Camden City School District


Camden City School District is a public school district that serves students in pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade from the city of Camden, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide, 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. In 2013, after years of requests from local officials, New Jersey intervened in Camden City, making the school district state-run under the leadership of Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard.
As of the 2017–18 school year, the district, comprising 20 schools, had an enrollment of 9,570 students and 705.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.6:1.
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.
In 2017–18, Camden students who took the state PARCC test showed year-on-year progress since the test was first administered in 2014–15, as reported on . About 14% of district students in grades three through eight are proficient in language arts, with about 10% testing proficient in math. Just under 11% of high school students tested at or above the statewide proficiency rate in language arts. For math, that number was 1 to 3% of high school students.
But there are also signs of progress. In 2016, the state committed $133 million to renovate Camden High School, the graduation rate has gone up by 17 percentage points in five years, while drop outs have been cut in half. the District-led pre-school program has become a highlight.
In 2015, a brand-new, $41 million, school opened on Broadway, and in 2017 two additional brand new renaissance school buildings opened, one in the Cramer Hill neighborhood and the other in Haddon Avenue in Whitman Park. Working in partnership with the school District, today renaissance schools serve about 4,200 students and boast rising test results.
The district is guided by its school improvement plan, Putting Students First.

History

The Board of Education of the City of Camden was established by Isaac W. Mickle, who was entrusted by The Camden Board of School Trustees to borrow money to build a schoolhouse and apply to become a board of education. Mickle would go on to become the first secretary of The Board of Education.
The first meeting of the Board of Education of the City of Camden was in City Hall on April 3, 1854. The first three members elected into the board were from each political ward: Joseph Kimble, Ebenezer Nichols, and Isaac Lloyd.
In June 2004 the school district enacted a mandatory school uniform policy for all students. 10 schools had already started their own uniform policies. Uniform policies were enforced effective September 2004.
In March 2015, the district announced that it was closing the John Greenleaf Whittier Family School at the end of the 2014–15 school year. As part of the changes, Henry L. Bonsall Family School, East Camden Middle School, Francis X. McGraw Elementary School and Rafael Cordero Molina Elementary School were all to be transferred to renaissance school operators, who were responsible for making significant renovations to the District-owned buildings.
In 2016, the District partnered with Camden's six charter school operators to introduce a city-wide enrollment system to create a simple, equitable way for families to choose to attend any District, charter, or renaissance school. Today, all but one of Camden's publicly funded schools participate in Camden Enrollment.
In 2016, Cooper B. Hatch Family School and MetEast High School were consolidated into the building that had been occupied by the Hatch School, providing access to a gymnasium and auditorium for students in the high school program; the combined school, serving grades 6-12, has since been renamed as the Camden Big Picture Learning Academy.
In the wake of declining enrollment, poor performance and a deteriorating facility constructed in 1926, Charles Sumner Elementary School was closed at the end of the 2016–17 school year. The school had served 452 students in grades PreK-8.
As part of a $132.6 million construction project begun at the start of the 2017–18 school year at Camden High School by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the school's 500 students were shifted to the Hatch Middle School building. The new building will be completed for the 2021–22 school year and be able to accommodate 1,200 students when it reopens.

Awards, recognition and rankings

George Washington School was recognized by Governor Jim McGreevey in 2003 as one of 25 schools selected statewide for the First Annual Governor's School of Excellence award.

Schools

Schools in the district, with 2017-18 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics are:
;Preschool
;Elementary schools
;High schools
In the 2000s, the Camden school system was labeled as corrupt by some individuals; a July 6, 2006 editorial written by Sherry Wolkoff appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The editorial, titled "Children of Camden get short end of the pencil," asserts that Camden school officials obtain unjustified bonuses while Camden schoolchildren have few resources.
In early 2006, allegations were also made that school officials had altered standardized test scores to improve Camden's national school ratings. "We know that, with respect to the test scores, those scores were not legitimately achieved," says Lucille Davy, New Jersey's acting commissioner of education. "There was manipulation of the process."
In December 2013, the district reported that only three high school students had met the "college ready" standard, based on a minimum combined score of 1550 on the SAT.
In the wake of 163 violent incidents in the district during the 2012–13 school year, the district undertook a $1.4 million project in 2014 to add digital cameras and electronic controls at doors to limit access to high school buildings.

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:
The Camden district is one of two district's statewide that operate under state intervention with, and has been under state supervision since June 2013. The district's superintendent is appointed by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education The district has a nine-member advisory board that acts in lieu of a board of education. The members of the advisory board are appointed by the mayor to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with three seats up for reappointment each year. A student representative selected from the district's high schools also serves on the board.