The Teaneck Public Schools is comprehensive community public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2017–18 school year, the district and its seven schools had an enrollment of 3,707 students and 358.4 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1. The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide, ostensibly 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. However, because socioeconomic data is derived from the municipality as a whole and a significant proportion of Teaneck's more affluent families send their children to parochial or other private schools, the usefulness of District Factor Grouping in the Teaneck district's case is disputed.
Awards and recognition
The Teaneck Public Schools have been recognized by the New JerseyDepartment of Education as part of its Best practices program. The district was awarded in the 1997-98 school year for its Passport Portfolio Program, and in the 2000-01 school year for its Early Literacy Initiative.
History
, who later served as New York City School Chancellor, was hired in 1961 by the Teaneck Public Schools to serve as superintendent of the district. There he oversaw the adoption of mandatory busing in 1965 in which Teaneck voluntarily integrated its public schools. Despite angry phone calls from some parents and the occasional death threat, Teaneck's integration went smoothly and Scribner recalled that he was "literally crying" on the first day of school in 1965 when buses rolled into school without incident. Teaneck's 1965 busing plan was widely reported as the first district in the nation with a white majority to implement a voluntary school integration program. A 1982 teachers strike that lasted for 19 days was settled after a judge threatened to jail striking teachers and pressured the board of education to negotiate an agreement.
Schools
Schools in the district ) include the following: ;Elementary schools
Bryant School with 297 students in pre-K and Kindergarten. Built in 1927. Named for poet and journalist William Cullen Bryant. School #6.
*Leslie Abrew, Principal
Hawthorne School with 300 students in grades 1–4. Built in 1925. Named for author Nathaniel Hawthorne. School #5.
*Natasha T. Pitt, Principal
Lowell School with 343 students in grades 1–4. Built in 1935. Named for author James Russell Lowell. School #7.
*Antoine Green, Principal
Whittier School with 329 students in grades 1–4. Built in 1923. Named for John Greenleaf Whittier. School #4.
Teaneck has received attention in the media due to sexual crimes committed against minors by faculty members. Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School, pleaded guilty to official child endangerment in June 2006 and was sentenced to one year in prison. White had been charged in 2002 with fondling a 17-year-old student and was subsequently acquitted. James Darden, an award-winning former eighth grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was charged with sexual assault and misconduct in June 2007. He pleaded guilty on December 2007 to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and faces up to 8½ years in prison when sentenced on January 18, 2008.
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
Dr. Christopher C. Irving, Superintendent
Melissa Simmons, School Business Administrator / Board Secretary
