Wildwood City School District

The Wildwood City School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Wildwood, in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its headquarters are on the grounds of Wildwood Middle School and Wildwood High School.[3]

Wildwood City School District
Wildwood High School (the same address is for Wildwood Middle School and the district administration, and it previously housed Elementary School #1)
Address
4300 Pacific Avenue
, Cape May County, New Jersey, 08260
Coordinates38°59′08″N 74°49′09″W / 38.985653°N 74.819157°W / 38.985653; -74.819157
District information
GradesPreK-12
SuperintendentJohn K. Kummings
Business administratorJason Fuscellaro
Schools3
Students and staff
Enrollment938 (as of 2019–20)[1]
Faculty92.3 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio10.2:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupA
Websitenj02210961.schoolwires.net
Ind. Per pupil District
spending
Rank
(*)
K-12
average
%± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$23,86247$18,89126.3%
1Budgetary Cost17,6264414,78319.2%
2Classroom Instruction10,383458,76318.5%
6Support Services2,847422,39219.0%
8Administrative Cost1,841371,48524.0%
10Operations & Maintenance1,887391,7835.8%
13Extracurricular Activities66744268148.9%
16Median Teacher Salary70,7834564,043
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with up to 1,800 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=49

As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprising three schools, had an enrollment of 938 students and 92.3 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 "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.[4]

For ninth through twelfth grades, students from North Wildwood, West Wildwood and Wildwood Crest attend Wildwood High School as part of sending/receiving relationships.[5]

History

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The district formed in 1912 with the merger of Wildwood Borough and Holly Beach Borough school systems. The first school in the Wildwoods opened in 1882. After 1934, the city was at that time divided between the Glenwood Avenue and Wildwood High building zones for elementary school, with Garfield Avenue as the boundary; the Wildwood High building had grades 1-12 at the time.[6] Now all areas of Wildwood City are zoned to the same two schools.

Schools

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Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[7]) are:[8][9][10]

Elementary school
  • Glenwood Elementary School[11] with 470 students in grades PreK-5
    • Travis LaFerriere, principal
    • The initial building opened in 1904, and the current building was established in 1955.[6]
Middle school
  • Wildwood Middle School[12] with 186 students in grades 6-8
    • Phillip Schaffer, principal
High school

Former schools

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Previously the district maintained Elementary School #1, for grades 5 and 6, at 4300 Pacific Avenue (at the site of the high school).[14]

There was the Andrew Avenue School, a K-8 school which opened in 1886 and closed in 1934. A park was placed where it was.[6]

Beginning in 1915, in the era of de jure educational segregation in the United States, Arctic Avenue School #4, with four classrooms, had segregated facilities for black children for grades 1-6. It stopped operations in 1949.[6] By 1948 Wildwood's elementary took both white and black students but maintained separate classrooms on the basis of race.[15]

Administration

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Core members of the district's administration are:[16]

  • John K. Kummings, Superintendent[17]
  • Jason Fuscellaro, business administrator and board secretary[18]

Board of education

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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. A non-voting board member represents North Wildwood[18][19][20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d District information for Wildwood City School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2021.
  2. ^ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. ^ "Home". Wildwood City School District. Retrieved September 17, 2020. Wildwood City School District LOCATION 4300 Pacific Avenue Wildwood, NJ 08260 - Compare to the middle school's address and high school's address: "4300 Pacific Avenue Wildwood, NJ 08260 "
  4. ^ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 13, 2014.
  5. ^ Wildwood City School District 2016 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 9, 2017. "Students from North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and West Wildwood, join students from Wildwood at Wildwood High School."
  6. ^ a b c d "History of the Wildwood Public Schools". Wildwood High School. July 25, 1997. Archived from the original on July 25, 1997. Retrieved May 24, 2021. - Linked from the official Wildwood Schools page, which in turn confirmed as such by the NJ Dept. of Education.
  7. ^ School Data for the Wildwood Public School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2021.
  8. ^ Schools, Wildwood City School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  9. ^ School Performance Reports for the Wildwood Public School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 3, 2024.
  10. ^ New Jersey School Directory for the Wildwood Public School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  11. ^ Glenwood Elementary School, Wildwood School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  12. ^ Wildwood Middle School, Wildwood School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  13. ^ Wildwood High School, Wildwood School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  14. ^ "Elementary School #1". Wildwood City School District. January 11, 2000. Archived from the original on January 11, 2000. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  15. ^ Jensen, Noma (Winter 1948). "A Survey of Segregation Practices in the New Jersey School System". The Journal of Negro Education. 17 (1). Journal of Negro Education: 84–88. JSTOR 2966093. - CITED: p. 86.
  16. ^ New Jersey School Directory for Cape May County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 1, 2024.
  17. ^ Superintendent, Wildwood City School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Board of Education, Wildwood City School District. Accessed September 9, 2021.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Woodbury Heights School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2020. Accessed September 9, 2021. "The City of Wildwood School District is a Type II district located in the County of Cape May, State of New Jersey. As a Type II District, the School District functions independently through a Board of Education. The board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. Effective with the 2012 fiscal year, the election of Board Members was moved to the general election in November resulting in the members whose term would have expired in April of 2012 being carried over to December 31, 2012."
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