New Jersey’s school performance reports for the 2021-22 academic year were released earlier last month. The document combines evaluations across all state districts.
Livingston Public Schools (LPS) saw a district-wide 3.16 percent enrollment increase from the year before. At its Board of Education meetings, administration and Board members have made decisions on next year’s budget based on those trends.
Compared to 2020-21, enrollment jumped at four of Livingston’s nine schools. Harrison increased from 461 students to 503 students; Hillside increased from 395 students to 435 students; Mt. Pleasant increased from 418 students to 441 students; and Riker Hill increased from 399 students to 449 students.
Next year’s budget was approved last week and will expand classroom availability by building modular units, specifically on the Riker Hill and Hillside properties. The budget also accounts for the possible need to fill three elementary school teaching positions.
“We have had some really high enrollments the last few years,” superintendent Matthew Block said at last week’s Board of Education meeting. “We are prepared, with space and the modular units and the three possible teachers… to add sections at the elementary level.”
As enrollment increased, so did the numbers of disabled and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.At Burnet Hill, over a quarter of its 466 students have a disability, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the district’s 984 disabled students during the 2021-22 school year.
“There are not broad changes proposed for next year, but there will certainly be some adjustment in the programming based on student need. We will need to deploy current teachers or possibly hire additional teachers should the individual needs of the students demand it,” Block wrote in an email to the West Essex Tribune.
Harrison’s 20 ESL students accounted for 16 percent of the district’s 125 ESL students. Harrison also saw a 1.2 percent increase in ESL enrollment from the previous year.
As of this year, the district has seven ESL teachers and anticipates hiring one more for the next school year. During the March 6 Board meeting, Block said this decision was made as general education teachers “have expressed needing support for teaching English language learning students.”
Assessments
The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments were canceled in 2019-20 and 2020-21, but resumed last year.
LPS students who took last year’s state English Language Arts assessment met the state’s long-term goal, scoring 80.5 percent. The state lists anything above 80 percent as the highest level of performance. Only 49 percent of New Jersey’s testers met or exceeded that number.
Livingston students who participated in New Jersey’s math assessment met the state target at 69.3 percent compared to the 36 percent of state test takers who met or exceeded that expectation.
HIB Cases
There were 44 reported harass-ment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) cases last year. Eight were related to race, six were related to sexuality, and six were related to gender. Nine were categorized as “other.” Thirteen cases resulted in police notification.
There were 33 incidents involving violence and six involving a weapon. Three weapon-related incidents were reported to police.
At last week’s meeting, the Board voted for A2Z Equity Coaching Incorporated to conduct an equity audit throughout the district over the next four to six months. Research methods will include interviews, examining curriculum, and surveying classroom climate. In the organization’s proposal to the administration, Shelley Zion and Scott Oswald will provide a detailed report of their findings.
See below for enrollment trends between each school over the last three years:
