Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District

Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District
Address
120 Paterson Avenue East Rutherford , Bergen County , New Jersey , 07073 United States
Coordinates	40°49′57″N74°05′39″W / 40.83257°N 74.094149°W / 40.83257; -74.094149
District information
Grades	9-12
Superintendent	Dario Sforza
Business administrator	Jessenia Kan
Schools	1
Students and staff
Enrollment	862 (as of 2023–24) [1]
Faculty	61.5 FTEs [1]
Student–teacher ratio	14.0:1 [1]
Other information
District Factor Group	CD
Website	www.bectonhs.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) 9-12 average  %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $25,994 43 $18,891 37.6% 1 Budgetary Cost 18,225 42 15,592 16.9% 2 Classroom Instruction 10,600 44 8,807 20.4% 6 Support Services 2,403 27 2,294 4.8% 8 Administrative Cost 1,983 47 1,592 24.6% 10 Operations & Maintenance 2,404 43 1,954 23.0% 13 Extracurricular Activities 775 18 873 −11.2% 16 Median Teacher Salary 82,968 42 71,726 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending. [2] *Of 9-12 districts with any number of students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=47

The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District is a regional public high school and school district serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from both Carlstadt and East Rutherford, two relatively small communities in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ^{[3] [4]} Students from Maywood attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship. ^[5]

As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 862 students and 61.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.0:1. ^[1]

The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "CD", the sixth-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. ^[6]

History

After a fire destroyed half of the former East Rutherford High School in October 1966, ^{[7] [8]} efforts were made to create a regional high school district, which culminated with the passage of a referendum in June 1968. ^[9]

The new high school was named in honor of Henry Becton, chairman of Becton, Dickinson and Company, who donated part of the company's original East Rutherford property to be used as a site for the construction of the school. ^[10] Constructed on a 2.6-acre (1.1 ha) site, the building was designed to accommodate an enrollment of 1,100 students and was completed at a cost of $4.3 million (equivalent to $32.4 million in 2023) ^[11]

The high school building opened in September 1971 with 800 students in attendance. ^{[8] [12]}

Starting in 2014, the district began discussions with the Wallington Public Schools for a proposal in which the 350 Wallington students attending Wallington High School would be added to the 500 already attending Becton Regional High School for grades 9-12. The consolidation would allow for Wallington High School to be reused for other purposes, avoids the need to build a new high school building and could allow for elimination of duplicate administrators. ^[13]

In March 2020, the Maywood Public Schools received approval from the New Jersey Department of Education to end the relationship it had established with the Hackensack Public Schools in 1969 to send students to Hackensack High School. Maywood will begin transitioning incoming ninth graders to Henry P. Becton Regional High School beginning in the 2020–21 school year. The transition would be complete after the final group of twelfth graders graduates from Hackensack High School at the end of the 2023–24 school year. Maywood cited costs of nearly $14,800 per student in 2018 to send high-school students to Hackensack and an annual cost in excess of $15,000 under a proposed new three-year agreement, while Becton would start at a per-pupil cost of $10,500 in 2020–21 as part of a ten-year deal that would have a maximum cost per Maywood student of $11,800 in the final year of the agreement. ^{[14] [15]}

School

Schools in the district (with 2023–24 enrollment from the National Center for Education Statistics ^[16] ) are: ^{[17] [18]}

• Henry P. Becton Regional High School (commonly referred to as "Becton") is located in East Rutherford and had 821 students in grades 9-12.
  • James Bononno, principal ^[19]

Administration

Core members of the district's / school's administration are: ^{[19] [20]}

• Dario Sforza, superintendent ^[21]
• Jessenia Kan, school business administrator and board secretary ^[22]

Board of education

The district's board of education, comprised of ten 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. 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. ^{[23] [24]} Seats on the board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with five seats allocated to East Rutherford, four to Carlstadt and one to Maywood. ^[25]

References

1. District information for Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional High School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
3. Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District, adopted April 14, 2004. Accessed January 1, 2025. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades nine through twelve in the Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Composition: The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Carlstadt and East Rutherford."
4. Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District 2016 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 23, 2017. "The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional High School District is composed of one four-year comprehensive high school named Henry P. Becton Regional High School. The school district strives to meet the general and individual needs of the students and the Carlstadt and East Rutherford communities."
5. About Us, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Accessed January 1, 2025. "Becton Regional is a four-year comprehensive high school which strives to meet the general and individual needs of the students and the communities of Carlstadt, East Rutherford, and most recently Maywood."
6. District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 1, 2024.
7. Staff. "Fire Destroys Jersey School", The New York Times , October 9, 1966. Accessed January 9, 2018. "A fire destroyed East Rutherford High School tonight."
8. Lanza, Monica P. "Becton High is a reality at last", Herald News , November 15, 1971. Accessed March 10, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Mrs. Irene Mercoun, president of the Carlstadt-East Rutherford Board of Education, formed in 1968, traced the chain of events that culminated in the reality of a regional school for the two towns. 'It all started with a nightmare for East Rutherford High School and the Municipal Square School,' Mrs. Mercoun said. The nightmare was a fire that destroyed the Municipal Square School which was being used by high school students from Carlstadt and East Rutherford. The fire cost the system half of its available facilities for high school students."
9. Clock Dedication and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Henry P. Becton Regional High School. Accessed January 9, 2018.
10. BD Director Emeritus Henry P. Becton Sr. Dies at 95, Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Becton Dickinson. Accessed March 10, 2024. "When the East Rutherford, New Jersey high school burned down, BD donated land for a new school renamed the Henry P. Becton Regional High School."
11. "New Becton H.S. - 'out of this world'", Herald News , April 26, 1971. Accessed March 10, 2024. "The south wing of the Henry P. Becton Regional High School reflects the progress on the $4.3 million facility slated for opening in September. The school with a capacity of 1,100 students, can be expanded in the future by an addition to the wing..... The building, set on a 2.6-acre tract donated by Becton, Dickinson & Co., off Paterson Avenue at Route 17, is essentially completed."
12. McGuire. Jane. "New Schools, Smooth Start", The Record , September 10, 1971. Accessed April 3, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Approximately 800 students from Carlstadt and East Rutherford entered the classrooms of the Henry P. Becton Regional High School yesterday for the first time."
13. Adely, Hannan. "Becton regional district considers adding Wallington", The Record , January 18, 2015. Accessed March 23, 2015. "Now, the Becton Regional High School district, which takes students from East Rutherford and Carlstadt, is mulling a move to enroll students from Wallington. Supporters say pooling resources would pay for more classes, programs and electives and save Wallington the cost of building another high school.... Carlstadt and East Rutherford each have their own K-8 districts, and the high school has 500 students from the two boroughs. A merger with Wallington would bring in about 350 more."
14. Stoltz, Marsha A. "Here's why Maywood will send its students to Becton instead of Hackensack High School", The Record , March 9, 2020. Accessed April 6, 2020. "Maywood high school students will have four years to phase out of Hackensack High School and into Henry P. Becton Regional High School in East Rutherford. The process will begin in September, when current Maywood eighth-graders will be the first to attend Becton as freshmen, according to a March 7 joint announcement by the superintendents of the two districts.... The two districts signed a seven-year send/receive contract in 2010 with a per-pupil tuition of $13,125 and a 2% yearly increase. In January 2018, Maywood paid Hackensack's school district $14,781 per student, or $3.7 million for 249 students. It rejected a three-year contract proposed by Hackensack of $15,076 per student the first year and a 5% increase the second.... Maywood eventually agreed to a 10-year contract with Becton at $10,500 per student, with a 2% increase for the fifth contract year and a cap of $11,800 by the 10th year. Becton now has students from East Rutherford and Carlstadt."
15. Board of Education of the Borough of Maywood, Bergen County, Petitioner, v. Board of Education of the City of Hackensack, Bergen County, Respondent Final Decision, New Jersey Department of Education, March 2, 2020. Accessed April 6, 2020. "Accordingly, the Commissioner granted the petitioner’s application for severance, subject to establishment of a sending-receiving relationship with the Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District for a minimum duration of five years."
16. School Data for Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024.
17. School Performance Reports for the Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.
18. New Jersey School Directory for the Maywood Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
19. Faculty and Staff Directory, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Accessed January 1, 2025.
20. New Jersey School Directory for Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 23, 2017.
21. Meet the Superintendent, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Accessed January 1, 2025.
22. Business Administrator, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Accessed January 1, 2025.
23. New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election, New Jersey Department of Education, updated February 16, 2018. Accessed January 26, 2020.
24. Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed March 10, 2024. "The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional Board of Education (the 'Board' or the 'District') is an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, established to function as an education institution. The Board consists of nine elected officials from the Boroughs of Carlstadt and East Rutherford and one appointed representative from the Maywood Board of Education and is responsible for the fiscal control of the District. A Superintendent of Schools is appointed by the Board and is responsible for the administrative control of the District. A School Business Administrator/Board Secretary is also appointed by the Board and oversees the business functions of the District." See "Roster of Officials" on page 15.
25. Board of Education, Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District. Accessed March 10, 2024. "The Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional Board of Education is a ten-member board with four members elected from Carlstadt, five members elected from East Rutherford, and one representative member from Maywood. Each member is elected for a 3-year term.""

External links

• Carlstadt-East Rutherford Regional School District
• School Performance Report for Henry P. Becton Regional High School , New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for Henry P. Becton Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics