Elk Township School District

Elk Township School District
Address
98 Unionville Road Elk Township , Gloucester County , New Jersey , 08028 United States
Coordinates	39°40′28″N75°08′38″W / 39.674444°N 75.143974°W / 39.674444; -75.143974
District information
Grades	PreK-6
Superintendent	Piera Gravenor
Business administrator	Joseph Collins
Schools	1
Students and staff
Enrollment	336 (as of 2022–23) [1]
Faculty	32.6 FTEs [1]
Student–teacher ratio	10.3:1 [1]
Other information
District Factor Group	B
Website	www.auraelementary.us
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-6 average  %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $16,721 24 $18,891 −11.5% 1 Budgetary Cost 12,836 14 13,649 −6.0% 2 Classroom Instruction 8,058 17 8,366 −3.7% 6 Support Services 2,075 26 2,161 −4.0% 8 Administrative Cost 1,366 20 1,467 −6.9% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,236 9 1,552 −20.4% 13 Extracurricular Activities 14 9 39 −64.1% 16 Median Teacher Salary 56,619 28 57,437 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending. [2] *Of K-6 districts with any number of students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=59

The Elk Township School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade from Elk Township, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 336 students and 32.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1. ^[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "B", the second lowest 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]

For seventh through twelfth grades, public school students attend the Delsea Regional School District, which serves students from both Elk Township and Franklin Township. ^{[7] [8]} Students from Newfield attend the district's schools as part of a sending/receiving relationship begun in September 2010 after Newfield ended its prior relationship with the Buena Regional School District. ^[9] Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ^[10] ) are Delsea Regional Middle School ^[11] with 518 students in grades 7-8 and Delsea Regional High School ^[12] with 1,074 students in grades 9-12. ^{[4] [13] [14]}

History

Aura School was built in 1927 and rededicated in 1949 after a fire the previous year, with the newest addition built in 2002. ^[15]

The New Jersey Department of Education has considered a vote by the Board of Education of the Franklin Township Public Schools in June 2010 requesting that the district withdraw from the Delsea Regional School District, which would require that the Delsea region be dissolved as about 80% of the regional district's students come from Franklin. With the withdrawal of Franklin Township, the two options to consider were to have Franklin and Elk Townships create a new regional district with Newfield students attending on a send-receive basis, or to have Franklin Township establish its own PreK-12 district which would receive students from both Elk Township and Newfield. ^{[16] [17]}

School

Aura School had an enrollment of 334 students in grades PreK-6 as of the 2022–23 school year. ^[18]

• Kevin Donahue, principal ^[19]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are: ^[20]

• Piera Gravenor, superintendent ^[19]
• Joseph Collins, business administrator and board secretary

Board of education

The district's board of education is comprised of nine members who set policy and oversee 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. ^{[21] [22]}

Elk Township's Board of Education members include President J. Wilson Hughes Jr., Angelique Stoney-Siplin, Jennifer Wirtz, Danielle Bland, Cheryl Potter, Mary Snively, Courtney Vance, and Wayne Howard. ^[23]

References

1. District information for Elk Township School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
3. Township of Elk Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Elk Township School District. Accessed March 10, 2024. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades Pre-K through 6 in the Elk Township School District. Composition: The Elk Township School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Elk Township."
4. 2023-24 Gloucester County Office of Education Public School Directory, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Accessed February 1, 2024.
5. School Performance Reports for the Elk Township School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.
6. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 19, 2014.
7. Delsea Regional Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Delsea Regional School District. Accessed March 10, 2024. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades 7 through 12 in the Delsea Regional High School District. Composition: The Delsea Regional High School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Elk Township and Franklin Township."
8. Community, Delsea Regional School District. Accessed March 10, 2024. "Sending Districts: Aura Elementary School, Franklin Township Schools"
9. Romalino, Carly Q. "Newfield's 'no' could hurt other districts", Courier-Post , November 4, 2015. Accessed March 10, 2024. "In 2012, Newfield ended its send-receive agreement with Buena schools in Atlantic County, instead sending its 400 elementary and 120 high school students to districts in neighboring Franklin Township. The send-receive agreement with Franklin Township Public Schools and Delsea Regional School District — which also educated Elk Township high schoolers — was touted as cheaper tuition than Buena."
10. School Data for the Delsea Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
11. Delsea Regional Middle School, Delsea Regional School District. Accessed March 10, 2024.
12. Delsea High Middle School, Delsea Regional School District. Accessed March 10, 2024.
13. School Performance Reports for the Delsea Regional High School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.
14. New Jersey School Directory for the Delsea Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
15. History of Schools, Elk Township. Accessed February 10, 2022. "A new school was built on its present site in 1927, and in 1944 the Ferrell and Hardingville Schools were consolidated with the Aura School. In 1960 the Lawns School was closed and the pupils and teachers were transferred to the Aura School."
16. Bumpus, Robert L. "Report of the Interim Executive County Superintendent of Schools on the Withdrawal of Franklin Township School District from Delsea Regional School District, a Limited Purpose Regional School District ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, New Jersey Department of Education, March 30, 2012. Accessed September 8, 2013.
17. Cooney, Joe. "Vote could end Delsea district; Franklin board seeks K-12 system", Asbury Park Press , July 13, 2012. Accessed December 24, 2014. "Franklin — The township’s school board is seeking approval for a referendum that could lead to dissolution of the Delsea Regional School District. Franklin and Elk currently make up the regional district for students in grades 7 to 12. If a vote takes place, residents in those communities would decide on whether to create a new district for both municipalities’ students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.... Newfield, which previously sent its kids to Buena Regional schools, now sends its students to Franklin and Delsea."
18. School Data for the Elk Township School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 1, 2024.
19. Staff Directory, Elk Township School District. Accessed December 6, 2023.
20. New Jersey School Directory for Gloucester County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
21. 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.
22. Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Elk Township School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 20, 2023. Accessed March 10, 2024. "The Elk Township School District is a Type II district located in the County of Gloucester, State of New Jersey. As a Type II district, the School District functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that three members’ terms expire each year. The purpose of the School District is to educate students in grades kindergarten through eighth at its three schools."
23. Board Members, Elk Township School District. Accessed February 10, 2022.

External links

• Elk Township School District
• School Performance Reports for the Elk Township School District , New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Elk Township School District, National Center for Education Statistics
• Delsea Regional School District
• School Performance Reports for the Delsea Regional School District , New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Delsea Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics