Franklin Township Public Schools (Somerset County, New Jersey)

The Franklin Township Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.^[3]

As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising 10 schools, had an enrollment of 7,150 students and 703.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.2:1.^[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-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]

For the 1993-94 school year, Hillcrest Elementary School was named as a "Star School" by the New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.^[5] The school was honored again in the 1995-96 school year.^[6]

The NAMM Foundation named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide.^[7]

Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[8]) are:^{[9][10][11][12]}

Elementary schools

• Claremont Elementary School^[13] (665 students; in grades PreK-5) - school opened for 2018-19 school year
  • Nicole Sury-Bevere, principal^[14]
• Conerly Road School^[15] (400; PreK-5)
  • Donna S. Burnett, principal
• Elizabeth Avenue School^[16] (493; PreK-5)
  • John Haney, principal
• Franklin Park School^[17] (664; PreK-5)
  • Rebekah Solomon, principal^[14]
• Hillcrest School^[18] (436; PreK-5)
  • Albert Fico, principal
• MacAfee Road School^[19] (381; PreK-5)
  • Karen Adams, principal
• Pine Grove Manor School^[20] (331; PreK-5)
  • Miguel Rivera, principal

Middle schools

• Franklin Middle School at Hamilton Street Campus^[21] (706; 6-8)
  • Nicholas Solomon, principal
• Franklin Middle School at Sampson G. Smith Campus^[22] (797; 6-8)
  • Evelyn Rutledge, principal

High school

• Franklin High School^[23] (2,146; 9-12)
  • Nicholas Solomon, principal^[24]

The "One Less Move" referendum

On December 9, 2014, a referendum was held in Franklin and was passed by voters (1,971 in favor and 1,477 against)^[25] to fix the overcrowding issues in all the district's schools (except for the High School) and for facility upgrades and additions so that they could eliminate the use of modular classrooms (trailers). It was projected that over 700 new students would come to the district as a result of new housing developments being built around town. On top of that, the grade level structure would be reconfigured so that students in the district would only have to move between schools twice instead of three times (in other words attending three schools instead of four), hence the name "One Less Move". All of Franklin's elementary schools had previously housed students in grades PreK-4, but since the reconfiguration they each now have 5th grade.

To fix the overcrowding issues at the district's six elementary schools, Claremont Elementary School, a seventh elementary school, was built and opened in time for the 2018-19 school year, and Elizabeth Ave, and Hillcrest Elementary Schools were expanded with new classroom wings. Also in terms of facility additions, an additional gym and a new main office were built at Franklin Middle School at Sampson G. Smith as part of the referendum.

In those schools and all the others (excluding the High School), upgrades were made to replace aging and old bathrooms, windows, doors, parking lot repavement, new playgrounds and outside playing fields, exterior lighting, and electrical systems, just to name a few.

Before the 2018-19 school year, the configuration of the schools was as follows:

• Franklin Middle School at Sampson G. Smith was called Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School, for students in grades 5-6.
• Franklin Middle School at Hamilton Street was called Franklin Middle School, for students in grades 7-8.

Core members of the district's administration are:^[26]

• John A. Ravally, superintendent^[27]
• Jonathan Toth, business administrator and board secretary^[28]

The district's board of education, composed 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.^[29]<rf>Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Franklin Township School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed April 11, 2024. "The Franklin Township School District is a Type II district located in the County of Somerset, State of New Jersey. As a Type II district, the District functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board consists of nine members elected to three-year terms and is responsible for the fiscal control of the District. The terms are staggered so that three members' terms expire each year. The District provides a full range of educational services appropriate to grade levels pre-kindergarten through twelve at its ten schools."^[30]

• Franklin Township Public Schools
• School Performance Reports for the Franklin Township Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Franklin Township Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics