The Hopewell Valley Regional School District is a comprehensive regional public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from three communities in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.^[3][4] The municipalities that are part of this district are Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township and Pennington Borough.^[5][6]

Quick Facts Address, Coordinates ...

Hopewell Valley Regional School District
Address
425 South Main Street Pennington , Mercer County, New Jersey, 08534 United States
Coordinates	40.319066°N 74.789816°W / 40.319066; -74.789816
District information
Grades	PreK-12
Superintendent	Rosetta Treece
Business administrator	Robert Colavita
Schools	6
Students and staff
Enrollment	3,467 (as of 2019–20)[1]
Faculty	351.1 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio	9.9:1[1]
Other information
District Factor Group	I
Website	www.hvrsd.org
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-12 average  %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $22,469 92 $18,891 18.9% 1 Budgetary Cost 17,181 93 14,783 16.2% 2 Classroom Instruction 10,827 98 8,763 23.6% 6 Support Services 2,403 59 2,392 0.5% 8 Administrative Cost 1,455 53 1,485 −2.0% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,999 83 1,783 12.1% 13 Extracurricular Activities 334 86 268 24.6% 16 Median Teacher Salary 75,612 91 64,043 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2] *Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103

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As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprising six schools, had an enrollment of 3,467 students and 351.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.9:1.^[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-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.^[7]

In 2022, the United States Department of Education announced that Stony Brook Elementary School was named as a National Blue Ribbon School, along with eight other schools in the state and 297 schools nationwide.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

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.

The NAMM Foundation named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide.^[11]

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 2018 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 39th in 2008 out of 316 schools.^[12] The magazine took into account factors such as class size, teachers with advanced degrees, and socioeconomic factors.

Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[13]) are:^[14][15]

Elementary schools

• Bear Tavern Elementary School^[16] with 420 students in grades PreK-5
  • Jay Billy, principal
• Hopewell Elementary School^[17] with 408 students in grades PreK-5
  • Scott Brettell, principal
• Stony Brook Elementary School^[18] with 382 students in grades K-5
  • Nicole Gianfredi, principal
• Toll Gate Grammar School^[19] with 319 students in grades K-5
  • Melissa Lauri, principal

Middle school

• Timberlane Middle School^[20] with 806 students in grades 6-8
  • Christopher Turnbull, principal

High School

• Hopewell Valley Central High School^[21] with 1,076 students in grades 9-12
  • Patricia Riley, principal

Core members of the district's administration are:^[22]

• Rosetta D. Treece, superintendent^[23]
• Robert Colavita, assistant superintendent for business and board secretary^[24]

The district's board of education, comprised of 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 (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.^[25][26] The board of education, whose members 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.^[27]

Members of the board are:^[28]

• Deb Linthorst, Hopewell Township, president
• Jessica Grillo, Hopewell Borough, vice president
• Adam J. Sawicki Jr., Hopewell Township
• Bill Herbert, Hopewell Township
• John Mason, Hopewell Township
• Jenny Long, Pennington Borough
• Anita Williams Galiano, Hopewell Township
• Deb O'Reilly, Hopewell Township
• Andrea Driver, Hopewell Township

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.^[29]

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.^[30] Allegations against a current Hopewell Social Studies teacher were made in a court filing on October 31, 2019.^[31] 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.