By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
Families in Hunterdon County now have a larger pool of schools from which to choose an education for their children, thanks to additions to the school choice program announced by the state last week.
Parents and guardians must make decisions quickly. The deadline to declare a student’s intention to attend a different school is less than two weeks away, on May 2.
The program gives students the option of leaving their residential school district to attend school in another district that offers the programs they desire.
Under what is officially known as the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, the state announced April 14 that seven Hunterdon schools were approved to accept students who do not reside in their districts.
Locally, the schools are the Stockton Borough School, the Lambertville Public School and South Hunterdon Regional High School.
”Because South Hunterdon Regional High School is the only high school in Hunterdon County that was approved, we are the only school systems that will allow for a K-12 Choice program for local families,” Stockton School Administrator Suzanne Ivans said.
Stockton, LPS and South Hunterdon, as well as neighboring West Amwell Elementary School, are not officially a K-12 district, although a change to that status might be researched if voters on April 27 approve the $50,000 cost of a feasibility study.
The elementary schools, however, send their students to South Hunterdon when the students enter the seventh grade.
By May 9, the residential district must notify students if they have been accepted into the program. If approved, a student must then submit an application to the district of his/her choice by May 16. This application must include written notice of approval from the student’s residential district.
By May 27, choice districts are expected to notify students of either their acceptance or rejection. If accepted, students must notify the choice district of their intentions to enroll by June 10.
The choice district then will notify the residential district.
Transportation will be provided by residential districts for students who live within a 20-mile radius. Parents would have to provide transportation if they choose a school outside the 20-mile radius.
Also approved in the county were Alexandria Township Public Schools, the Clinton Township School District, Frenchtown Elementary School District and the Lebanon Borough School District.
Across the state, there were a total of 56 districts approved last week for inclusion in the choice program.
At South Hunterdon, priority will be given to students who express an interest in drama, agriculture and advanced placement programs. The school’s advanced placement classes average 10 students or fewer.
Siblings, too, would receive “preferential acceptance” if seats are available and if a program exists to meet the students’ needs, South Hunterdon said when it applied to the program.
Stockton is a unique small school with approximately 40 students in four multi-grade classrooms. Students in fifth and sixth grades, for example, are educated in the same classroom. Among its offerings, the school has a language program that includes Mandarin Chinese.
LPS offers a quality program with a diverse student population, and touts the quality of its teachers.
