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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Great Meadows Regional School District

The Great Meadows Regional School District is a regional public school district in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Independence and Liberty townships. The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division blocked a 2007 effort by Liberty Township to leave the Great Meadows district based on Liberty's greater share of district costs, with the court citing the inability of the two communities to provide an efficient education separately.

As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprising two schools, had an enrollment of 643 students and 59.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.9:1.

The district was classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

Students attending public school for ninth through twelfth grades attend Hackettstown High School which serves students from Hackettstown, along with students from the townships of Allamuchy and Liberty, as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Hackettstown School District. As of the 2021–22 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 869 students and 67.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.0:1.

In 2019, in the wake of declining enrollment and state aid, the district announced that it would close Liberty Elementary School to consolidate into the two other schools located on a single campus.

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2021–22 school year enrollment from the National Center for Education Statistics) are:

Elementary schools
  • Central Elementary School with 302 students in grades PreK-3
    • Samantha Westberg, principal
Middle school
  • Great Meadows Middle School with 337 students in grades 4-8
    • Wendy Flynn, principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:

  • Michael Mai, superintendent
  • Amanda Kinney, business administrator and board secretary

Board of education

The district's board of education, 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 2013) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district. Seats on the board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with six from Independence Township and three from Liberty Township, who are elected to office on a staggered basis with one seat from Liberty Township and two from Independence Township up for election each year. A member represents the Board on the Hackettstown Board of Education to deal with issues pertaining to Hackettstown High School and the Hackettstown School District.