ALBERT J. COUNTRYMAN Jr.
Gloucester City News
In the midst of a five-day heatwave, Gloucester City students have returned to their classrooms with the knowledge that if they work hard they will receive a quality education at one of the highest rated school districts in South Jersey.
Two weeks ago Niche.com announced Gloucester City was a top-five district in Camden County, and last week USA News and World Report rated Gloucester City High School as the 13th best in all of South Jersey.
“A great high school educates all students from different social and economic backgrounds, exposing them to challenging coursework on the path to graduation,” stated the magazine’s announcement.
“The highest ranked public schools in the Best High Schools rankings are those whose students demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessment, earned qualifying scores in an array of college-level exams, and graduated in high proportions,”
Superintendent Sean Gorman, who is also principal at the high school, is thrilled.
“We are proud of our many successful accomplishments at Gloucester City schools during the 2022-2023 school year. Our district was recently named one of the “Best School Districts in America” by Niche.com, which is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education,” Gorman said.
Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more, and Gloucester City schools achieved placement in the top five school districts in Camden County, top 15 in South Jersey, and top 25 percent in the United States and Canada.
“Everyone – administrators, staff, teachers, students, parents, community members and alumni – have played an integral role in the progress we continue to make. I cannot imagine a school community that is collectively more committed to the present and future success of our children or prouder of their achievements,” Gorman said.
He is excited about the completion of the strategic planning process that was completed throughout the past year and thankful for all of the contributions made by many students, staff members, parents, and community members.
The new vision for this year is: “The Gloucester City School District Family empowers our students to be confident, well-rounded, happy individuals who positively impact society.”
Gorman said, “This worthy pursuit will require daily commitment and contributions from all of us. We are excited to advance into the second year of offering an Industrial Arts program. This program will expose students to various trades throughout their four years.
“We have 60 students registered for Industrial Arts I this year. We have 31 students registered for Industrial Arts II this year. Industrial Arts II spans two periods of instruction. We plan to hire a second teacher for our growing Industrial Arts program for the 2024-25 school year,” he said.
“Additionally, we piloted Responsive Classroom, a highly-acclaimed social-emotional learning program, through various Kindergarten through 6th grade classrooms last school year. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline,” Gorman said.
It consists of a set of research and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers.
“The pilot was a great success and we will now roll this program out in all Kindergarten through 8th grade classes, including a 20-minute morning meeting to begin their day,” he said.
Another integral program is AVID, which has been at the high school for six years and the middle school for one year.
AVID’s mission is to “close the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college and career readiness and success in a global society, Our local focus this year will be to improve our student’s ability to collaborate with each other,” Gorman said.
“As we experienced the challenge of our middle school being closed for two months this past school year, we are proud of everyone’s collective efforts to work together to continue to provide the best education possible to our students.
“We are thrilled to be able to expand bussing to include Cold Springs School students living on Broadway and west of it. This will improve the lives of many students and families in addition to attendance and punctuality and the traffic flow and safety in town.
“We were recently informed that all district students will now receive free breakfast and lunch at school daily as our application for the federal Community Eligibility Program has been approved. We’ve also been able to maintain expanded academic support and remediation at all three district schools during both the school year and this summer,” Gorman said.
“We’ve continued to offer more mental health support to our students. We will offer more clubs and activities for students than ever before. Girls wrestling is now an officially state-sanctioned sport by the NJSIAA; our girls and coaches performed valiantly in their first year of team competition.
“All 8th through 12th grade students continue to take the PSAT and SAT at no cost during our school day; we are one of very few school districts who provide this opportunity to families. This year we also partnered with Green Light Driving School to ensure that we continue to lead our students through the pursuit of their driver’s license at no cost to families,” Gorman said.
“Graduates from the Class of 2023 achieved industry credentials in electric, barbering and cosmetology, culinary arts, and more. Multiple seniors enlisted in various military branches. Our students continue to be accepted by some of the best colleges and universities in the nation,” he said.
This year’s acceptances included the University of Miami, the University of Alabama, Xavier University, St. John’s University, The College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Rutgers University, the University of Delaware, Villanova University, Muhlenberg University, Drexel University, Penn State University, Clemson University, Seton Hall University, Temple University, University of Maine, University of Rhode Island, University of Maryland, and more, he said.
Also, 2022-23 featured the start of new principals and assistant principals at both Cold Springs School and Gloucester Middle School.
“Admirable progress has been made by this new leadership in their first year,” Gorman said. “We also hired outstanding candidates as our new Business Administrator, Assistant Business Administrator, and Director of Special Services. We have many facilities projects and developments ongoing. We were thrilled to receive news this summer from NJ’s School Development Authority notifying us that they will fully fund the replacement of the Gloucester High School roof. This project would have minimally cost our school district $5 million to complete,” Gorman said.
“We continue to complete the required analysis of our grass fields behind the high school as the start of the process to achieve necessary improvements to our playing fields. Cold Springs School’s HVAC system upgrades are complete, classroom & hallway floors have been replaced, and work on both the parking lot and outdoor learning spaces and playgrounds is scheduled to begin in the year ahead.
“Work continues daily in our state-of-the-art Industrial Arts shop classroom; instruction should begin to utilize this space in the months ahead. Work will begin this year on updating the Life Skills classroom at GHS. Discussions also continue to advance regarding including Mary Ethel Costello School in the plans for City development. Nearly all of this has been achieved utilizing funds from federal grant monies. All of these projects were accomplished while only raising the average Gloucester City family household’s taxes by just $2.36 per month,” the superintendent continued.
“Maximizing the safety of all three of our campuses daily will always be a priority. This past year was the first in which a full-time police officer was assigned to each of our district schools.
“We are fortunate and grateful to have such a high quality partnership with the Gloucester City Police Department. We established a partnership this school year with ChanceLight alternative school; this program will continue to serve students in grades 6 through 12 who consistently exhibit concerning behaviors.
“We remain committed to providing our community with schools that are safe, caring, and fun, leading students to look forward to coming to them each day,” Gorman concluded.
