Keansburg School District Explained

Keansburg School District is a public school district based in Keansburg, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.^[1] The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke^[2] which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.^{[3] [4]}

As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising four schools, had an enrollment of 1,642 students and 185.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.9:1.^[5]

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

Controversy

In May 2008, Governor Jon Corzine attempted to reduce a $740,000 retirement payout to outgoing superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski. The package included nearly $185,000 for some 250 unused sick and vacation days, plus $556,290 in severance pay. The severance package, negotiated in a 2003 contract, awarded Trzeszkowski a payout calculated by multiplying her monthly salary by the 38 years she worked in the Keansburg district. The $740,000 amount, to be paid over a five-year period, would be paid out on top of Trzeszkowski's estimated $120,000 annual pension.^[7]

Schools

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

Primary schools

• Keansburg Preschool^[12] with 199 students in grade PreK
  • Anne Hazeldine, principal
• Joseph C. Caruso School^[13] with 668 students in grades K-4. At the start of the 2016–17 school year, the Port Monmouth Road School (which had 501 students in grades PreK - 2) was closed with the opening of the new Joseph C. Caruso School for grades K-4. The 122000square feet school was constructed at a cost of $51 million.^[14]
  • Elyse McMahon, principal
• Joseph R. Bolger Middle School^[15] with 348 students in grades 6-8
  • Joseph Larocca, principal

High school

• Keansburg High School^[16] with 384 students in grades 9-12
  • Sean Brophy, principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:^{[17] [18]}

• Kathleen O’Hare, superintendent^[19]
• Lindsey Case, business administrator and board secretary^[20]

Board of education

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.^{[21] [22] [23]}

2023-2024 Board of Education members:^[24]

• Matthew C. Kitchen, President (2022-2024)
• Gregory J. Siciliano, Vice President (2022-2024)
• Brooke Clayton (2023-2025)
• Ken Cook (2023-2025)
• Judy Ferraro (2021-2023)
• Christopher J. Hoff (2021-2023)
• Kim Kelaher-Moran (2021-2023)
• Michael Mankowski (2023-2025)
• Patricia Menture-Frizell (2022-2024)

External links

• Keansburg School District
  • School Data for the Keansburg School District, National Center for Education Statistics

Notes and References

1. https://www.straussesmay.com/seportal/Public/DistrictPolicy.aspx?policyid=0110&id=bab81364080840ae9280dfbb48a595f8 Keansburg Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification
2. https://www.njsda.gov/About/WhatWeDo#History What We Do: History
3. https://www.njsda.gov/About/WhatWeDo What We Do
4. https://www.njsda.gov/Content/FactSheets/31_SDA_Districts.pdf SDA Districts
5. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?Search=2&details=1&ID2=3407860&DistrictID=3407860 District information for Keansburg School District
6. http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/rda/dfg.shtml NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts
7. McNichol, Dunstan. "Corzine seeks to trim $740K deal for Keansburg schools chief", The Star-Ledger, May 22, 2008. Accessed July 21, 2008.
8. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3407860 School Data for the Keansburg School District
9. https://www.visitmonmouth.com/page.aspx?Id=238 County School List H-K
10. https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/selectreport/2022-2023/25/2400 School Performance Reports for the Keansburg School District
11. https://homeroom6.doe.state.nj.us/directory/school/districtid/2400 New Jersey School Directory for the Keansburg School District
12. https://keansburg.k12.nj.us/Domain/11 Keansburg Preschool
13. https://keansburg.k12.nj.us/Domain/10 Joseph C. Caruso School
14. Spahr, Rob. "Officials help break ground for new $51 million Keansburg elementary school", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, December 17, 2014. Accessed May 3, 2017. "Schools Development Authorities CEO Charles McKenna, state legislators, local officials and Keansburg School District administrators helped break ground for the future Joseph C. Caruso Elementary School on Tuesday. The new 122,000 square-foot school is expected accommodate 750 kindergarten through fourth grade students and feature 28 general use classrooms, eight kindergarten classrooms, self-contained special education classrooms, a media center, a gymnasium and a cafetorium."
15. https://keansburg.k12.nj.us/Domain/9 Joseph R. Bolger Middle School
16. https://keansburg.k12.nj.us/Domain/8 Keansburg High School
17. http://www.keansburg.k12.nj.us/Page/110 Chain of Command
18. https://homeroom6.doe.state.nj.us/directory/district/county/monmouth New Jersey School Directory for Monmouth County
19. http://www.keansburg.k12.nj.us//site/default.aspx?PageID=109 Office of the Superintendent
20. http://www.keansburg.k12.nj.us/domain/47 Business Office
21. https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/dwb/DistrictByTypeList2018.pdf New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election
22. https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/acfr/search/23/2400.pdf#page=61 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Keansburg School District
23. https://www.keansburg.k12.nj.us/domain/62 Active Board Members
24. https://www.keansburg.k12.nj.us/domain/62 Active Board Members