Little Ferry Public Schools Explained

Little Ferry Public Schools
Logo Alt:	This is the logo for Little Ferry Public Schools.
Superintendent:	Matthew A. Perrapato
Businessadmin:	John Gomez
Address:	130 Liberty Street
Zipcode:	07643
Country:	United States
Coordinates:	40.8475°N -74.0429°W
Schools:	2
Enrollment:	806 (as of 2022–23)
Ratio:	9.6:1
Free Text:	CD

The Little Ferry Public Schools is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Little Ferry in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.^[1]

As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 806 students and 84.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.6:1.^[2]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "CD", the sixth-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.^[3]

As Little Ferry does not have its own high school, public school students from the borough attend Ridgefield Park High School in Ridgefield Park for ninth through twelfth grades as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Ridgefield Park Public Schools that has been in place since 1953.^{[4] [5]} As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,174 students and 87.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.4:1.^[6]

History

Prior to the 1953-54 school year, students from Little Ferry had attended Lodi High School, as part of a sendin/receiving relationship with the Lodi Public Schools.^[7]

Awards and recognition

Memorial School was recognized by Governor Jim McGreevey in 2003 as one of 25 schools selected statewide for the First Annual Governor's School of Excellence award.^[8]

Schools

The district operates two school facilities, across the street from each other. Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics^[9]) are:^{[10] [11] [12]}

• Washington Elementary School^[13] with 445 students in grades PreK-4
  • Tonilyn Peragallo, principal^[14]
• Memorial Middle School^[15] with 342 students in grades 5-8
  • George Peakler, principal^[16]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:^[17]

• Matthew A. Perrapato, superintendent of schools^[18]
• John Gomez, board secretary and business administrator^[19]

Board of education

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.^{[20] [21] [22]}

External links

• Little Ferry Public Schools
  • School Data for the Little Ferry Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics
• Ridgefield Park High School

Notes and References

1. https://www.straussesmay.com/seportal/Public/DistrictPolicy.aspx?policyid=0110&id=ac0ba57c153d4ecab3457b3f471fe54d Little Ferry Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification
2. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?Search=2&details=1&ID2=3408760&DistrictID=3408760 District information for Little Ferry Public School District
3. http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/rda/dfg.shtml NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts
4. James, George. "School Districts' Battle On Tuition Goes to Court", The New York Times, December 16, 1989. Accessed February 8, 2024. "School officials in the borough, Little Ferry, which sends 202 students to the 546-student high school, say a partial audit several years ago raised suspicions that Ridgefield Park has overcharged them by hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years.... Little Ferry, a borough of 1.5 square miles and 9,900 people, has sent its high school students to this neighboring 1.92-square mile village of 12,000 people, since 1953."
5. Miraglia, Mary K. "Little Ferry Schools Not Responsible For $1.5M Gap In Ridgefield Park", Ridgefield Park-Hasbrouck Heights Daily Voice, January 13, 2016. Accessed February 8, 2024. "Ridgefield Park Superintendent Eric Koenig reached out to Little Ferry Superintendent Frank Scarafile after his board meeting Jan. 7 to go over plans for filling the budget shortfall. Koenig assured him Ridgefield Park won’t be trying to make any changes to the sending - receiving contract that would impose new tuition in the current year, according to a letter Scarafile sent to his board members."
6. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3413800&ID=341380000754 School data for Ridgefield Park Jr Sr High School
7. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-little-ferry-shifts-high-scho/138073771/ "Little Ferry Board Hikes Budget $22,849"
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20121018164329/http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/governor/njnewsline/view_article_archives.pl?id=1505 McGreevey Celebrates Schools that are "Getting it Right": Schools of Excellence Winners Demonstrate Effectiveness of Governor's Education Priorities
9. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3408760 School Data for the Little Ferry Public Schools
10. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/about-us About Our District
11. https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/selectreport/2022-2023/03/2710 School Performance Reports for the Little Ferry Public School District
12. https://homeroom6.doe.state.nj.us/directory/school/districtid/2710 New Jersey School Directory for the Little Ferry Public Schools
13. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/washington-elementary Washington Elementary School
14. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/washington-administration_washington Administration
15. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/memorial-middle-school Memorial Middle School
16. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/principals-welcome-memorial Principal's Welcome
17. https://homeroom6.doe.state.nj.us/directory/district/county/bergen New Jersey School Directory for Bergen County
18. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/superintendents-corner Superintendent's Corner
19. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/new-business-office Business Office
20. https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/dwb/DistrictByTypeList2018.pdf New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election
21. https://www.nj.gov/education/finance/fp/acfr/search/23/2710.pdf#page=41 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Little Ferry School District
22. https://www.littleferry.k12.nj.us/page/general-information Board of Education