The Jersey City Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district located in Jersey City, in Hudson 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 that the state cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. As of the 2014-15 school year, the district and its 38 schools had an enrollment of 30,845 students and 2,389.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.9:1. The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "B", the second 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. The district was one of three districts in New Jersey under "state intervention", which authorizes the state Commissioner of Education to intervene in curriculum functions. In 2017, Jersey City became the first school district in New Jersey to regain full local control after having been under "state intervention".
Awards, recognition and rankings
Academy I Middle School was one of nine public schools recognized in 2017 as Blue Ribbon Schools by the United States Department of Education. Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School was one of 18 schools statewide honored in 2018 by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, marking the second time the school was recognized by the program. Infinity Institute was honored by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in 2019, one of nine schools in the state recognized as Exemplary High Performing Schools. McNair Academic High School was the second-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2012 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked second in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. William L. Dickinson High School is the oldest high school in the city and James J. Ferris High School is represented by some of the top students of Jersey City who are members of the National Academy Foundation Magnet Programs. Academy I Middle School is one of the top middle schools in the country. Has been recognized with several achievements, including first place in the Lexus Environmental Challenge in 2008. Dr. McNair Academic High School was named as a "Star School" by the New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve, in the 1994-95 school year. Alexander D. Sullivan 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.
School uniforms
Students have been required to wear school uniforms since 1998.
William L. Dickinson High School Academy of the Sciences
James J. Ferris High School Academy of International Enterprise
Infinity Institute The school opened in September 2010, offering a magnet college preparatory program with admission based on an admission exam. The school, with 225 students in seventh through ninth grades, will be located in a building in the Greenville section of the city that has been leased from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and that had been the previous home of the Create Charter High School, which lost its charter after the 2009-10 school year.
Innovation High School
Liberty High School
Lincoln High School Academy of Governance and Social Sciences
Core members of the district's administration are:
Mr. Franklin Walker, Superintendent
Regina Robinson, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
State intervention
The district was formerly one of three districts in New Jersey under "state intervention", which authorizes the Commissioner of Education to intervene in governance of a local public school district if the Commissioner has determined that a school district failed or was unable to take corrective actions necessary to establish a thorough and efficient system of education. On October 4, 1989, the New Jersey Department of Education established a State-operated School District for Jersey City, appointing a State District Superintendent to serve as the governing authority for the District instead of the Board of Education, and a new Board of Education was created and functioned as an advisory body. In 2005 the legislature disbanded state operation and created "state intervention". The Jersey City Board of Education assumed control of governance and finance on April 17, 2008. As of October 2010, although governance had been restored to local control in the form of an elected school board, the state district superintendent remained to manage personnel and curriculum functions. Local control for personnel was returned to the district in 2012. In July 2017, Jersey City regained full local control with curriculum and programming being returned to the district.
