In 2011, the district was named to the College Board's AP Honor Roll. The honor roll consists of the 388 U.S. public school districts that simultaneously achieved increases in access to AP courses for a broader number of students and also maintained or improved the rated at which their AP students earned scores of 3 or higher on an AP Exam. In 2004, the district was named to the American Music Conference's list of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in New Jersey". The district has been recognized on multiple occasions for its high-caliber music and performing arts programs. NAMM named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide. The district's high school was the 16th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2018cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 39th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The magazine took into account factors such as class size, teachers with advanced degrees, and socioeconomic factors.
The district's board of education, with 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 as part of the November general election. The board of education, who are elected by the Hopewell Valley community, has nine members allocated to each of the three municipalities based on population, with Hopewell Township assigned seven seats and both Hopewell and Pennington each assigned a single seat. Members of the board are:
According to Business Practice 9000, the local board of education has full power to operate the local public schools in compliance with state and federal mandates and pertinent to the laws of the municipality. The board functions as a corporate body only when in session. The board of education's required functions are:
Policy Making
Provision of Executive Resources
Appraisal
Educational Planning
Financial Resource Provisioning
Communication
Dispute Resolution
Controversy and sexual abuse allegations
There have been several allegations made against the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. In 2015, Former Hopewell teacher Matthew Hoffman was found liable for repeated sexual abuse of a student in a classroom. Allegations against a current Hopewell Social Studies teacher were made in a court filing on October 31, 2019. Although initially issuing a press release defending the teacher, further investigation by the school found cause to immediately pull him from the classroom effective November 12, 2019.