-5 - built 1960) *Kennedy Park School #24 (317; PreK-5 - built 1960) *Lafayette Estates School #25 (483; K-5 - built 1960) *Robert Mascenik School #26 (312; K-5 - built 1960) *Pennsylvania Avenue School #27 (339; K-5 - built 1964) *Matthew Jago School #28 (406; K-5 - built 1969) *Oak Tree Road School #29 (524; K-5 - opened 2018) ;Middle schools *Avenel Middle School (590; 6-8) *Colonia Middle School (619; 6-8) *Fords Middle School (653; 6-8) *Iselin Middle School (748; 6-8) *Woodbridge Middle School (516; 6-8) ;High schools *

Colonia High School Colonia High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades in the Colonia section of Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It operates as part of the ...

(1,325; 9-12) * John F. Kennedy Memorial High School (1,324; 9-12) *Reaching Individual Student Excellence (RISE) (30; 9-12) * Woodbridge High School (1,473; 9-12)

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are: *Dr. Joseph Massimino, superintendent *Brian Wolferman, business administrator 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 ...

, 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.

Controversy

Lois Rotella, former assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, left her position in early August 2012. After her departure, "the district has been notoriously tight-lipped about matters since various schools have been under investigation by the State Board of Education's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance... because of a high number of wrong-to-right erasures on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) standardized tests." In 2015, it was found out that Ford Avenue School #14 principal Cathie Bedosky was encouraging students to cheat on the NJASK standardized test. She also poorly trained test proctors, and hired unqualified people to administer the test. She was later suspended by vote at the Woodbridge Board of Education.

References

External links

Woodbridge Township Public Schools
*
School Data for the Woodbridge Township Public Schools

{{Middlesex County, New Jersey School Districts Woodbridge Township, New Jersey New Jersey District Factor Group DE School districts in Middlesex County, New Jersey