Franklin Borough School District

The Franklin Borough School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Franklin, in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.^[3][4][5][6]

As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 477 students and 49.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.6:1.^[1]

The district is 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.^[7]

For ninth through twelfth grades, public school students attend Wallkill Valley Regional High School which also serves students from Hardyston Township, Hamburg Borough and Ogdensburg Borough, and is part of the Wallkill Valley Regional High School District.^[8][9] As of the 2022–23 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 615 students and 50.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1.^[10]

A two-room school opened in 1871 with an enrollment of 50 students as Franklin's first public school. The building was expanded in 1914 to accommodate a vocational school in the central portion of the building, a left wing was added in 1922 and a right wing was constructed in 1926 at a cost of $150,000 (equivalent to $2.6 million in 2023), opening in September 1927. Franklin Industrial School had its first graduating class in 1924 with nine students, which rose to 14 in 1928 when the first full class graduated.^[11]

School history records that Babe Ruth, a frequent visitor to the Franklin area, and a group of local engineers oversaw the design of a baseball field whose dimensions matched those of the original Yankee Stadium. A 1960 construction project that added an auditorium and gymnasium to the school necessitated moving the field's original grandstand, considered at the time to be one of the best in the country.^[11]

1972 featured the school's largest graduating class, which declined after the opening of Vernon Township High School. Until then, students from Hamburg, Hardyston Township, Jefferson Township, Ogdensburg and Vernon Township, New Jersey all attended the high school as part of sending/receiving relationships.^[11]

In September 1982, Wallkill Valley Regional High School opened its doors, and Franklin High School closed theirs, making the class of 1982 the final class to graduate from Franklin High School. Franklin School K-12 then became Franklin Elementary School K-8.^[11]

Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics)^[12] are:

• Franklin Borough School (474 students)

Core members of the district's administration are:^[13][14]

• J.R. Giacchi, superintendent and principal
• Barbara Decker, business administrator and board secretary

The district's board of education, comprised of 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. 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.^[15][16][17]

• Franklin Borough School District
• School Performance Reports for the Franklin Borough School District, New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Franklin Borough School District, National Center for Education Statistics
• Wallkill Valley Regional High School