West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District

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West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
505 Village Road West
West Windsor, NJ 08550
District information
Grades K-12
Superintendent Dr. David Aderhold
Business administrator Larry Shanok
Schools 10
Students and staff
Enrollment 9,804 (as of 2011-12)[1]
Faculty 716.2 FTEs
Student-teacher ratio 13.69:1
Other information
District Factor Group J
Website http://www.ww-p.org
Ind. Per Pupil District
Spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
Average		  %± vs.
Average
1A Total Spending $17,321 33 $18,891 -8.3%
1 Budgetary Cost 13,701 37 14,783 -7.3%
2 Classroom Instruction 8,580 48 8,763 -2.1%
6 Support Services 1,983 30 2,392 -17.1%
8 Administrative Cost 1,420 46 1,485 -4.4%
10 Operations & Maintenance 1,379 23 1,783 -22.7%
13 Extracurricular Activities 296 70 268 10.4%
16 Median Teacher Salary 83,850 102 64,043
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103

West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District is a comprehensive high achieving regional public school district in New Jersey, United States, serving students from West Windsor Township (in Mercer County) and Plainsboro Township (in Middlesex County). There are four elementary schools (grades K - 3), two upper elementary schools (grades 4 and 5), two middle schools (grades 6 - 8) and two high schools (grades 9 - 12).

As of the 2011-12 school year, the district's 10 schools had an enrollment of 9,804 students and 716.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.69:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "J", the-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.[3]

History

The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District was the result of the 1969 merger of two separate, neighboring school districts - the Plainsboro School District and the West Windsor School District - as both towns were starting to grow rapidly. The districts merged so that they could accommodate the increasing number of students newly enrolling.[4]

Awards and recognition

The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District is one of the top achieving districts in New Jersey. The high schools have held first to fifth places in many of the state's rankings. In 2004, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North was ranked #1 in the state of New Jersey by New Jersey Monthly magazine and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South was ranked #5. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South was the 9th ranked public high school, and North was 18th-ranked, in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.[5]

File:West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Seal.jpg
District seal.

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South was recognized during the 1992-93 school year, and Maurice Hawk Elementary School was recognized during the 1993-94 school year, with the Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.[6]

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North was recognized in the 2006-07 school year with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[7] the highest award an American school can receive.[8][9]

In both the 2004-05 and 2006-07 school years, the Community Middle School Science Olympiad team was first in the country.[10]

The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District supports FIRST Robotics Competition Team #1923, The MidKnight Inventors, which welcomes students from both high schools. The team has been competing since 2006, and mentors FIRST programs across all grade levels in the district, as well as internationally. The team has won 2 regional competitions and been recognized with various awards for community outreach & spreading the mission of FIRST, and has received individual recognitions for both students and mentors on the team's leadership & effective communication within the scope of the FIRST Robotics Competition. In 2015, The MidKnight Inventors won their division at the World Championship, placing third overall for the event.

Controversy

West Windsor-Plainsboro is experiencing an ongoing divide over how much to stress academics to its students, after Superintendent of Schools David Aderhold eased its curriculum following reports that increasing numbers of students have been referred for psychological evaluation or hospitalized for excessive stress. Although there have been no direct suicides linked to the district, many students have grown to greatly dislike school. The divide has been seen to be somewhat racial, as the area has a high Asian population. Some parents, many Asian, argue that such change "dumbs down" the students, while other parents, many White, believe the children are stressed out to an unhealthy degree. It has been argued that placing too much stress on academics with the intent of going to a good college is wrong, as colleges are more interested in projects and student-led activities than grades alone. Some have noted that the Asian parents (many first-generation immigrants) are simply trying to boost their children into the middle class. However, there were many that did not fall along the racial divide. [11]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2011-12 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[12]) are:[13][14]

Lower elementary schools
  • Dutch Neck Elementary School[15] (West Windsor: K-3; 748)
  • Maurice Hawk Elementary School[16] (West Windsor: K-3; 877)
  • Town Center Elementary School[17] (Plainsboro Township: K-2; 667)
  • J.V.B. Wicoff Elementary School[18] (Plainsboro Township: K-3; 471)
Upper elementary schools
  • Millstone River School[19] (Plainsboro Township: 3,4,5, 843) Formerly West Windsor-Plainsboro Upper Elementary School (UES), before the Village School was built
  • Village School[20] (West Windsor Twp.: Preschool, 4,5; 751)
Middle schools
  • Community Middle School[21] (Plainsboro Township: 6-8; 1,166) Formerly West Windsor-Plainsboro Middle School pre-1997, before Grover Middle School was created
  • Thomas R. Grover Middle School[22] (West Windsor: 6-8; 1,100)
High schools

Administration

Members of the district administration are:[25][26]

  • Dr. David Aderhold, Superintendent of Schools
  • Larry Shanok, Assistant Superintendent for Finance / Board Secretary

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 District information for West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. ↑ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 18, 2015.
  4. ↑ District Landmarks, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed April 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Top Public High Schools in New Jersey, New Jersey Monthly, September 2006
  6. ↑ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed April 17, 2011.
  7. ↑ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized in 2006, United States Department of Education. Accessed April 18, 2011.
  8. ↑ "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  9. ↑ "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test", The Washington Post, September 29, 2005. "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  10. ↑ Division B Scores and Ranking, 2007 Science Olympiad. Accessed June 14, 2008.
  11. ↑ Spencer, Kyle. "New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic Divide", The New York Times, December 25, 2015. Accessed January 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ School Data for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  13. ↑ Schools, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  14. ↑ New Jersey School Directory for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  15. ↑ Dutch Neck Elementary School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  16. ↑ Maurice Hawk Elementary School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  17. ↑ Town Center Elementary School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  18. ↑ J.V.B. Wicoff Elementary School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  19. ↑ Millstone River School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  20. ↑ Village School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  21. ↑ Community Middle School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  22. ↑ Thomas Grover Middle School, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  23. ↑ West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  24. ↑ West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  25. ↑ Central Office Staff, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed March 23, 2015.
  26. ↑ New Jersey School Directory for Mercer County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 23, 2015.

External links

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