JACKSON – School District Officials confirmed that consolidating the district’s two high schools into one and merging two middle schools was among the models of consideration during the latest Board of Education meeting.
Members of the Board discussed the district’s declining enrollment and budget problems during their latest meeting and the merger of schools provides one means to meet its fiscal challenges caused by the state aid funding formula S-2 that was introduced seven years ago by Governor Phil Murphy’s administration.
The governor and state administrators have continually refused to modify S-2 resulting in Jackson’s School District being severely impacted.
The School Board must decide how this will be handled. Declining enrollment has forced it to close the Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School which was one of its six public elementary schools. That property was recently sold to Bais Yaakov of Jackson for $13.1 million.
During the meeting Superintendent Nicole Pormilli mentioned the many activities that were going on within the schools following the reports made by the student representatives from Jackson Memorial and Jackson Liberty high schools.
She said, “the administration and staff have been busy working on the district goals. Concerning some of the health and safety goals we have started to remove some of the trailers at some of our elementary schools. Removing them is a goal for us this year.”
“We made a change with cell phone procedures on the high school level that is being implemented and we are using grant funds at the high schools to address chronic absenteeism. We have created a grant funded supervisor of mental health to help our students,” Pormilli added.
She noted a meeting was held with 12th District Senator Owen Henry about fair funding of state aid for Jackson. She also noted a meeting with the district’s architect to develop a master plan for the school district’s facilities and tours of the school district’s two high schools to review their structure.
Providing an update on the school system’s strategic planning committee, the superintendent noted, “there are many rumors around. There is a lot of emotional reactions. Believe me I know everyone would like for us to stay as we are but it is not sustainable.”
Pormilli explained during a PowerPoint presentation that over the last seven years there were many hard-working staff members working within a “deficit model to maintain strong schools and strong programs and co-curriculars but now it has become nearly impossible to do that. Therefore we need to chart a new course and move in another direction.”
That new direction involves four possible models, one of which includes closing one of its two middle schools and reconfiguring grades. Administrators will look at a 10-12 high school configuration and combining its two high schools into one if that model is adopted.
A final decision that will involve public input about the recommendations presented will occur during a special meeting in February as to whether to close the Goetz or McAuliffe middle schools and whether to house high school students at Liberty or Memorial.
School district enrollment in Jackson has fallen by about 1,200 students in the last six years. Jackson’s population ballooned in the 1980s and 1990s which led to the building of the 9-12 Jackson Liberty HS in 2006. Its capacity is 1,900; currently with 1,200 students attending.
Jackson Memorial HS, which is also 9-12, has a capacity of 1,900 and its current enrollment is 1,459.
Enrollment breakdowns by grades have revealed a clear trend toward less demand for classroom space in the near and medium-term.
In 2023, the two high schools graduated 683 students but the district only enrolled 400 kindergarten students. From 12th grade on down, each grade has had fewer students enrolled.
Jackson’s school-age population continues to drop while its overall population continues to rise. The township is now at over 60,000.
While the need for public schools has declined in the community, the demand for private Orthodox schools has grown. Plans for the building of several private religious school facilities have been approved in recent months.
Another demographic shift was revealed in 2022 and 2024 when the percentage of Hispanic students in the district rose from 24.8% to 33.1%. Students deemed economically disadvantaged also increased from 28.% to 36.5%, and English Language Learners increased from 5.6% to 9.9%.
