# Jackson School District (New Jersey)

The Jackson School District is a comprehensive community public school district, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from Jackson Township, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The district operates six elementary schools serving grades K-5, two middle schools and two high schools. In January 2015, the Jackson Board of Education voted to implement full-day kindergarten, which was introduced in September 2015.
As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprising 10 schools, had an enrollment of 7,535 students and 623.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.1:1.

## History

Jackson High School (since renamed as Jackson Memorial High School) opened in September 1963 as the district's first high school with 700 students in grades 7–9, though other district school facilities were used on a temporary basis as the building that housed Jackson Junior-Senior High School wasn't completed and opened to students until the spring of 1964. Before the high school opened, students living in Jackson Township attended Lakewood High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship.
Jackson Liberty High School opened in September 2006 with 800 students in 9th and 10th grades. The school was constructed at a cost of $70 million (equivalent to $109.2 million in 2024) with a maximum capacity of 1,900 students in grades 9–12. The school is two stories high with 288,500 square feet (26,800 m$^2$) of floor space on a 150-acre (0.61 km$^2$) parcel of land, and features 85 classrooms, a 1,800-seat gymnasium and about a dozen athletic fields.
In May 2010, it was announced that the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights found probable cause against the Jackson school district for violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by allowing a hostile environment to prevail against former Jackson Memorial High School student Daniel Jacobson. Jacobson, who is gay and Honduran, alleged that he was repeatedly harassed and threatened because of his sexual orientation and national origin. The case will likely go to trial by the end of the year.
As part of an effort to deal with a mounting budget deficit, the district announced in February 2025 that Christa McAuliffe Middle School would be closed at the end of the school year and that for the 2025–26 school year, all high school students would be attending Jackson Liberty High School, with Jackson Memorial High School repurposed for use as a middle school.
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest 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.

## Awards and recognition

For the 2001–02 school year, Christa McAuliffe Middle School was recognized with the National Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

## Schools

Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are:

### Elementary schools

* Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary School (536 students; in grades PreK-5)
** Ronald Polakowski, principal
* Elms Elementary School (627; PreK-5)
** Michael Burgos, principal
* Lucy N. Holman Elementary School (484; PreK-5)
** Richard Karas, principal
* Howard C. Johnson Elementary School (354; PreK-5)
** Renee Pagano-Hein, principal
* Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School (213; PreK-5)
** Theresa Licitra, principal
* Switlik Elementary School (806; K-5)
** Michael Raymond, principal

### Middle school

* Carl W. Goetz Middle School (1,001; 6–8)
** Carl Perino, principal
* Christa McAuliffe Middle School (759; 6–8)
** Debra Phillips, principal

### High school

* Jackson Liberty High School (1,129; 9–12)
** Geoffrey Brignola, principal
* Jackson Memorial High School (1,568; 9–12)
** Kevin DiEugenio, principal

## Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:
* Nicole Pormilli, superintendent of schools
* Daniel Baginski, business administrator and board secretary

## Board of education

The district's board of education, comprised of seven 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 either two or 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. As of 2025, the President of the board of education is Tina Kas.