Cranford Township Public Schools
Cranford Township Public Schools | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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132 Thomas Street Cranford, NJ 07016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
District information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grades | PreK-12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Superintendent | Dr. Scott Rubin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Business administrator | Robert J. Carfagno | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Schools | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Students and staff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Enrollment | 3,896 (as of 2014-15)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faculty | 328.6 FTEs[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Student–teacher ratio | 11.9:1[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
District Factor Group | I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | http://www.cranfordschools.org | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Cranford Township Public Schools is a comprehensive public school system serving students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade in Cranford Township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The district is governed by a nine-member elected board of education.
As of the 2014-15 school year, the district and its seven schools had an enrollment of 3,896 students and 328.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.9:1.[1]
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-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]
Schools
Schools in the district (with 2014-15 from the National Center for Education Statistics[4]) are:[5][6]
- Elementary schools
- Bloomingdale Avenue School[7] (224 students in grades K-2)
- Lourdes Murphy, Principal
- Brookside Place School[8] (363; K-5)
- Michael Klimko, Principal
- Hillside Avenue School[9] (771; K-8)
- Dr. Curt Fogas, Principal
- Livingston Avenue School[10] (236; 3-5)
- Kevin Deacon, Principal
- Orange Avenue School[11] (799; 3-8)
- Marc Edery, Principal
- Walnut Avenue School[12] (323; PreK-2)
- Angelo Paternoster, Principal
- High school
- Cranford High School[13] (1,163; 9-12)
- Mark Cantagallo, Principal
The system's high school was the 49th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology, after having been ranked 51st in the state out of 328 schools in 2012.[14] Cranford High School has a curriculum which has a strong push for technology in the schools, along with stressing service learning. The high school is recognized for its work in service learning and for being a national school of character. Cranford High School students are regularly admitted to some of the nation's top private and public universities, with over 90% of each graduating class going onto college.
Cranford has two public middle schools, Orange Avenue School and Hillside Avenue School, which are located on each end of the township and serve their local neighborhood. Both also are elementary schools as well. On the north side of Cranford, along with Orange Avenue, are two other elementary schools, Bloomingdale Avenue School and Brookside Place School. On the south side of the township, along with Hillside Avenue, are two other elementary schools, Walnut Avenue School and Livingston Avenue School.[15]
Lincoln School, which is the home of the district's administrative offices, also houses the district's two alternative education programs, CAP and CAMP.[16]
Awards and recognition
The district was selected as one of the top "100 Best Communities for Music Education in America 2005" by the American Music Conference.[17]
Board of education
The Cranford Public Schools is governed by a nine-member Board of education. The board members are elected to three-year terms in at-large elections held every April, with three seats being up every year. The board members take office a week after the election and at that meeting elect a president and vice president to serve one-year terms.
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:[18]
- Dr. Scott Rubin, Superintendent[19]
- Robert J. Carfagno, Business Administrator / Board Secretary[20]
Notable alumni
- William Sperry Beinecke (born 1914), founder of the Central Park Conservancy and former chairman of S&H Green Stamps.[21]
- Carol Blazejowski (born 1956), member of Basketball Hall of Fame and 1974 Cranford High School graduate.[22]
- Robert Ferro (1941–1988), Cranford High School alumnus and author whose work included a gay coming-of-age novel describing a fictionalized version of Cranford centered around the Rahway River.[23]
References
- ^ a b c d District information for Cranford Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 7, 2016.
- ^ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
- ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 15, 2014.
- ^ School Data for the Cranford Township Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 7, 2016.
- ^ Schools, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ New Jersey School Directory for the Cranford Township Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
- ^ Bloomingdale Avenue School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Brookside Place School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Hillside Avenue School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Livingston Avenue School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Orange Avenue School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Walnut Avenue School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Cranford High School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
- ^ About, Cranford Public School District. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Lincoln School, Cranford Township Public Schools. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Best 100 (101!) Communities for Music Education in America, 2005, American Music Conference. Accessed December 5, 2016.
- ^ New Jersey School Directory for Union County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
- ^ Office of the Superintendent, Cranford Public School District. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ Business Office, Cranford Public School District. Accessed August 14, 2017.
- ^ William Beinecke - 96, Old New York Stories, October 28, 2011. Accessed November 4, 2016. "So we lived in Cranford, New Jersey, in a house, the address was 401 Prospect Street, Cranford, New Jersey and I even remember the phone number. The phone was 47."Old New York Stories, Oct 28, 2011, Interview with William Sperry Beinecke (recalling that he was a student of the Cranford Township Public Schools as a boy, at the corner of Springfield Avenue and Holly Street)
- ^ "Spotlight: Carol Blazejowski", SI for Women, May 28, 1999. Accessed May 4, 2007. "In 1974, while a student at Cranford High (NJ), Blazejowski told the school's athletic director (who was also the coach of the boys' basketball team) that she would play on boys' basketball team if no girls team was created. It wasn't long before Cranford had a girls' basketball team."
- ^ Staff. "Robert Ferro, 46, Dies; Wrote Books on Family", The New York Times, July 12, 1988. Accessed December 17, 2016. "Born in Cranford, N.J., Mr. Ferro graduated from Rutgers University and earned a master's degree from the University of Iowa."