Union Public School District

Union Public School District
Address
2369 Morris Avenue Union, NJ 07083 United States
Coordinates	40°42′04″N74°17′10″W / 40.7012°N 74.2862°W / 40.7012; -74.2862 Coordinates: 40°42′04″N74°17′10″W / 40.7012°N 74.2862°W / 40.7012; -74.2862
District information
Grades	PreK-12
Superintendent	Scott Taylor
Asst. superintendent(s)	Gerry Benaquista
Business administrator	Yolanda Koon
Schools	10
Students and staff
Enrollment	7,219 (as of 2018–19) [1]
Faculty	614.7 FTEs [1]
Student–teacher ratio	11.7:1 [1]
Other information
District Factor Group	DE
Website	www.twpunionschools.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-12 average  %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $17,089 28 $18,891 −9.5% 1 Budgetary Cost 13,501 33 14,783 −8.7% 2 Classroom Instruction 8,222 31 8,763 −6.2% 6 Support Services 2,037 36 2,392 −14.8% 8 Administrative Cost 1,394 43 1,485 −6.1% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,598 47 1,783 −10.4% 13 Extracurricular Activities 170 20 268 −36.6% 16 Median Teacher Salary 67,707 70 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

The Union Public School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Union Township, in Union County, New Jersey, United States. ^[3]

As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising 10 schools, had an enrollment of 7,219 students and 614.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1. ^[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-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. ^[4]

Union was threatened with being the first town north of the Mason–Dixon line to suffer from penalties as a result of school segregation. The area of Vauxhall was primarily black and Jefferson Elementary School was disproportionately black compared to the rest of the town. Union avoided problems by converting Jefferson Elementary into a sixth-grade only school called Central 6 and bused all children in the district in 6th grade to Jefferson Elementary School. It was later renamed Central 5 housing all fifth-grade students because the two junior highs, Burnet and Kawameeh, became middle schools and took on sixth grade students. ^[5]

Schools

The schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ^[6] ) are: ^{[7] [8]}

Elementary schools

• Battle Hill Elementary School ^[9] (391 students; in grades PreK-4)
  • Althea Bossard, Principal
• Hannah Caldwell Elementary School ^[10] (508; PreK-4)
  • Kathryn DiGiovanni, Principal
• Connecticut Farms Elementary School ^[11] (403; PreK-4)
  • Michelle C. Osborne-Warren, Principal
• Franklin Elementary School ^[12] (417; PreK-4)
  • Kira Baskerville-Williams, Principal
• Livingston Elementary School ^[13] (424; PreK-4)
  • Benjamin Kloc, Principal
• Washington Elementary School ^[14] (575; PreK-4)
  • Thomas O. Matthews, Principal
• Jefferson Elementary School ^[15] (544; in grade 5)
  • Laura Damato, Principal

Middle schools

• Burnet Middle School ^[16] (961; 6–8)
  • David Shaw, Principal
• Kawameeh Middle School ^[17] (674; 6–8)
  • Jason Malanda, Principal

High school

• Union High School ^[18] (2,180; 9–12)
  • Mark Hoyt, Interim Principal

Administration

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

• Dr. Scott Taylor, Superintendent
• Gerry Benaquista, Assistant Superintendent
• Yolanda Koon, School Business Administrator / Board Secretary

Board of education

The district's board of education, with 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 2012) as part of the November general election. ^{[21] [22] [23]}

References

1. District information for Township Of Union School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
3. About Union, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020. "There are ten schools currently in operation: six kindergarten through grade four elementary schools; one elementary school which houses all of the district's grade five students; two middle schools, grades six through eight; and one comprehensive high school grades nine through twelve."
4. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 8, 2014.
5. Sullivan, Ronald. "Jersey Township Gets Busing Plan; Union School Board Adopts Integration Proposal", The New York Times , February 19, 1969. Accessed May 24, 2013.
6. School Data for the Union Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
7. Our Schools, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
8. New Jersey School Directory for the Union Public School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
9. Battle Hill Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
10. Hannah Caldwell Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
11. Connecticut Farms Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
12. Franklin Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
13. Livingston Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
14. Washington Elementary School, Union Public School District. May 18, 2020.
15. Jefferson Elementary School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
16. Burnet Middle School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
17. Kawameeh Middle School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
18. Union High School, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
19. Administration Office, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020.
20. New Jersey School Directory for Union County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
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. Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Township of Union School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2018. Accessed May 1, 2020. "The Board is an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, established to function as an educational institution. The Board consists of elected officials and is responsible for the fiscal control of the District."
23. Board Of Education, Union Public School District. Accessed May 18, 2020. "The Township of Union Public Schools is a Type II school district. Our Board of Education is comprised of 9 volunteers who are elected into office to serve 3-year terms."

External links

• Union Public School District
• School Performance Reports for the Union Public School District , New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Union Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics