USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > Woodbridge > History of Education Woodbridge Township 1664 - 1964 > Part 3
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3 Statutes Annotated, 18:2 -- 2.
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8. To withhold or withdraw approval of a secondary school when its academic work, location, or enrollment and per capita cost of main- tenance do not warrant its establishment or continuance.
J. To fix rates for non-resident students when districts cannot agree.
10. To compel production of records and attendance of witnesses at hearings.
11. To issue subpoenas for the above purpose.
12. To conduct building operations when necessary and to select architects.
13. To condemn lands needed for school purposes.
14. To administer oaths and examine witnesses.
15. To permit the use of school lands for recreational purposes. 4
The State Department of Education has the same general purpose as the State Board: the general supervision of public instruction throughout the State.5 This department consists of twelve appointed members with a six-year term. It determines policies and makes recommendations regard- ing the unified, continuous, and efficient development of public education. It approves the acts of the Commissioner, confirms appointments of de- partmental offices and county superintendents, decides appeals from de- cisions in controversies and disputes, and prescribes the rules for the granting of teachers' licenses and the executing of the State school laws. 6
The Commissioner of Education is appointed by the Governor for a five-year term. The Chief executive and administrative officer of the De- partment, he is also secretary of the State Board and its official agent. He supervises all schools receiving State appropriations, apportions State School aid,7 establishes rules for the management of vocational schools and State teachers' colleges, and issues qualifying academic certificates. His other duties include the licensing of nonsectarian pri- vate boarding schools, trade schools, and child care centers and the deciding of controversies arising under the school laws.8
4 Statutes Annotated 18:2-4 through 18:2-7
5 Bureau of government Research of Rutgers University, Handbook of New Jersey State Government, p. 39
6 Ibid, p. 39
7 See Appendix Chart IV & V, p. 62 and 63.
8 Bureau of Government Research, op. cit., p. 40.
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In each of the twenty-one counties there is a superintendent of schools, appointed by the State Commissioner of Education to supervise public education in his own county. His job includes advising the local boards of education, supervising pupil transportation, and rendering pre- scribed reports to the State Board.9 His authority extends to all public schools within his county, save those in cities, which are under the su- pervision of the State Commissioner.
The State Department of Education also includes fourteen branches for Divisional Education. These are Division of Controversies and Dis- putes, which acts as the legal advisor for the department; the Division for Elementary Education, which supervises the grade schools and licenses child care centers and nursery schools; the Division for Secondary Edu- cation, which overseas all secondary schools subject to State approval; the Division for Higher Education, in charge of all colleges and pro- fessional schools accredited by the State Board of Education; the Division for Vocational Education, which administers the Department's vocational programs; and the Division of Business, primarily responsible for the ap- portionment and distribution of State Funds. Other divisions are the Di- vision Against Discrimination, which includes a commission on civil rights; the Division for Health, Safety, and Physical Education, assisting schools in meeting the requirements for health instruction; the Division of Adult Education, which facilitates the development of adult educational services; the Division of Teacher Certification, which grants certificates for service in public schools through the State Board of Examiners; the Division of Academic Credentials, which issues high school equivalency diplomas and certain preprofessional qualifying certificates; and the di- visions of State Library, Archives, and History, State Museum, and Ad- ministration, which are self-explanatory. 10
This system of check and balances prevents any one group from gain- ing complete authority, while at the same time keeping education in the State running smoothly and efficiently and making progress.
9 Leonard B. Irwin and Herbert Lee Ellis, New Jersey-the Garden State, p. 182.
10 Bureau of Government Research, op. cit., p. 44.
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CHAPTER IV LOCAL BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Woodbridge Township Board of Education, comparatively young in its present form, had its beginnings long ago as an emergency committee appointed to safeguard the land set aside for school purposes as provided for by the original charter in 1669 and referred to locally as the Free School Lands.1 This group, selected at a special meeting of the Free- holders in 1714, proved to be effective; thus the management of school land was given from year to year into the hands of committees appointed at the annual Town Meeting.2
Since there was still no authority "to settle school accounts proper- ly, or to prosecute persons committing waste and trepassing on school lands, or to build a school house, or to make provision for the mainten- ance of proper teachers,"3 a charter was applied for and obtained regu- lating the affairs of the trustees. This charter, signed by William Franklin, Governor of the Province of New Jersey, at Burlington on June 24, 1769, names John Moores, Nathaniel Heard, Moses Bloomfield, Benjamin Thorn- all, Ebenezer Foster, Joseph Shotwell, and Robert Clarkson the first trustees under the charter as a body politic called "The Trustees of the Free Schools of the Town of Woodbridge."4
In 1789 the Town Meeting authorized the use of the interest of the school fund for the schooling of poor children. This embryo of a budget was augmented from then to 1824 by the dog tax levied at that time. 5
The State Legislature passed a law providing for the creation of a fund for the support of free schools in 1817. Three years later townships were authorized for the first time to raise money for school purposes by vote of the town meeting.
April 17, 1846, marked the passage of an act to establish public schools; in this act provision was made for the appointment of a State Superintendent of schools and for the election at town meetings of a town superintendent who was, on or before the second Monday in May, 1846, to "set off and divide the township into convenient school districts" with power to alter as circumstances required. The local superintendent, paid one dollar a day, was to select, with the assistance of trustees of each school district, the text books for the schools. The first superintendent
1 See Chapter II, P. 23
2 Leon E. McElroy, notes for History of Woodbridge Township, p. 13.
3 Ibid, p. 13.
4 Ibid, p. 14.
5 Ibid, p. 14
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in Woodbridge was Jacob B. Clarke.6 The School Act of 1846 allowed school districts to incorporate by adopting a name and a seal and record- ing the boundaries in the office of the county clerk. Incorporated districts could raise by a two-thirds vote any district taxes for maintaining the school, buying land, or building school houses. By 1854 Woodbridge Town- ship had seventeen school districts attended by 1,173 children between the ages of 5 and 18 out of a total of 1,748 eligible in that age range. Nineteen teachers were employed: 12 men at a salary of $375 per annum and 7 women at a salary of $180.7
The use of the term Board of Education for those entrusted with the management of school affairs in Woodbridge did not take place till near the close of the 19th century. In the July, 1894-March, 1897 Minutes Book they were still being referred to as "Trustees of the Free Schools", where it is recorded that school elections were announced March 5 to be held March 16, 1897 to elect three trustees. The minutes of the latter date state that the purpose of the elections was to elect a ""Board of Edu- cation," the first time this title was used.8 The victors, however, were still called trustees. It was not until the following year that the minutes began to read consistently "the board of education." The date of election is now established under New Jersey State Law, Title 18, as the second Tuesday in February. At the same election the voters pass upon the school budget. If it is rejected in whole or part, a special school election on the budget as is or revised downward is held fifteen days later. If the budget is rejected a second time, it goes to the governing body of the Township, who then determines what the school budget shall be. Should the governing body not take action within ten days, the problem of the school budget is then sent to the State Department of Education for resolution. 9
According to State law, as long as Woodbridge is governed as a town- ship, the local board of education is completely autonomous and in no way responsible to the governing body of the township. It is a separate entity with a separate budget, supposedly divorced from all political pressures. 10
The Board of Education at the time of this writing has nine members- three are elected at large each year for a three-year term without salary.
6 Leon E. McElroy, op. cit., p.15.
7 Ibid, p. 15.
8 Woodbridge Board of Education, Minutes Book II: March 16, 1897- March 18, 1902.
9 League of Women Voters, New Jersey Citizen's Facts and Date Book, p. 10.
10 New Jersey State Law, 18:6-21 and 18:7-59.
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The candidates, nominated by petition filed forty days before elections, must have three qualifications 1 1:
1. They must be able to read and write.
2. They must be a township resident for at least three years.
3. They must not have any contract with or against the board.
Their petitions, filed with the Secretary of the Board, must be signed by ten registered voters of Woodbridge Township.
The staff of the Board of Education includes a full-time secretary and a part-time engineer, attorney, and auditing firm. The superintendents is chief executive of the school system, administers policies of the Board, helps plan curricula, and makes recommendations concerning policies, ob- jectives, and personnel appointments.
Board of Education meetings are public, held at 8:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. Special meetings may be called at the request of the president or three board members. Interim reports are made to the board by the Superintendent of Schools.
The Board of Education functions with eight committees: Finance, Buildings, and Grounds, Supplies, Public Relations, Personnel, Athletics, Transportation, and Program and Policy. 12
Thus, the Woodbridge Township Board of Education has grown from a small, basic one to an efficient body of nine; and it will continue to grow, according to the needs of the community.
11 The League of Women Voters of Woodbridge - "This is Woodbridge" p. 43-1959.
12 Woodbridge Township Board of Education Committee Assignments, 1964-1965.
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CHAPTER V SPECIAL EDUCATION
Vocational Schools
Vocational education in New Jersey had a later start than did the public school system. In 1913 the New Jersey State Legislature provided a clause in the Public Law, Chapter 294, establishing county vocational schools.1 This plan was acted upon and in early 1914 the State Board of Education and the Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a plan for the establishment of vocational schools in Middlesex County. On October 26 of the same year Judge Peter F. Daly of the Court of Common Pleas issued an order establishing a Board of Education for Vocational Schools in Middlesex County and appointed five members, including a County Super- intendent of Schools. Thus ours became the first county vocational school system in the United States. 2
After an organization meeting November 2, 1914, the County Board of Education carried on an evening school program for two months in the win- ter of 1915; New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, and Jamesburg offered courses in mechanical drawing, carpentry, printing, cooking, dressmaking, and agriculture.3 The fee was three dollars a night.
Middlesex County Vocational School #1 was opened in a rented build- ing in New Brunswick on September 20, 1915. This was the first all-day full-time vocational school, teaching fifty-one boys. Admission require- ments stated that boys must be at least fourteen years old and must have completed the fifth grade. 4
Middlesex County Vocational School #2 was opened October 1, 1916, with an enrollment of forty-five. Classes were held in a one-story building built the previous year; besides trade courses, mathematics, science, English, and civics were offered.5
When the boys moved out of the Guilden Street, New Brunswick, building to one on Easton Avenue on October 20, 1919, the old building was used for home economics training for girls-the first such all-day pro- gram for girls in the county. Lack of enrollment caused the girls' school to close in 1925.6
1 B.D. Coe Release: "A Brief History of Our Schools" Sect. 1, Oct. 11,63.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
.
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A co-educational continuation school, opened in South River in 1921, was converted, after the repeal of the Continuation School Law in 1934, into a Middlesex County Girls' Vocational School offering classes in cook- ing, home nursing, domestic sewing, and machine sewing full-time.7
September 12, 1927 marked the moving of the Vocational School #2 to a different location in Perth Amboy; and addition was built in 1958. In 1930 an addition was built to the New Brunswick school.
Ground was broken in 1938 for the Middlesex County Girls' Vocation- al High School in Woodbridge; the land was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Hamp- ton Cutter. President Roosevelt also approved our application for a grant of $120,000 of Federal funds toward the estimated $267,400 cost of the school. The architect was Alexander Merchant. The school opened Sep- tember 18, 1939, with an enrollment of 194.8 At this time the school in South River was discontinued. 9
On April 1, 1949, the State Board of Education approved the three county schools as Middlesex County Vocational and Technical High Schools; thus a new era began in curriculum, status, and service. 10
The Middlesex County Adult Technical School was approved on November 21, 1956, for the purpose of providing "full-time pre-employment training for adults in skilled trades and technical operation." 11
So the vocational school system has grown with the county, expand- ing to meet its needs, providing the opportunity for a education for those not interested in a strictly academic course, and thus doing its share to combat unemployment.
As this goes to press, it might be interesting to note that Mr. Albert E. Jochen, a young man born and educated in Woodbridge Township, heads vocational education in the state of New Jersey .
Education for the Handicapped
Education for two types of handicapped students, the educable and the trainable, was instituted as part of the Woodbridge Township school program in September, 1955. At that time, eight classes were held in Keasbey, consisting of five for young and middle educable students and three for trainable students. Provision for the deaf and retarded, who are
7 Ibid.
8 Ruth Wolk, History of Woodbridge, p. 68.
9 Coe, op. cit., paragraph 13.
10 Ibid, paragraph 14.
11 Ibid. paragraph 15.
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trainable, was set up in School #11. In Colonia Junior High School, there were two classes of those educable students who were mature socially, but not academically.
In 1956, provisions were made that one classroom for the handicapped would be available for each 900 pupils of the total enrollment. 12
A school psychologist was employed during 1959-60 by the require- ments of the Beadleston Act which made it mandatory that Boards of Education set up special classes for the handicapped and stated that the Board would decide which children needed special attention. At first the psychologists were employed part-time and later full-time; however, more services of this type are needed lest the time, interest, and attention of the school psychologists be absorbed in problems of the retarded without time for direction to normal student problems.
The Beadleston Act not only provided for the education of the handi- capped, but also for those confined to their homes, completely unable to attend school. While this law went into effect in New Jersey 1954-55, it is interesting to note that Woodbridge Township had been providing for such pupils since 1938.
Summer Sessions
In 1964, summer sessions were reinstituted in Woodbridge Township. This was not totally new since there had been summer school in 1926 in the Barron Avenue Building under the auspices of the principal, Mr. Arthur C. Ferry.
Retraining Program
An innovation, however, is being considered for the summer of 1964. It is a special retraining program which proports to raise the economic level of high school dropouts and welfare recipients. Federal funds dis- pensed through the New Jersey Department of Labor under the Manpower Development Training Act provides help to defray the costs of such a program.
12 Victor C. Nicklas, A Report of Additional School Housing Facilities Needed for the Township of Woodbridge, p. 6.
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CHAPTER VI STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND ORGANIZATIONS OF WOODBRIDGE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Over the many years there have been numerous student organizations in our high school. The core of a student group is a Student Council, its governing body. The Student Council we know today is sixteen years old, but, in 1924, there was a student organization known as the General Or- ganization. Its constitution was drawn up on December 16, 1924. This General Organization was dissolved in the year 1925-26. Another attempt was made to organize in 1927-28. The attempt was patterned after local township government with a mayor and a committee, or cabinet; however, it, too, was short-lived, having come to an inglorious end in the spring of 1928. 1
Not until 1944-1945 was a further attempt made to re-establish a Student Council. At that time a convention was held of delegates from each homeroom to draw up a Student Council Constitution, which was ratified by the student body voting in homerooms serving as voting dis- tricts. It was thus that our present Student Council came into existence in the school year of 1945-1946.
Among the services established under the aegis of the Student Coun- cil in 1946-47 were the Lost and Found and the Information Center Lost and Found was not a new idea, however, for in 1925-1926, the Chatterbox, a school publication, had a column called "Lost and Found." The pur- pose of the Information Center was to greet all visitors to the school and to take them to their destination quickly and courteously. With the transfer of the high school from the Barron Avenue building in 1956, the function of the Information Center was abandoned by Student Council and assumed by voluntary receptionists.
By 1962 the Student Council had instituted numerous projects, in- cluding the sale of cookies,2 school supplies, and paperback books, the operation of a concession stand at football games, the sponsoring of social functions, and a foreign exchange program, sponsored by the American Field Service.
1 While there are no records to substantiate this information, there is rumor around the school that the Student Council judge was the first person in need of sentencing; therefore, he resigned, since it was a bit awkward to sentence himself.
2 There was no cafeteria because of the double session.
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The Woodbridge Senior High School Chapter of the American Field Service has had a rather brief but extremely fruitful history. The idea for the Chapter was orignated at the end of 1962 school year when the Stud- ent Council was under the leadership of Frank Dito. At that time the Middlesex County Association of High School Student Councils, of which Woodbridge was a member, aided our school in starting a foreign exchange plan. Meetings were held with Highland Park High School, which already had a similar program. Ardavazt Honanyan and Warren Luhrs, of the Class Of 1963, worked diligently on plans and, in January-February of 1963, final arrangements were made for the stay of our foreign student. Elizabeth Sales from England arrived in America in August, 1963, and became our first foreign pupil under the American Field Service program. Plans are underway to send Michael Van Dzura, a Woodbridge High School junior, to Peru during the summer of 1964.3
The music organizations form an important part in our school activit- ties. Around 1916, a plectrum orchestra, consisting of guitars, banjos, and mandolins, was organized. An accordion ensemble, composed of seven or eight students who played classics, was also introduced.4 The present band is far larger than the first Woodbridge High School Band of 1926. When it was organized, it consisted of a few instruments, and Mr. Nick Morrissey of Perth Amboy gave instructions one evening a week. By the next year interest has grown to such an extent that Mr. Mckenzie from the Connecticut Instrument Company was engaged to help Miss Frazer with this phase of the instrumental program. By the spring of 1927, the band consisted of eighteen members. They played at the township Field Day, football games, high school plays, and gave an annual high school band concert. The first concert took place in the spring of 1929. During that school year additional instruments were purchased, and the following year the band purchased their first uniforms.
Another instrumental group, the high school orchestra, was organized in 1917. Mr. Love, who was supervising principal, often joined the orches- tra members with his flute. At that time the orchestra played for the high school assemblies daily, all school dances, and commencement exer- cises. From the original twelve members, the orchestra's enrollment in- creased to over thirty-six. Orchestra at W.H.S. disbanded in 1962 due to a shortage of string instruments.
3 Peter Manzo, interviewed by Elaine Bohrer (Woodbridge Sr. High School Woodbridge, N.J.) Feb. 1964.
4 Miss Ann Frazer, interviewed by Carol Cohen (Woodbridge Senior High School, Woodbridge, N.J.), January, 1964.
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The vocal section of the music department consists of a Glee Club which was established in 1916. At that time, however, the state did not grant academic credit for vocal work; participation was on a purely volunt- ary basis. The Glee Club began with a double quartet, which was very active participating in commencement exercises and school assemblies. Since 1960 the high school chorus of mixed voices has been composed of students selected from vocal music classes which carry academic credit.
In all the musical activities, participation is, of course, voluntary; the various members have always used their own time to develop their musical talents, as practice and rehearsal have been held after school hours. Woodbridge pupils are frequently selected to participate in All- State Band, Orchestra and Chorus.
Debating in Woodbridge Senior High School has long been an extra- curricular activity. In the early 20's inter-scholastic debates were as im- portant and exciting as football games. The debates were held at night, and cheerleaders encouraged the debaters with cheers and songs. Inter- class debates between juniors and seniors too played an important part in school life; in fact, at one time debating was mentioned in the Alma Mater. 5
The Woodbridge High School Chapter of the Future Teachers of America received its charter in 1955. The purpose of this organization is to acquaint interested pupils with the different aspects of the teaching profession. The club visits various teachers' colleges during the course of the year to become familiar with the educational opportunities avail- able to them. As a service to themselves and the community, they observe and act as teacher-aids in the schools of the township.
The Woodbridge Senior High School Chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America was chartered in May, 19566 for the benefit of those students interested in advancing in the business world after graduation. During the course of the school year the members visit various local in- dustries in order to see how business concerns operated. Many programs are planned within the organization to help the students in applying for jobs and in learning the etiquette of the business world.
The Junior Red Cross was started in 1942 to answer the need of the war effort. During the war years, the members packed gift boxes for ser- vicement and for children in war-torn countries. The contents were in ac- cordance with specifications prescribed by the National Red Cross head- quarters. Afghans, used as knee robes for servicement confined to wheel-
5 "'In football and in baseball" was originally written "in glee club and debating".
6 Miss Susan Pesce, interviewed by Elaine Bohrer (W.S.H.S, Woodbridge, N.J.) March 1964.
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